John Billingsley

"The Others"
series regular



Biography

I recommend ITA to every actor I know who is serious about moving forward in this industry.

I moved to LA from Seattle in 1996 and spent a year fruitlessly nagging my agent to 'get me out': (the standard actor's lament; and, like all actors, I was frustrated by the standard issue response, what I came to call the Actor's Catch 22: No one in the casting community will see you because they don't know who you are.) But eventually I was turned on to ITA and learned that meeting casting directors of my own choosing, learning about their projects and how their offices work is completely in my control.

After two years of workshops, I knew a significant proportion of the casting community; improved and polished my audition skills by working out consistently in workshops, developed immensely from the feedback and information I got at workshops and as a result increased the quantity and quality of auditions I had been getting. This in turn helped me improve the caliber and quality of my representation.

As actors, we are our own business and I, through the years of "workshopping", had developed an extensive mailing/contact list for marketing purposes. I also attach what I consider an essential long-range plan. It's the umpteenth casting director you meet who makes a difference, or a casting director you meet for the umpteenth time who finally registers how talented you are: in short, it's the tortoise's approach, not the hare's. But for an actor who applies patience and recognizes the value of improving their audition skills and consistently working out their audition muscle as well as building a rolodex for the next twenty-five years, ITA will undoubtedly play a role in a long and successful career.











































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John Billingsley was primarily a Seattle based actor for fifteen years (1982-1996). He appeared on almost every prominent stage in the region as well as on quite a few remarkably anonymous ones. His quixotic goal for many years was to build a theatre company and to that end he collaborated closely with a number of smaller theatres in and around the Northwest (New City, Pioneer Square). Notable stage credits include Nothing Sacred, The Birthday Party, The Seagull, The Time of Your Life, The Nerd, Candid, The Unseen Hand, Twelfth Night, Great Expectations, and A History of Sexuality, the latter a year long investigation into the works of Michel Foucalt, conducted by Theatre X (Milwaukee), which toured internationally and finally landed in Amsterdam (which is why John went). John was the co-founder and co-Artistic Director of two prestigious Seattle theatre institutions, BOOKIT and FREEHOLD. BOOKIT is devoted to adapting literature for the stage - the most prominent project to emerge from under the aegis of BOOKIT being the Cider House Rules at the Mark Taper Forum. While at BOOKIT, John directed, acted, and produced as well as being directly involved in the creation of twenty five pieces by authors such at Twain, Welty, Fitzgerald, Sue Miller, Chekhov, etc.

Performances in BOOKIT's own theatre space were augmented by tours to schools, libraries, senior citizen centers, juvenile detention facilities, art galleries, conventions and theatre festivals. BOOKIT is now over ten years old and produces both long and short fiction throughout the Northwest to critical acclaim. FREEHOLD is the Northwest's largest and most successful acting studio. While John was co-Artistic Director, he taught acting and directing, in addition to running FREEHOLD's experimental theatre wing. Since moving to Los Angeles in 1996, John has been appearing primarily on television in guest starring roles on such programs as NYPD Blue, The Practice, Judging Amy, Felicity, Time of Your Life, The X-Files, Profiler, Pretender, GvsE, among others. He has appeared in approximately 15 feature films, most of which continue to linger in well-deserved obscurity. He is currently appearing as a series regular on The Others as Miles Ballard.