September 29, 2025 • 38 mins
Today on What's My Frame I'm joined by Casting Director & Spanish Dialect Consultant, Miranda Martinez. Miranda began her career in Dallas, Texas, working in commercial casting before collaborating with renowned casting director Jo Edna Boldin,CSA on major studio films including The Lone Ranger and The Last Stand. After relocating to Los Angeles in 2012, Miranda expanded her credits as the Los Angeles Casting Director for the independent feature Icaros: A Vision, where she spent three weeks in the Amazon jungle of Iquitos, Peru, working closely with the local cast of native Shipibo-Conibo people to help shape authentic performances.
She has contributed to high-profile projects with acclaimed casting director April Webster, CSA including Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, Lisey’s Story, Clarice, Locke & Key, and Sacred Lies. On Jack Ryan, she also served as a Spanish dialect consultant, advising on accent accuracy and subtitle translation during post-production. Fluent in Spanish and raised in Panama, Miranda brings deep linguistic expertise to her work, specializing in Spanish dialect consulting for multilingual productions.
Her background as an actor, having appeared in national commercials and independent films, gives her a performer’s perspective that informs her casting approach. Miranda occasionally teaches actor workshops, most recently at the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, where participants had the option to perform in either English or Spanish. She is also committed to supporting emerging filmmakers, regularly serving as Casting Director for short films at Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts.
-
What's My Frame, hosted by Laura Linda Bradley
Join the WMF creative community now!
Instagram: @whatsmyframe
IMDb
What's My Frame? official site
What's My Frame? merch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Hi everyone. Today, what's my frame?
I'm joined by casting director and dialect consultant, Miranda
Martinez. Today, Miranda takes us inside
her creative process and encourages actors to explore
outside their comfort zone. She shares stories from working
on Jack Ryan as the Spanish dialect consultant, helping
bring authenticity to the story.And now she brings her
background as an actor to teaching her bilingual classes.
(00:24):
Now let's get to the conversation.
Hey Miranda, welcome to What's My Frame?
How you doing? I'm doing great.
How are you? I'm good.
Thank you so much for joining methis weekend for a little
special episode of the podcast. I was familiar with your work,
but then I also saw that you were doing a class that we'll
(00:44):
talk about later at the Foundation.
But for anyone who isn't familiar, do you mind just
giving us a little back story ofwhat drew you to the arts, first
as an actor, but then also to a career in casting?
Yes, I've always, I am originally from Panama, the
country. And since I was a little girl, I
used to watch the telenovelas, you know, with my grandmother.
(01:07):
And I knew that that wasn't true.
So I wanted to always be an actor.
Since I was a child, I was always attracted to the arts.
I was always a dancer or, you know, I will always sing around,
you know, whatever I could in mycountry.
In my country, there's no, not that much arts in high school.
So when I arrived here, I didn't, I didn't speak English
(01:30):
very well. I, I came here and I have a
degree in marketing from SMU. And then after that, I kind of
felt like I didn't really want to go into the business world.
And I've always wanted to be an actor.
So I kind of started a little later and, and yes.
And so I got into acting. By chance, a casting director
(01:52):
asked me to help out in a commercial casting.
And then that's how everything started.
And it's been a while already, so.
Yeah. And then what has your
trajectory been, because we're going to talk about a little bit
more in detail later, but you started in the Texas market and
then moved to California. So what was that progression
like for you? I started in commercials and I
(02:14):
worked in years in commercials and in fact here in LA also when
I arrived I continued in commercials.
But when I was there I had an opportunity to work with Joetna
Bolden who was doing a show and a couple of movies at around the
same time in in the Texas market.
She was casting there and she needed a full time assistant and
(02:35):
so she gave me the opportunity to work in 5 episodes of a show
called Chase. And that's when I had my first
taste of the television side. And then, and then when I moved
here, I continued in commercialsand then I had opportunities to
start working in a pilot in 2013.
And then after that is when I, Igot to join the office of April
(03:00):
Webster. And then I worked with her for
about 3 1/2 years or four years,I cannot remember, something
like that. And then I did about 5 shows
with her different, different seasons on on lock and key ID
two seasons. And yeah.
And then after that, I've been doing some, you know, the
pandemic hit as everything happened with the pandemic.
(03:22):
And after that, I've been doing some wonderful student films
with Chapman University. And that's basically on a
nutshell, yeah. And I'd love to hear how your
background as an actor shaped your approach to casting and
working with actors, either be, you know, before and in the room
or the way that you prep materials and the directions for
(03:45):
your tapes and virtual redirect,things like that.
Yes, I really love working with actors.
And in fact, I've been working with actors since, since I moved
here, I've been going back to the Texas market and kind of
teaching them because one of thethings about it's a little bit
better now with Land Man and other shows that have been
(04:07):
shooting there, even a lioness shot there.
But for a while there, there wasnot very much television or
film, you know, high level film shooting there.
And so I would go there and I would basically work with them
and tell them, telling them how things worked here.
And I really do love because I do understand what an actor goes
(04:30):
through from having that experience behind the camera.
I, I studied Meisner for 12 years in the, in the Dallas
market. And every week I, I did it for
12 years, like nonstop. I never stopped.
And that gives me a little perspective on how the view of
the actor or how the actor feelsor what the language they need
(04:52):
to, to understand what they needto do, I feel like.
And so to me is very important for them to understand from this
side of the camera. And I think that that's one of
the, the things that I love about being in casting as well,
is that I come from that from that perspective of being an
actor 1st and then viewing everything with the casting
(05:16):
lens, then I'm able to hopefullyconvey what is needed to the
scene. And I really do like doing that.
Because there's so much that's unknown and ever evolving in the
audition and casting process, what would have been beneficial
to you to have a better understanding or more full
picture understanding as an actor that's now become clear in
(05:39):
casting and working in that career?
I believe maybe you know what, these podcasts are really,
really good resources because I think that if they hear it from,
if they hear it on a casual setting, kind of like this, a
conversation where, where the actors learn what the casting
(06:02):
directors are looking for, how that what the market is calling
for. Am I prepared to do it?
Am I prepared to be able to, to,to support myself and be able to
be free for all my auditions and, and things like that?
Then they'll probably more prepared than I was when I was
here. You know, podcasting wasn't big,
(06:23):
or at least I wasn't big in it before.
And so, you know, it was really the, the, the veil between the
behind the scenes people and in front of the, the, you know,
like the actor was very, very hard.
I think because we didn't know, we don't know what, what things
are like. And so therefore, I think that
there was a little bit more of amystery.
(06:44):
One thing I wanted to be sure that we saved time for was your
work as a Spanish dialect consultant.
How did that work come into being a part of your toolkit and
career? And because you were part of
Jack Ryan, I know, but I think you've worked as a dialect
consultant on a number of projects.
It's really interesting, but it's just kind of evolved
(07:05):
because I, I, I am fluent in Spanish.
Obviously, I was born and raisedin Panama until I didn't speak
English until I was 18 years old.
So when I moved, when I started doing casting it just hey,
Miranda, you speak Spanish. Do you want to, you know, in the
commercials, do you want to readfor the, you know, with the,
with the Spanish actors? And I would do it.
(07:26):
Or for example, there were casting directors here who said,
Hey, we want to make sure that they're pronouncing the words
correctly. Can you come in for the day and
make sure that they're pronouncing things correctly or
they speak fluent because the client really wants 1 fluent
Spanish speaker. And I did that with several
casting directors where I would actually call the actors and,
(07:48):
and just make sure that they, because sometimes they do say
they speak Spanish and sometimesthey don't.
And you know, and there were, there were several ways that we
would do it and, and back in theday.
And then and then when I got hired for Jack Ryan, it was a
lot of it was specifically because the season that we did
(08:09):
was season 2 was set in Venezuela and the majority of
that the set in Venezuela and the workers, all the actors in
Venezuela, they all needed to befluent Spanish speakers.
But because the way that sometimes the Spanish is
different in every country, we wanted to make sure that it was
(08:30):
from the area because the accents are completely different
than there. If for example, a Mexican accent
versus versus a Venezuelan accent, they're completely
different accents. And we as Spanish speakers, when
we hear that on a television show, we can tell for Jack Ryan,
it was very important for the accents to be authentic and to
(08:50):
be from the same region. So we worked very closely with
casting director in because we shot in Colombia.
So for Venezuela, like we have was supposed to be Venezuela in
the story, but we shot in Colombia and then we were
auditioning very closely with the casting director in Colombia
And we all of the scenes, everything had to kind of come
(09:15):
through and we watched everything together, all the
scenes together, whether they were costar one liner,
everything we watched together in that in our in my office.
And so I, it was the one basically saying that person
sounds, you know, great over thearea or this person sounds too
much like Argentinian or whatever it was.
We were able to kind of tailor that.
(09:37):
And because of my work in the production office, we're also
the editors in the post production team was they also
hired me to do to help with the with the subtitles after,
because a lot of times the actors will veer from the
script. And so they were like, they
don't sound like what it says here.
And so they wanted to know what they were saying.
They wanted to know where exactly to put the translation
(10:01):
on the position where they're actually saying it.
And I help with that too. And I, and I'm very proud of
that work because I've never done it before and I learned
something new at that time. So that's kind of the evolution
of it. And because of that, I'm, I'm
mostly known or I'm known for bilingual casting as well as, as
I guess what you call general market casting in commercials.
(10:24):
I I do everything, but because Iam bilingual and I am very good
recognizing accents, then that'sa big part of my of my
repertoire, if you, if you will,yeah.
Now for actors, what is beneficial for them to have on
their profiles for you where youdo a lot of bilingual casting,
(10:47):
do you like to see in English and Spanish real or?
Yes, that is very important. I think that if you have either
nowadays, you, you don't even have to have a real necessarily.
But if you do have scenes that you've actually done on, on
movies in Spanish more, yeah, you know for sure put them on
your profile. However, you can also do
(11:09):
nowadays you can just do a, a scene, a self tape scene in
Spanish, or you can do a voice over.
And then with that, a little bitabout myself, which is which a
lot of us do in commercials. I can tell a lot about you.
I can tell you know how fluent you are, how native you are.
And a lot of times we are looking for native speakers
(11:30):
because with that accent, so it's sometimes a little bit, if
you have an accent, it's a little bit hard to understand
when you're on a project. So we're looking for native
speakers for people who are fluent in Spanish.
And so that's very important, whether you put it on a reel,
you have a reel, or if you can just put a little introduction
of yourself on your profile, that would be sufficient.
(11:52):
Maybe like 30 seconds or not even a minute of just you saying
something good about your, you know, something that you like
your hobbies or something that'svery helpful.
And then I do view those that would be very helpful.
And then also on your resume, make sure that you put in, you
know, that you are a fluent native Spanish speaker or
whether you can do accents in Spanish.
(12:14):
There's someone I know that is very good about accents as well.
And I that sometimes I'm lookingfor a particular accent, whether
is somebody from Venezuela like in that job for Jack Ryan, and
sometimes I'm looking for a Mexican.
But if you are, if you are good at those accents, just make sure
to put them on there and and then also give me samples
(12:35):
because that would be amazing. If you don't mind speaking a
little bit to the importance of accent accuracy, curious if you
have any favorite stories, an audience member coming and and
just complimenting like the accuracy and how meaningful it
was or maybe from the actors that were coming in to read and
feeling like seeing and the authenticity of the casting
(12:57):
being meaningful to them. If there's any favorite stories
there, I'd love to love to hear those.
Yeah, I, I mean, recently I taught.
This is something that just comes to mind right now.
The I I recently taught a class at the SAC Foundation and the
actors I I Ioffer the class in English and Spanish or Spanish,
(13:17):
whichever language you want to do and on.
And, and they usually tell me that they don't have the
opportunity to practice their scenes in Spanish.
And it's really interesting because it's it's definitely a
different feel when you act in your own language and or your
maybe primary language or it's ait's a completely different
(13:40):
thing. And so they were really happy
that Ioffer that to them. In terms of the the accent, I I
got compliments on the Jack Ryana cast as well, because they
were saying that the accents were actually, you know, pretty
accurate for the region. So I was very proud of that
because I was, you know, partially my work.
(14:01):
Obviously there was a big team behind us, but yeah, for the
Ryan I I'm very proud of that work, that job there that we did
together. And and even there was there was
one of the actors too, was actually from Spain.
And he he sounded differently, you know, from America, not, you
(14:24):
know what I mean? It's like it's, you know, from
from the Americas. I'm saying that like he spoke
Spanish like with a, with a, with a very, you know, you know,
Venezuelan, Colombian accent, which is what we were looking
for. So I and that's really difficult
because that accent is very difficult to do, Meaning the
Spanish, the Spaniard accent is very different from the
(14:46):
America's accent. So we're very proud of that.
We were able to get that actor So very interesting.
But yeah, I think those are the two things that come to mind.
The only other thing is authentic, authentic casting,
not necessarily the Spanish, butI don't know if you want to talk
(15:07):
about the Icaros movie, the you know it.
There's a movie that I did in Peru that I was hired to do, and
there I was. I was hired to go to the jungle
in Peru to to train the shamans that we're going to be.
This is a movie about ayahuasca.They asked me to come and work
(15:29):
with the shamans because they were real shamans and they
didn't speak English, but they spoke Spanish in their own ship
people language. So then I was able to go there
for three weeks in the jungle inthe middle of nowhere, training
the shamans to be in this independent film that I also
helped cast in 2014. So that was actually an amazing
(15:50):
experience that I am so proud ofas well, and that was a very
poetic film. How did that project come to
you? That is a very good story
because I, it, it was something that somebody, you know, like
the, the, the production team was looking for a Spanish
casting director in LA for their, for their LA casting.
(16:15):
And somehow they got to my website, which is interesting
because I, I was actually more like teaching in Dallas at the
time. Like I, I was, I was definitely
doing pilots and, and I was definitely gearing up to, to
working television, but I hadn'tactually gotten the job with,
(16:36):
with April Webster yet. So they were like they, they
just kind of found me online. It was an interesting thing that
I just don't know how they foundme.
And so they wanted someone that spoke Spanish, that could cast
the Spanish lead role. And, and I did the, I did the,
the casting. They loved it.
And, and even though they ended up booking someone out of New
(16:59):
York, they, they came to me because they like me.
And they said, hey, how would you like to go to the jungle in
Peru for three weeks? And of course you don't know me,
but just so you know, I am not acamper, I am not a nature
person. I am definitely a hotel kind of
glamping. That's what I like.
And when they say jungle, I immediately, I immediately
(17:21):
panicked because I was like, I have never been in this
situation. I have never had to do anything
like that. And, but I think for me it was
a, you know, a challenge from for me.
So then I was, I actually gladlyaccepted and I went and I
thought it was, I definitely cansay that I came with a lot of
(17:45):
mosquito bites. There were, there were a lot of
critters everywhere. And it was definitely not a
glamping experience. It was definitely jungle.
We, we could not drive there. We had to fly there.
And we were in the middle of like if you look at Iquitos,
which is where we shot, it's literally in the mountain
somewhere or whatever in the, inthe jungle in Peru, in the
(18:06):
middle of nowhere. You can only get there by boat
or a plane. You cannot drive there at all.
So that was very interesting to me.
But I was there for three weeks and in the end, the, the
reaction of which my work was to, to train the shamans, which
are not actors, they're shamans to train them on how, what to
(18:30):
expect from the shoot, how to, how to behave themselves in.
And, and I would run lines with them in their language and in
Spanish because they had lines that were in their own language.
So I run, I would run lines withthem individually.
I was basically their, their acting coach for three weeks.
And that was a very interesting experience.
And in the end, the production team was very happy because they
(18:54):
were not, they did not delay theshoot.
They were prepared. They knew their lines.
They were, they were and they were very natural.
They were themselves, which is what you, what you want from a
real person, you know, you, you don't want them to be like, oh,
there's a camera, you know. How did you start building a
dialogue in a partnership with them?
(19:16):
Well, I they, they already had apartnership with the production
team because they had been the production.
The producers have already been there.
They've known them for a few years because they were there
Shamans. The two directors have been
doing ayahuasca there for years.So they knew them.
And so then when they decided todo the film, they kind of wrote
(19:38):
it around their own ceremony experience, etcetera, in the
same location where we went shooting.
So this is where they've been todo the ceremonies for several
years before we went in. So they already trusted the
director and and and the directors because they were a Co
director. In fact, one of the directors no
(20:00):
longer with us because this is kind of like part of her story.
She had breast cancer and she went looking for answers in the
jungle. OK.
Yeah. And so she, they already knew
them. So then when I came in, they
introduced me and of course theyspoke Spanish.
And I just basically started telling them that I was here to
help them and to help them do it, you know, do a great job for
(20:22):
the production team and for the film itself.
And and yeah. And then I think that very
quickly, they, they, they trusted me and they, they, they,
you know, they were committed tothe work.
They were committed to doing the, the film.
I can't remember. There was a magazine that wrote
that, that, that named it best film of the year that year.
(20:44):
And it was because it was a verypoetic film.
It was very heartfelt. And it was kind of like magical
realism. You've touched on this that it
definitely took you out of your comfort zone.
What were some of the takeaways and lessons that that time in
the jungle taught you? I think that he taught me that I
am, that sometimes I think that some things are not for me.
(21:06):
And then in the end, I'm like, well, that wasn't so bad after
all. Yeah, it's, it was a Squire
Magazine list of best films from2017, which is Squire Magazine.
That was actually pretty cool and.
Oh, yeah. So, So.
Yeah. So it taught me to be more that
I am more resilient than I am, that I am stronger than I am
because I I'm telling you, thosecritters, they were in the
(21:29):
middle of the night waking you up, you know, and there were
frogs that we were in bats everywhere.
And I was scared of it at the beginning, but in the end, it
was a really fun experience alsoto see the the difference in the
culture as well. The food was delicious, even
(21:50):
though we were mostly in the jungle.
And it's just just kind of a brought up a, a desire to, to
travel and to kind of experiencemore of the world as well, which
I haven't before. I cuz, you know, I come from
Panama and I'm, I always feel like, well, I already know what
it's like in Latin America, you know, but just to, just to know
(22:13):
more cultures, not just to travel here in United States,
but to travel abroad and to get to know other cultures.
Yeah, yeah. And when I go back to your class
at the SAG after foundation. There was a variety of different
levels of Spanish. There were people that have
learned Spanish as, as adults that were wanting to, to get
(22:35):
feedback on their, on their Spanish ability, but also they
are directing as well. And there were other people
there. Maybe you know, that they're,
they're native speakers in the other languages as in Spanish as
well. And they just wanted to practice
it and just and get feedback. And they just they're, they're,
(22:55):
they're, you know, their own feedback was that they that they
really liked it and they, they wish that they could do it more
often and that they wish they could, you know, that they had
more opportunities to, to do their scenes in Spanish.
And you know, in general, the the the every time that Ioffer
(23:18):
the the the ability to do to choose what language to do they,
the actors really enjoy that. You've worked with April Webster
on some big projects. What did you learn from April's
approach to casting, and how didyou blend that with your
approach? Because she's, I mean, such a
legendary office. Oh yes, April is a gem.
(23:41):
She is she's she's very specificon on the the kind of actor she
likes. She likes very natural acting,
very film and film film style ofacting.
And when I was there, I really, I, I learned that, that I didn't
(24:03):
know that until, you know, I mean, when, when I did the
pilot, we watched all the videos.
But also that was a pilot. And when we went to April, we
all watch all the videos, all the sales tapes or all the
auditions, even if, even if someof us are not in the room, like
like back when I started workingwith her, we were all in the
(24:25):
room. Of course, we will get self
tapes if the, if the actor was out of town.
But even if they were not, if maybe April was in a meeting or
something, when, when all, all of us would watch the video at
some point and we would all collaborate.
It was all a collaboration. We would all have meetings and
give our, our, our perspectives,our, our thoughts.
(24:49):
And that's something that that was very important and very it,
it really taught me a lot about the the essence of teamwork in
an office. I was given a lot of
responsibility pretty quickly inJack Ryan because I was
basically overseeing the the Colombian casting for the
(25:14):
Spanish cast. And so, and there was a lot of
soldiers and a lot of people that we needed to cast the
actors that we needed to cast inColombia.
So that was that was a very goodand also that was an amazing
experience because it was a cross-border show.
So like even if you are going tosee Colombia in in, you know,
(25:34):
for example, episode 1, episode 3 and episode 10, you only shoot
in Colombia for whatever 2-3 months.
You do it at the same time. So all those scenes have to be
like organized in a way that theactors are in that set for, you
know, the special amount of time.
And so we needed to do that was a very difficult show because of
that. And we needed to cast in in very
(25:57):
in several places. We cast in London, in Russia, in
New York, in Colombia, and even in Malaysia, we had to cast.
So that was a very difficult show, but it taught me a lot of
how to organize myself, how to how to, because that was my
first full on season that I did with a show.
So it taught me a lot and I really enjoyed it and it and it
(26:21):
was very, it was my first show and at the same time the show
that I've had so much responsibility and I learned a
lot from it. And a lot of it was basically in
the job training because it was so fast-paced, as everything is
in the casting world or in the production world, it's always
fast-paced, so. When you're watching auditions
(26:43):
for these high level and really defined voice projects, what
separates a technically strong audition for you from those that
refocus how you see and hear thecharacter?
I feel like for me it's it's a lot about how the actor listens
(27:04):
to the other character, because a lot of times what I love to
see in a film is when I'm I'm sorry, when in an in a self tape
in an audition is when I am drawn in and you haven't even
said it worked. It is the whole listening, It's
(27:24):
the whole presence. It's not just you speaking the
words from your mouth out, but it's it's a living the
situation. And a lot of times I've had
really great auditions where again, people don't say anything
for a while, but they're feelingthe space with and it's very
hard to, to, to explain how to do it but it.
But if you see it, then you, youcan kind of tell this your,
(27:47):
your, your embodiment of the character.
You're living the character at that moment.
It's it's very interesting to me.
So I'm watch, I usually watch the the actor when they're not
talking, what are they doing? Are they looking at their see?
Are they looking at their lines and just listening for the cue
(28:07):
or are they really living the moment and they're really
present? That's one of the things I do
and, and you can actually do it as a as a, you can sight read
and also be in the moment. I've had, I've, I've seen
amazing auditions where the actor doesn't even know their,
their lines completely and they're looking down, but their
energy stays with the other character.
(28:29):
It stays in the moment, it staysin the scene and, and it, it
doesn't affect the outcome of the, of the audition.
But there have been other actorswhere they're constantly looking
down and the energy and the energy falters.
Their energy kind of breaks and you can kind of tell that the
person's not prepared or, you know, they didn't, they didn't
(28:51):
really do their job, you know, with the scene or breaking down
the scene, etcetera. So for me, a lot of times it's
just I watch what they're not saying, when they're listening,
when what they're not saying, what they're doing, what, how,
what are they seeing? Are they distracted themselves?
Are they just thinking about their next line?
(29:12):
Things like that. Those those.
This is kind of like how I approach it.
It's such a foundational aspect,but I think so often we forget
to actively listen. And This is why I'm such a big
advocate of staying in class because I think sometimes you
have to see someone else delivering their lines and then
(29:33):
waiting till they don't hear anything.
They're not listening, but they're waiting to not hear the
other person speaking to then say their next line.
And it's a very different delivery.
It's not how we as human beings have conversations.
It's a very like self-serving delivery versus a A2 way
conversation and being affected by in real time.
Like how does your reader say that line to you and hearing
(29:55):
that and taking it in and then, you know, following the ball
back, going off of that and actively listening when you are
working with actors in a, a virtual or in the room call back
process, I think a lot of actorshave gotten very strong muscles
in the self tape space where they're in full control of the
(30:19):
room and the environment and sometimes struggle to take those
in real time redirects or conversations and notes.
Do you have any advice? There I am a very big advocate
like like you just mentioned about staying in class.
And it's very important to me that they see themselves on
camera because the reason is, and I always say this, and
(30:42):
that's why I always like when I teach, I want to see you on
camera. And a lot of times I, I ask for
a self tape or if I want to see you on camera, it's because the
camera picks up things that you don't see in real life.
You, you know, you don't even know until you see yourself on
camera that you're like blinkingtoo much or that you're moving
(31:03):
your hair in a, your head in a certain way, repeatedly,
repeatedly, whatever. Like if you, if you're
comfortable with people and, andyou're having a conversation,
you don't see those things. But as soon as the cameras put
in front of you, those things come out.
And a lot of times I remember that when I was an actor, I used
to think, Oh my gosh, I nailed that scene.
(31:24):
I was so natural. I was this and that.
And I will see my cell phone camera and I would be like, Oh,
no, I did not do well on that one.
So I think that it's very important because our perception
of ourselves is different than our, than what is actually
showing up on camera. It can be.
And so then I think that for me,I, I piggyback on the standing
(31:46):
class and getting direction froma coach and, and then just
staying open. One of the things that we used
to do in, in, in Meisner that I think it was very helpful.
We we rehearse the lines withoutany emotion.
And that way went because if yourehearse the line the same exact
way, a lot of times when you getdirection, you're in your mind,
(32:10):
you're going to you, you think you're going to say the same
thing. Oh, he went over there.
Oh, he went over there. It's the same intonation.
But if you rehearse some flat, then if you get direction, a lot
of times you're not married to that one thing that you
rehearsed over and over again the way that you rehearsed it.
So I feel that, that it's a verygood tool to do and, and, and I
(32:35):
think it's just, you know, staying in class and, and keep
practicing. I think huge for me is seeing
yourself on camera because I feel like I feel that I would
not know what I'm, what I'm presenting, you know, what, what
I'm being seen as if I don't seemy cell phone camera and if I
don't practice on camera. And also there I, I, I had a an
(32:57):
actor that I kept telling him you're when you're in camera,
you're not the person that you are right now.
Like if you were, if you talk tothe camera like you were, like
you're talking to me right now, you would be golden.
But they don't like as soon as the camera comes on, they're a
different kind of person. But they don't see it unless I
can show it to you. You're a different person right
here. And it's because we as actors
(33:19):
think that we, this is what you want.
You want me to be this certain character.
You want me to be studious. You want me to be whatever.
And, and in reality, we, yeah, we want you to embody the
character, but you also have to have yourself in it.
So when you present someone else, it's kind of like, well, I
don't, this is not, this is not who we want.
(33:42):
So it's very important, I think,to stay in class, honestly.
If you could give actors one piece of perspective or insight
into self tapes from casting's perspective, is there anything
that we've not touched on that you would want to include?
Yes, I would like to tell them that in reality, as long as we
(34:04):
can see you and hear you and as long as you make sure that there
are no distractions on the tape to distract you or to distract
our view of you. You don't have to have any fancy
camera. You don't have any fancy
lighting except that we want to see be able to see you and hear
you. That is it.
And a lot of actors, they feel like, oh, I have to have this
(34:26):
set. I have to have this specific
wall, you know, a specific blue color.
And that's really not that important.
And every time I have an opportunity to talk to actors, I
let them know that in reality, we've we've gotten tapes from
people at hotel rooms, people inthe middle of in a desert or in
(34:46):
the middle of it, you know, they're outside in the park.
And because they have to turn inan audition, they just recorded
on their tape and they've been great auditions.
So it's like it's as long as we can hear you and see you and you
do a good job, worry about yourself and just make sure we
can hear you and see you. Other than that, we don't need
any fancy anything. So don't worry about buying
(35:09):
fancy equipment. That's what I would say.
As we wind down, are there any pivotal mentors or teachers and
favorite memories of them supporting your craft?
In Dallas, I, I have a, my couple of coaches that I got on
Meisner, Nancy Chartier and Mitchell Condrey.
I, I studied with them for 12 years and they were, they have
(35:33):
always been very supportive. My first casting director that
hired me, Joe Edna Bolden has been very supportive of my
career as well and as well well as April Webster, I think there
and, and Angela Young, she's nowa casting director.
She was an associate when I worked for April Webster and
they're all been very instrumental and supportive of
(35:55):
my work. So just the, the experiences
that I had that I learned, they were very instrumental in my,
in, in my career and the way that I've developed and more
importantly, the, the, you know,the way that I've been able to,
to come here and also make a career here.
(36:17):
I hope that I continue to collect mentors.
Oh, and Suzanne Putman, but she during the pandemic, there was a
diversity mentorship in the CSA and I participated in it and I,
I had the opportunity to be mentored by her.
And I still meet with her from time to time.
(36:39):
And so, yeah, so it's, I've learned a lot from her as well.
And she's always there for me when I have questions for her as
well. And we've become friends and
yeah, and it's been, it's been great.
Miranda, we close every episode with what is one thing you wish
you could go back until your younger self?
Oh, wow. I believe I would have told
(37:03):
myself you can do it. You can do it.
If I would have known, I, I, I probably would have moved here a
little bit earlier so that I could have had a little, a
little bit more an opportunity to, to, at the time, I wasn't
probably in casting, but, but ifI were, and you know, if I would
(37:24):
have moved here earlier as an actor, maybe I would have had
more an opportunity. But because I came here and I
was already in casting, then my,my casting career just veered in
that direction. But I, I, I'm still a harder
performer. So I think that I would have
just loved to maybe have the opportunity to come here a
little earlier. But I, I, I don't regret how
(37:49):
everything has evolved because Ireally love what I do now.
I love being behind the scenes. I love discovering actors.
And it's just very rewarding forme when I find an actor that is
just amazing. It's, it's almost like they're
my babies, you know? And I keep in touch with them.
I'm, I'm very much in supportiveof them and what they do.
(38:12):
And I just love to see kind of how they evolve.
Miranda, thank you so much for doing this on the podcast today
and sharing your heart for actors and I think inspiring a
lot of us to get out of our comfort zone and challenge
ourselves a little bit. Yes.
Thank you so much for having me.Appreciate the invitation.
(38:33):
Hi everyone, thanks for listening and being the absolute
best part of our creative community here at What's My
Frame? If you'd like to learn more
about our guests, please check out the show notes and please
join us on socials at What's My Frame?
To stay in the know for upcomingevents, I'm your host, Laura
Linda Bradley. We'll see you next Monday.
Hi everyone. Today, what's my frame?
I'm joined by casting director and dialect consultant, Miranda
Martinez. Today, Miranda takes us inside
her creative process and encourages actors to explore
outside their comfort zone. She shares stories from working
on Jack Ryan as the Spanish dialect consultant, helping
bring authenticity to the story.And now she brings her
background as an actor to teaching her bilingual classes.
(00:24):
Now let's get to the conversation.
Hey Miranda, welcome to What's My Frame?
How you doing? I'm doing great.
How are you? I'm good.
Thank you so much for joining methis weekend for a little
special episode of the podcast. I was familiar with your work,
but then I also saw that you were doing a class that we'll
(00:44):
talk about later at the Foundation.
But for anyone who isn't familiar, do you mind just
giving us a little back story ofwhat drew you to the arts, first
as an actor, but then also to a career in casting?
Yes, I've always, I am originally from Panama, the
country. And since I was a little girl, I
used to watch the telenovelas, you know, with my grandmother.
(01:07):
And I knew that that wasn't true.
So I wanted to always be an actor.
Since I was a child, I was always attracted to the arts.
I was always a dancer or, you know, I will always sing around,
you know, whatever I could in mycountry.
In my country, there's no, not that much arts in high school.
So when I arrived here, I didn't, I didn't speak English
(01:30):
very well. I, I came here and I have a
degree in marketing from SMU. And then after that, I kind of
felt like I didn't really want to go into the business world.
And I've always wanted to be an actor.
So I kind of started a little later and, and yes.
And so I got into acting. By chance, a casting director
(01:52):
asked me to help out in a commercial casting.
And then that's how everything started.
And it's been a while already, so.
Yeah. And then what has your
trajectory been, because we're going to talk about a little bit
more in detail later, but you started in the Texas market and
then moved to California. So what was that progression
like for you? I started in commercials and I
(02:14):
worked in years in commercials and in fact here in LA also when
I arrived I continued in commercials.
But when I was there I had an opportunity to work with Joetna
Bolden who was doing a show and a couple of movies at around the
same time in in the Texas market.
She was casting there and she needed a full time assistant and
(02:35):
so she gave me the opportunity to work in 5 episodes of a show
called Chase. And that's when I had my first
taste of the television side. And then, and then when I moved
here, I continued in commercialsand then I had opportunities to
start working in a pilot in 2013.
And then after that is when I, Igot to join the office of April
(03:00):
Webster. And then I worked with her for
about 3 1/2 years or four years,I cannot remember, something
like that. And then I did about 5 shows
with her different, different seasons on on lock and key ID
two seasons. And yeah.
And then after that, I've been doing some, you know, the
pandemic hit as everything happened with the pandemic.
(03:22):
And after that, I've been doing some wonderful student films
with Chapman University. And that's basically on a
nutshell, yeah. And I'd love to hear how your
background as an actor shaped your approach to casting and
working with actors, either be, you know, before and in the room
or the way that you prep materials and the directions for
(03:45):
your tapes and virtual redirect,things like that.
Yes, I really love working with actors.
And in fact, I've been working with actors since, since I moved
here, I've been going back to the Texas market and kind of
teaching them because one of thethings about it's a little bit
better now with Land Man and other shows that have been
(04:07):
shooting there, even a lioness shot there.
But for a while there, there wasnot very much television or
film, you know, high level film shooting there.
And so I would go there and I would basically work with them
and tell them, telling them how things worked here.
And I really do love because I do understand what an actor goes
(04:30):
through from having that experience behind the camera.
I, I studied Meisner for 12 years in the, in the Dallas
market. And every week I, I did it for
12 years, like nonstop. I never stopped.
And that gives me a little perspective on how the view of
the actor or how the actor feelsor what the language they need
(04:52):
to, to understand what they needto do, I feel like.
And so to me is very important for them to understand from this
side of the camera. And I think that that's one of
the, the things that I love about being in casting as well,
is that I come from that from that perspective of being an
actor 1st and then viewing everything with the casting
(05:16):
lens, then I'm able to hopefullyconvey what is needed to the
scene. And I really do like doing that.
Because there's so much that's unknown and ever evolving in the
audition and casting process, what would have been beneficial
to you to have a better understanding or more full
picture understanding as an actor that's now become clear in
(05:39):
casting and working in that career?
I believe maybe you know what, these podcasts are really,
really good resources because I think that if they hear it from,
if they hear it on a casual setting, kind of like this, a
conversation where, where the actors learn what the casting
(06:02):
directors are looking for, how that what the market is calling
for. Am I prepared to do it?
Am I prepared to be able to, to,to support myself and be able to
be free for all my auditions and, and things like that?
Then they'll probably more prepared than I was when I was
here. You know, podcasting wasn't big,
(06:23):
or at least I wasn't big in it before.
And so, you know, it was really the, the, the veil between the
behind the scenes people and in front of the, the, you know,
like the actor was very, very hard.
I think because we didn't know, we don't know what, what things
are like. And so therefore, I think that
there was a little bit more of amystery.
(06:44):
One thing I wanted to be sure that we saved time for was your
work as a Spanish dialect consultant.
How did that work come into being a part of your toolkit and
career? And because you were part of
Jack Ryan, I know, but I think you've worked as a dialect
consultant on a number of projects.
It's really interesting, but it's just kind of evolved
(07:05):
because I, I, I am fluent in Spanish.
Obviously, I was born and raisedin Panama until I didn't speak
English until I was 18 years old.
So when I moved, when I started doing casting it just hey,
Miranda, you speak Spanish. Do you want to, you know, in the
commercials, do you want to readfor the, you know, with the,
with the Spanish actors? And I would do it.
(07:26):
Or for example, there were casting directors here who said,
Hey, we want to make sure that they're pronouncing the words
correctly. Can you come in for the day and
make sure that they're pronouncing things correctly or
they speak fluent because the client really wants 1 fluent
Spanish speaker. And I did that with several
casting directors where I would actually call the actors and,
(07:48):
and just make sure that they, because sometimes they do say
they speak Spanish and sometimesthey don't.
And you know, and there were, there were several ways that we
would do it and, and back in theday.
And then and then when I got hired for Jack Ryan, it was a
lot of it was specifically because the season that we did
(08:09):
was season 2 was set in Venezuela and the majority of
that the set in Venezuela and the workers, all the actors in
Venezuela, they all needed to befluent Spanish speakers.
But because the way that sometimes the Spanish is
different in every country, we wanted to make sure that it was
(08:30):
from the area because the accents are completely different
than there. If for example, a Mexican accent
versus versus a Venezuelan accent, they're completely
different accents. And we as Spanish speakers, when
we hear that on a television show, we can tell for Jack Ryan,
it was very important for the accents to be authentic and to
(08:50):
be from the same region. So we worked very closely with
casting director in because we shot in Colombia.
So for Venezuela, like we have was supposed to be Venezuela in
the story, but we shot in Colombia and then we were
auditioning very closely with the casting director in Colombia
And we all of the scenes, everything had to kind of come
(09:15):
through and we watched everything together, all the
scenes together, whether they were costar one liner,
everything we watched together in that in our in my office.
And so I, it was the one basically saying that person
sounds, you know, great over thearea or this person sounds too
much like Argentinian or whatever it was.
We were able to kind of tailor that.
(09:37):
And because of my work in the production office, we're also
the editors in the post production team was they also
hired me to do to help with the with the subtitles after,
because a lot of times the actors will veer from the
script. And so they were like, they
don't sound like what it says here.
And so they wanted to know what they were saying.
They wanted to know where exactly to put the translation
(10:01):
on the position where they're actually saying it.
And I help with that too. And I, and I'm very proud of
that work because I've never done it before and I learned
something new at that time. So that's kind of the evolution
of it. And because of that, I'm, I'm
mostly known or I'm known for bilingual casting as well as, as
I guess what you call general market casting in commercials.
(10:24):
I I do everything, but because Iam bilingual and I am very good
recognizing accents, then that'sa big part of my of my
repertoire, if you, if you will,yeah.
Now for actors, what is beneficial for them to have on
their profiles for you where youdo a lot of bilingual casting,
(10:47):
do you like to see in English and Spanish real or?
Yes, that is very important. I think that if you have either
nowadays, you, you don't even have to have a real necessarily.
But if you do have scenes that you've actually done on, on
movies in Spanish more, yeah, you know for sure put them on
your profile. However, you can also do
(11:09):
nowadays you can just do a, a scene, a self tape scene in
Spanish, or you can do a voice over.
And then with that, a little bitabout myself, which is which a
lot of us do in commercials. I can tell a lot about you.
I can tell you know how fluent you are, how native you are.
And a lot of times we are looking for native speakers
(11:30):
because with that accent, so it's sometimes a little bit, if
you have an accent, it's a little bit hard to understand
when you're on a project. So we're looking for native
speakers for people who are fluent in Spanish.
And so that's very important, whether you put it on a reel,
you have a reel, or if you can just put a little introduction
of yourself on your profile, that would be sufficient.
(11:52):
Maybe like 30 seconds or not even a minute of just you saying
something good about your, you know, something that you like
your hobbies or something that'svery helpful.
And then I do view those that would be very helpful.
And then also on your resume, make sure that you put in, you
know, that you are a fluent native Spanish speaker or
whether you can do accents in Spanish.
(12:14):
There's someone I know that is very good about accents as well.
And I that sometimes I'm lookingfor a particular accent, whether
is somebody from Venezuela like in that job for Jack Ryan, and
sometimes I'm looking for a Mexican.
But if you are, if you are good at those accents, just make sure
to put them on there and and then also give me samples
(12:35):
because that would be amazing. If you don't mind speaking a
little bit to the importance of accent accuracy, curious if you
have any favorite stories, an audience member coming and and
just complimenting like the accuracy and how meaningful it
was or maybe from the actors that were coming in to read and
feeling like seeing and the authenticity of the casting
(12:57):
being meaningful to them. If there's any favorite stories
there, I'd love to love to hear those.
Yeah, I, I mean, recently I taught.
This is something that just comes to mind right now.
The I I recently taught a class at the SAC Foundation and the
actors I I Ioffer the class in English and Spanish or Spanish,
(13:17):
whichever language you want to do and on.
And, and they usually tell me that they don't have the
opportunity to practice their scenes in Spanish.
And it's really interesting because it's it's definitely a
different feel when you act in your own language and or your
maybe primary language or it's ait's a completely different
(13:40):
thing. And so they were really happy
that Ioffer that to them. In terms of the the accent, I I
got compliments on the Jack Ryana cast as well, because they
were saying that the accents were actually, you know, pretty
accurate for the region. So I was very proud of that
because I was, you know, partially my work.
(14:01):
Obviously there was a big team behind us, but yeah, for the
Ryan I I'm very proud of that work, that job there that we did
together. And and even there was there was
one of the actors too, was actually from Spain.
And he he sounded differently, you know, from America, not, you
(14:24):
know what I mean? It's like it's, you know, from
from the Americas. I'm saying that like he spoke
Spanish like with a, with a, with a very, you know, you know,
Venezuelan, Colombian accent, which is what we were looking
for. So I and that's really difficult
because that accent is very difficult to do, Meaning the
Spanish, the Spaniard accent is very different from the
(14:46):
America's accent. So we're very proud of that.
We were able to get that actor So very interesting.
But yeah, I think those are the two things that come to mind.
The only other thing is authentic, authentic casting,
not necessarily the Spanish, butI don't know if you want to talk
(15:07):
about the Icaros movie, the you know it.
There's a movie that I did in Peru that I was hired to do, and
there I was. I was hired to go to the jungle
in Peru to to train the shamans that we're going to be.
This is a movie about ayahuasca.They asked me to come and work
(15:29):
with the shamans because they were real shamans and they
didn't speak English, but they spoke Spanish in their own ship
people language. So then I was able to go there
for three weeks in the jungle inthe middle of nowhere, training
the shamans to be in this independent film that I also
helped cast in 2014. So that was actually an amazing
(15:50):
experience that I am so proud ofas well, and that was a very
poetic film. How did that project come to
you? That is a very good story
because I, it, it was something that somebody, you know, like
the, the, the production team was looking for a Spanish
casting director in LA for their, for their LA casting.
(16:15):
And somehow they got to my website, which is interesting
because I, I was actually more like teaching in Dallas at the
time. Like I, I was, I was definitely
doing pilots and, and I was definitely gearing up to, to
working television, but I hadn'tactually gotten the job with,
(16:36):
with April Webster yet. So they were like they, they
just kind of found me online. It was an interesting thing that
I just don't know how they foundme.
And so they wanted someone that spoke Spanish, that could cast
the Spanish lead role. And, and I did the, I did the,
the casting. They loved it.
And, and even though they ended up booking someone out of New
(16:59):
York, they, they came to me because they like me.
And they said, hey, how would you like to go to the jungle in
Peru for three weeks? And of course you don't know me,
but just so you know, I am not acamper, I am not a nature
person. I am definitely a hotel kind of
glamping. That's what I like.
And when they say jungle, I immediately, I immediately
(17:21):
panicked because I was like, I have never been in this
situation. I have never had to do anything
like that. And, but I think for me it was
a, you know, a challenge from for me.
So then I was, I actually gladlyaccepted and I went and I
thought it was, I definitely cansay that I came with a lot of
(17:45):
mosquito bites. There were, there were a lot of
critters everywhere. And it was definitely not a
glamping experience. It was definitely jungle.
We, we could not drive there. We had to fly there.
And we were in the middle of like if you look at Iquitos,
which is where we shot, it's literally in the mountain
somewhere or whatever in the, inthe jungle in Peru, in the
(18:06):
middle of nowhere. You can only get there by boat
or a plane. You cannot drive there at all.
So that was very interesting to me.
But I was there for three weeks and in the end, the, the
reaction of which my work was to, to train the shamans, which
are not actors, they're shamans to train them on how, what to
(18:30):
expect from the shoot, how to, how to behave themselves in.
And, and I would run lines with them in their language and in
Spanish because they had lines that were in their own language.
So I run, I would run lines withthem individually.
I was basically their, their acting coach for three weeks.
And that was a very interesting experience.
And in the end, the production team was very happy because they
(18:54):
were not, they did not delay theshoot.
They were prepared. They knew their lines.
They were, they were and they were very natural.
They were themselves, which is what you, what you want from a
real person, you know, you, you don't want them to be like, oh,
there's a camera, you know. How did you start building a
dialogue in a partnership with them?
(19:16):
Well, I they, they already had apartnership with the production
team because they had been the production.
The producers have already been there.
They've known them for a few years because they were there
Shamans. The two directors have been
doing ayahuasca there for years.So they knew them.
And so then when they decided todo the film, they kind of wrote
(19:38):
it around their own ceremony experience, etcetera, in the
same location where we went shooting.
So this is where they've been todo the ceremonies for several
years before we went in. So they already trusted the
director and and and the directors because they were a Co
director. In fact, one of the directors no
(20:00):
longer with us because this is kind of like part of her story.
She had breast cancer and she went looking for answers in the
jungle. OK.
Yeah. And so she, they already knew
them. So then when I came in, they
introduced me and of course theyspoke Spanish.
And I just basically started telling them that I was here to
help them and to help them do it, you know, do a great job for
(20:22):
the production team and for the film itself.
And and yeah. And then I think that very
quickly, they, they, they trusted me and they, they, they,
you know, they were committed tothe work.
They were committed to doing the, the film.
I can't remember. There was a magazine that wrote
that, that, that named it best film of the year that year.
(20:44):
And it was because it was a verypoetic film.
It was very heartfelt. And it was kind of like magical
realism. You've touched on this that it
definitely took you out of your comfort zone.
What were some of the takeaways and lessons that that time in
the jungle taught you? I think that he taught me that I
am, that sometimes I think that some things are not for me.
(21:06):
And then in the end, I'm like, well, that wasn't so bad after
all. Yeah, it's, it was a Squire
Magazine list of best films from2017, which is Squire Magazine.
That was actually pretty cool and.
Oh, yeah. So, So.
Yeah. So it taught me to be more that
I am more resilient than I am, that I am stronger than I am
because I I'm telling you, thosecritters, they were in the
(21:29):
middle of the night waking you up, you know, and there were
frogs that we were in bats everywhere.
And I was scared of it at the beginning, but in the end, it
was a really fun experience alsoto see the the difference in the
culture as well. The food was delicious, even
(21:50):
though we were mostly in the jungle.
And it's just just kind of a brought up a, a desire to, to
travel and to kind of experiencemore of the world as well, which
I haven't before. I cuz, you know, I come from
Panama and I'm, I always feel like, well, I already know what
it's like in Latin America, you know, but just to, just to know
(22:13):
more cultures, not just to travel here in United States,
but to travel abroad and to get to know other cultures.
Yeah, yeah. And when I go back to your class
at the SAG after foundation. There was a variety of different
levels of Spanish. There were people that have
learned Spanish as, as adults that were wanting to, to get
(22:35):
feedback on their, on their Spanish ability, but also they
are directing as well. And there were other people
there. Maybe you know, that they're,
they're native speakers in the other languages as in Spanish as
well. And they just wanted to practice
it and just and get feedback. And they just they're, they're,
(22:55):
they're, you know, their own feedback was that they that they
really liked it and they, they wish that they could do it more
often and that they wish they could, you know, that they had
more opportunities to, to do their scenes in Spanish.
And you know, in general, the the the every time that Ioffer
(23:18):
the the the ability to do to choose what language to do they,
the actors really enjoy that. You've worked with April Webster
on some big projects. What did you learn from April's
approach to casting, and how didyou blend that with your
approach? Because she's, I mean, such a
legendary office. Oh yes, April is a gem.
(23:41):
She is she's she's very specificon on the the kind of actor she
likes. She likes very natural acting,
very film and film film style ofacting.
And when I was there, I really, I, I learned that, that I didn't
(24:03):
know that until, you know, I mean, when, when I did the
pilot, we watched all the videos.
But also that was a pilot. And when we went to April, we
all watch all the videos, all the sales tapes or all the
auditions, even if, even if someof us are not in the room, like
like back when I started workingwith her, we were all in the
(24:25):
room. Of course, we will get self
tapes if the, if the actor was out of town.
But even if they were not, if maybe April was in a meeting or
something, when, when all, all of us would watch the video at
some point and we would all collaborate.
It was all a collaboration. We would all have meetings and
give our, our, our perspectives,our, our thoughts.
(24:49):
And that's something that that was very important and very it,
it really taught me a lot about the the essence of teamwork in
an office. I was given a lot of
responsibility pretty quickly inJack Ryan because I was
basically overseeing the the Colombian casting for the
(25:14):
Spanish cast. And so, and there was a lot of
soldiers and a lot of people that we needed to cast the
actors that we needed to cast inColombia.
So that was that was a very goodand also that was an amazing
experience because it was a cross-border show.
So like even if you are going tosee Colombia in in, you know,
(25:34):
for example, episode 1, episode 3 and episode 10, you only shoot
in Colombia for whatever 2-3 months.
You do it at the same time. So all those scenes have to be
like organized in a way that theactors are in that set for, you
know, the special amount of time.
And so we needed to do that was a very difficult show because of
that. And we needed to cast in in very
(25:57):
in several places. We cast in London, in Russia, in
New York, in Colombia, and even in Malaysia, we had to cast.
So that was a very difficult show, but it taught me a lot of
how to organize myself, how to how to, because that was my
first full on season that I did with a show.
So it taught me a lot and I really enjoyed it and it and it
(26:21):
was very, it was my first show and at the same time the show
that I've had so much responsibility and I learned a
lot from it. And a lot of it was basically in
the job training because it was so fast-paced, as everything is
in the casting world or in the production world, it's always
fast-paced, so. When you're watching auditions
(26:43):
for these high level and really defined voice projects, what
separates a technically strong audition for you from those that
refocus how you see and hear thecharacter?
I feel like for me it's it's a lot about how the actor listens
(27:04):
to the other character, because a lot of times what I love to
see in a film is when I'm I'm sorry, when in an in a self tape
in an audition is when I am drawn in and you haven't even
said it worked. It is the whole listening, It's
(27:24):
the whole presence. It's not just you speaking the
words from your mouth out, but it's it's a living the
situation. And a lot of times I've had
really great auditions where again, people don't say anything
for a while, but they're feelingthe space with and it's very
hard to, to, to explain how to do it but it.
But if you see it, then you, youcan kind of tell this your,
(27:47):
your, your embodiment of the character.
You're living the character at that moment.
It's it's very interesting to me.
So I'm watch, I usually watch the the actor when they're not
talking, what are they doing? Are they looking at their see?
Are they looking at their lines and just listening for the cue
(28:07):
or are they really living the moment and they're really
present? That's one of the things I do
and, and you can actually do it as a as a, you can sight read
and also be in the moment. I've had, I've, I've seen
amazing auditions where the actor doesn't even know their,
their lines completely and they're looking down, but their
energy stays with the other character.
(28:29):
It stays in the moment, it staysin the scene and, and it, it
doesn't affect the outcome of the, of the audition.
But there have been other actorswhere they're constantly looking
down and the energy and the energy falters.
Their energy kind of breaks and you can kind of tell that the
person's not prepared or, you know, they didn't, they didn't
(28:51):
really do their job, you know, with the scene or breaking down
the scene, etcetera. So for me, a lot of times it's
just I watch what they're not saying, when they're listening,
when what they're not saying, what they're doing, what, how,
what are they seeing? Are they distracted themselves?
Are they just thinking about their next line?
(29:12):
Things like that. Those those.
This is kind of like how I approach it.
It's such a foundational aspect,but I think so often we forget
to actively listen. And This is why I'm such a big
advocate of staying in class because I think sometimes you
have to see someone else delivering their lines and then
(29:33):
waiting till they don't hear anything.
They're not listening, but they're waiting to not hear the
other person speaking to then say their next line.
And it's a very different delivery.
It's not how we as human beings have conversations.
It's a very like self-serving delivery versus a A2 way
conversation and being affected by in real time.
Like how does your reader say that line to you and hearing
(29:55):
that and taking it in and then, you know, following the ball
back, going off of that and actively listening when you are
working with actors in a, a virtual or in the room call back
process, I think a lot of actorshave gotten very strong muscles
in the self tape space where they're in full control of the
(30:19):
room and the environment and sometimes struggle to take those
in real time redirects or conversations and notes.
Do you have any advice? There I am a very big advocate
like like you just mentioned about staying in class.
And it's very important to me that they see themselves on
camera because the reason is, and I always say this, and
(30:42):
that's why I always like when I teach, I want to see you on
camera. And a lot of times I, I ask for
a self tape or if I want to see you on camera, it's because the
camera picks up things that you don't see in real life.
You, you know, you don't even know until you see yourself on
camera that you're like blinkingtoo much or that you're moving
(31:03):
your hair in a, your head in a certain way, repeatedly,
repeatedly, whatever. Like if you, if you're
comfortable with people and, andyou're having a conversation,
you don't see those things. But as soon as the cameras put
in front of you, those things come out.
And a lot of times I remember that when I was an actor, I used
to think, Oh my gosh, I nailed that scene.
(31:24):
I was so natural. I was this and that.
And I will see my cell phone camera and I would be like, Oh,
no, I did not do well on that one.
So I think that it's very important because our perception
of ourselves is different than our, than what is actually
showing up on camera. It can be.
And so then I think that for me,I, I piggyback on the standing
(31:46):
class and getting direction froma coach and, and then just
staying open. One of the things that we used
to do in, in, in Meisner that I think it was very helpful.
We we rehearse the lines withoutany emotion.
And that way went because if yourehearse the line the same exact
way, a lot of times when you getdirection, you're in your mind,
(32:10):
you're going to you, you think you're going to say the same
thing. Oh, he went over there.
Oh, he went over there. It's the same intonation.
But if you rehearse some flat, then if you get direction, a lot
of times you're not married to that one thing that you
rehearsed over and over again the way that you rehearsed it.
So I feel that, that it's a verygood tool to do and, and, and I
(32:35):
think it's just, you know, staying in class and, and keep
practicing. I think huge for me is seeing
yourself on camera because I feel like I feel that I would
not know what I'm, what I'm presenting, you know, what, what
I'm being seen as if I don't seemy cell phone camera and if I
don't practice on camera. And also there I, I, I had a an
(32:57):
actor that I kept telling him you're when you're in camera,
you're not the person that you are right now.
Like if you were, if you talk tothe camera like you were, like
you're talking to me right now, you would be golden.
But they don't like as soon as the camera comes on, they're a
different kind of person. But they don't see it unless I
can show it to you. You're a different person right
here. And it's because we as actors
(33:19):
think that we, this is what you want.
You want me to be this certain character.
You want me to be studious. You want me to be whatever.
And, and in reality, we, yeah, we want you to embody the
character, but you also have to have yourself in it.
So when you present someone else, it's kind of like, well, I
don't, this is not, this is not who we want.
(33:42):
So it's very important, I think,to stay in class, honestly.
If you could give actors one piece of perspective or insight
into self tapes from casting's perspective, is there anything
that we've not touched on that you would want to include?
Yes, I would like to tell them that in reality, as long as we
(34:04):
can see you and hear you and as long as you make sure that there
are no distractions on the tape to distract you or to distract
our view of you. You don't have to have any fancy
camera. You don't have any fancy
lighting except that we want to see be able to see you and hear
you. That is it.
And a lot of actors, they feel like, oh, I have to have this
(34:26):
set. I have to have this specific
wall, you know, a specific blue color.
And that's really not that important.
And every time I have an opportunity to talk to actors, I
let them know that in reality, we've we've gotten tapes from
people at hotel rooms, people inthe middle of in a desert or in
(34:46):
the middle of it, you know, they're outside in the park.
And because they have to turn inan audition, they just recorded
on their tape and they've been great auditions.
So it's like it's as long as we can hear you and see you and you
do a good job, worry about yourself and just make sure we
can hear you and see you. Other than that, we don't need
any fancy anything. So don't worry about buying
(35:09):
fancy equipment. That's what I would say.
As we wind down, are there any pivotal mentors or teachers and
favorite memories of them supporting your craft?
In Dallas, I, I have a, my couple of coaches that I got on
Meisner, Nancy Chartier and Mitchell Condrey.
I, I studied with them for 12 years and they were, they have
(35:33):
always been very supportive. My first casting director that
hired me, Joe Edna Bolden has been very supportive of my
career as well and as well well as April Webster, I think there
and, and Angela Young, she's nowa casting director.
She was an associate when I worked for April Webster and
they're all been very instrumental and supportive of
(35:55):
my work. So just the, the experiences
that I had that I learned, they were very instrumental in my,
in, in my career and the way that I've developed and more
importantly, the, the, you know,the way that I've been able to,
to come here and also make a career here.
(36:17):
I hope that I continue to collect mentors.
Oh, and Suzanne Putman, but she during the pandemic, there was a
diversity mentorship in the CSA and I participated in it and I,
I had the opportunity to be mentored by her.
And I still meet with her from time to time.
(36:39):
And so, yeah, so it's, I've learned a lot from her as well.
And she's always there for me when I have questions for her as
well. And we've become friends and
yeah, and it's been, it's been great.
Miranda, we close every episode with what is one thing you wish
you could go back until your younger self?
Oh, wow. I believe I would have told
(37:03):
myself you can do it. You can do it.
If I would have known, I, I, I probably would have moved here a
little bit earlier so that I could have had a little, a
little bit more an opportunity to, to, at the time, I wasn't
probably in casting, but, but ifI were, and you know, if I would
(37:24):
have moved here earlier as an actor, maybe I would have had
more an opportunity. But because I came here and I
was already in casting, then my,my casting career just veered in
that direction. But I, I, I'm still a harder
performer. So I think that I would have
just loved to maybe have the opportunity to come here a
little earlier. But I, I, I don't regret how
(37:49):
everything has evolved because Ireally love what I do now.
I love being behind the scenes. I love discovering actors.
And it's just very rewarding forme when I find an actor that is
just amazing. It's, it's almost like they're
my babies, you know? And I keep in touch with them.
I'm, I'm very much in supportiveof them and what they do.
(38:12):
And I just love to see kind of how they evolve.
Miranda, thank you so much for doing this on the podcast today
and sharing your heart for actors and I think inspiring a
lot of us to get out of our comfort zone and challenge
ourselves a little bit. Yes.
Thank you so much for having me.Appreciate the invitation.
(38:33):
Hi everyone, thanks for listening and being the absolute
best part of our creative community here at What's My
Frame? If you'd like to learn more
about our guests, please check out the show notes and please
join us on socials at What's My Frame?
To stay in the know for upcomingevents, I'm your host, Laura
Linda Bradley. We'll see you next Monday.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com