Being an actor in Los Angeles can be—if you’re not careful—living off the interest of your talent and experience. And every so often, you need to make a deposit, and that can be doing theatre in LA, New York, in the regions, or it can be a self-generated project, but you do need to do the work. — Tony Amendola
On the show today is Tony Amendola, a working actor with over 40 years in the business, he navigates between stage, screen, and voiceovers, from leading parts to characters and everything in between.
Tony’s simple dream years ago to “work as an actor” would take him to Mexico, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, England, Bulgaria, Canada, and across the United States. He’s well-known to audiences for his work on the shows Stargate SG-1, Continuum, and Once Upon a Time. Some of his theatrical roles include Cyrano, Iago, Uncle Vanya, Cassius, Malvolio, Petruchio, and Mark Antony.
In our chat, Tony talked about why he loves being an actor and the phrase from truck drivers to Shakespearean kings came up, and I thought that not only described his own career really well, but could also have been a great title for this episode. That’s really what you have the opportunity to do in this career, to play so many different types of people in so many different situations, and it can definitely be the (working) actor’s life!
Tony has always been an actor I’ve admired, and I’ve actually been a little bit intimidated by him—we chat about the perceptions by others that actors have to navigate. Of course as is usually the case, there was no reason for my hesitations at all: Tony is such a warm and giving person, and we had a fantastic chat.
And years ago, when I first got to know him onstage, it was cool to go back and see that I definitely noticed him in works like Seinfeld and The Mask of Zorro. And one of my favorite projects that I saw Tony do was a reading of the play The Father in LA—it’s a really wonderful play and I thought that Tony was just phenomenal in it.
Just a bit of what we cover in this episode:
- Getting nervous about auditions and loving it
- Being petrified over a particular role, and having no faith in himself to do it
- His first TV job in LA and how the director helped him through it
- What he learned coming back to Merchant of Venice, 25 years later, as an actor
- Tony’s daily routine of body, mind, and spirit
- Advice he would give to smart, driven students of acting
- Surrounding yourself with people you respect
- One of his favorite failure stories, and how it led him to LA
Plus a whole lot more, and Tony also lets us in on how he works through Shakespeare’s sonnet #130!
About the guest
Tony Amendola grew up in New Haven, Connecticut into a blue-collar family. He was the first member of his family to attend college, graduating from Southern Connecticut State University and then receiving his MFA from Temple University.
He has over 120 credits on film and TV, including as a series regular on Continuum, and recurring work on Stargate SG-1, CSI, Dexter, and Once Upon a Time as Pinocchio’s father Geppetto.
He’s appeared as the title character in Uncle Vanya and King Lear, as King Henry in Lion in Winter, and as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice.
Tony was an associate artist, actor and director at the Berkeley Rep Theater for ten years. Regional theatre work includes the Mark Taper Forum, South Coast Rep, ACT, the Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, Williamstown Theater, CenterStage and the Oregon, California and Utah Shakespeare Festivals.
Voiceover work includes video games World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy 15, and Call of Duty, and as the narrator of The Land Before Time XIV.
Tony was recently seen onstage as the detective Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express at La Mirada Theatre. He’s a founding member of the Antaeus Company in LA, and recent performances with them include roles in Hedda Gabler, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, and as Jaques in As You Like It, for which he was nominated for an LA Ovation Award.
Please enjoy my chat with Tony Amendola!
Total Running Time: 1:36:03
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Want to hear from who Tony considers one of the great Shakespearean teachers and actors? Check out my talk with Dakin Matthews!
What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let us know in the comments.
Scroll below for links mentioned in today’s episode and additional show notes…
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Here are a few recommendations:
- The Actors Life by Jenna Fischer (from The Office), read by the author and others, including our guest Reed Birney
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- Respect for Acting by Uta Hagen, read by Angele Masters
Get one of these or anything else at workingactorsjourney.com/audible.
Show Notes
Tony Amendola around the web
His Website | Twitter | Wikipedia | Film/TV | Antaeus Company | Behind the Voice | Additional Theatre
- Hear Tony on the Utah Shakespeare’s podcast discuss his career and the role of King Lear
Highlights
- Getting nervous about auditions and loving it
- Know what you’re casting is and know where you belong
- Growing up with everyone in the family working
- How he began acting and what his parents thought about it
- Becoming a better student and why he pursued an MFA
- How his MFA prepared him (or not) for working as a professional
- Why he didn’t immediately jump at an offer to go to OSF, even though most actors would
- Being petrified over a particular role, and having no faith in himself to do it
- His first TV job in LA and how the director helped him through it
- Who you would want to ask for an agent referral, and who not to ask
- How he started to get known in town and landing his first agent
- What he learned coming back to Merchant of Venice, 25 years later, as an actor
- His experience of working twice on the character of Iago in Othello
- Recognition, criteria for doing good work, and being successful in this business
- Working on Sonnet 130 and Tony’s approach
- How to work on characters that have been done so many times, finding you’re way in
- Tony’s daily routine of body, mind, and spirit
- What he’s learned about 6 pm on Friday
- Advice he would give to smart, driven students of acting
- Surrounding yourself with people you respect
- Coming to LA when it makes sense for who you are
- People who talk about doing plays, but never do a play!
- Adjusting his technique from years of regional theatre to film and TV scripts
- Why actors might choose this profession out of a sense of mortality
- One of his favorite failure stories, and how it led him to LA
Selected People and Items Mentioned
- Once Upon a Time series
- Continuum series
- True Romance film
- Long Wharf theatre
- Yale Repertory theatre
- The Changing Room, with John Lithgow winning a Tony Award
- Polonius speech: And these few precepts in thy memory
- National Theatre’s Othello with Laurence Olivier and Frank Finlay
- Oregon Shakespeare Festival
- Temple University, where Tony received his MFA
- Southern Connecticut State University, where Tony was an undergrad
- URTA auditions, helping match prospective students with MFA programs
- Bill Patton, first executive director (for 40 years!) @ OSF
- Williamstown Theatre Festival
- Jerry Turner, second Artistic Director @ OSF
- Berkeley Repertory, with Michael Leibert as founding artistic director
- Dakin Matthews, Shakespeare scholar, teacher, and actor (and our past guest!)
- Hope Alexander-Willis, actress
- Leo Penn, actor, director and Sean Penn’s dad
- Sharon Ott, director and producer, former artistic director for Berkeley Rep and Seattle Rep
- Tony in King Lear at Utah Shakespeare
- Richard E.T. White, director
- Richard Seyd, acting teacher
- Othello film with Branagh and Fishburne
- HB Studios, where Uta Hagen taught
- Harry Groener, talking about memorizing lines (and our past guest!)
- Armin Shimerman, who has spoken about playing each part three times (and our past guest!)
- Antaeus Company
Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare
[accordion clicktoclose=”true”][accordion-item title=”+ click to view/close the monologue” id=sonnet130 state=closed]My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
Share this episode: bit.ly/waj-amendola
photos: as Shylock (Utah Shakespeare Festival); headshot: Rory Lewis
Hi Nathan–
It’s Martha Porter- USC ALUM/ SDA. Your podcast is helpful and uplifting. It is important to upkeep self-esteem and confidence in auditions and on-the-set. Tony’s insight is encouraging.
That’s wonderful to hear, Martha – thank you for sharing and I’m glad you found this chat with Tony helpful! Always great to connect with a fellow alum too! 🙂