Every once in a while I have the pleasure of hearing from someone I’ve interviewed and I have a chance to catch up with them. I interviewed my friend Jeff Joslin -- actor/model/director/producer, back in 2013 for a Twenty Questions column. Jeff has just written and published a terrific book called Pick Me! Pick Me! -- subtitled “how to break into the entertainment industry with little to no experience.”
Jeff had been a football player and then a businessman when the acting bug bit seriously in December 2005. He decided to pursue modeling and acting seriously, and used his marketing skills to market himself.
I want to interject here for a moment and say, I have acted with Jeff and he is thoroughly professional. In 3rd grade we were both in a play called Rumplestiltskin. Jeff had a small part as a soldier and suggested to the director that he and some other boys do a Russian dance -- huge hit with the audience. I had the rather difficult character role of The Miller’s Wife. (I was taller than everyone else, and chubby, so character roles were my third grade claim to fame. LOL)
I have been reading Jeff’s book Pick Me! Pick Me! and it has a lot of great information and advice to aspiring actors. Jeff: “My book is aimed at helping people break into the industry if they don’t have much experience. Models and actors will find it helpful.”
One great takeaway is this: you don’t have to be gorgeous to get work. There is plenty of work for people who look ordinary, and there are also “character” roles that need filling. Jeff has actually lost out on occasion because he is TOO handsome and the director felt like he would draw too much attention away from the lead actors. Example: “I was in a scene in Sex and the City and I got moved, and told, “You look too dapper. You’re too good looking for that scene.”
Jeff has been on sets with some very famous people – Richard Gere, Josh Brolin, Emily Blunt, Tyler Perry – just to name a few. That’s one of the perks of what he does.
Jeff had a small but important role in 2012's Madea's Witness Protection.
He urges folks trying to break in to showbiz to not limit themselves to only acting. Jeff has worked as a stunt man, an extra, even a hand double. As Jeff explains, “I was Steve Martin’s hand double in “It's Complicated.” I was rolling croissants in the bakery because my hands look like his. I was Josh Brolin’s hand double in Men in Black III. They don’t want to waste the actor’s time doing stuff like that so a lot of times they will use doubles.”
The process of getting cast in commercials, TV shows, and films is nowadays easier than it used to be. Jeff does a lot of auditions on digital video, and sends them to casting directors. That has allowed him to live in Orlando since 2015 and still get work, although he is in the process of moving back to his hometown of Knoxville at the moment.
If you want to keep up with what Jeff is doing, like his Facebook page Jeff Joslin Producer/Actor. Jeff has posted some of his taped audition videos on there.
Jeff is a multi-talented guy. In addition to shooting his own audition videos, he has written, produced and directed two films, Fishbait, and The Quarry.
I can't wait to see what he is doing next.
Oh, and just an an FYI -- Jeff has three handsome and multi-talented sons, too, and one adorable grandbaby.
