September 16, 2020

Meet Frank Perilli of Frank Perilli–Actor in Roswell

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Frank Perilli.

Frank, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Ah yes the beginning! I guess I got interested in Acting after I graduated High School. I had been on stage before when I was younger but never saw it as something that I could pursue. I attended a community college for a couple of years. I wasn’t able to to study acting as a major unfortunately so I had to take all the other classes necessary for a Liberal Arts degree. So I was taking Acting classes each semester and I had the chance to audition for the The Last Night Of Ballyhoo by Alfred Uhry. There was a character who was from New York and I thought “I got this!” but my teacher wanted to challenge me and play someone completely opposite and so I ended up playing Peachy Weil who was a southern Jew with red hair. I had to have a southern accent which luckily one of my fellow actors in the show was from the south so I learned from her. I also I had to dye my hair red! The show was a success, a lot of fun and a great experience! A couple of months later I found out that I was nominated for an award for my training and work in the performing arts. I ended up winning and receiving a medal and certificate. I was actually surprised by the whole thing and thought I didn’t deserve it because I felt that there were other students in class that did better. In 2010, I applied to the New York Film Academy in NYC for their 3 month Acting For Film Program. I ended up being accepted and was able to paid for it myself from working and saving years prior. In those 3 months, I ended up living on the Upper East Side on 97th street and going to classes on the Lower East Side in Soho. I learned a lot about film acting and how it differs from the stage and made friends and was even able to make some short films with the student filmmakers. After I finished at NYFA, I headed back home to Upstate NY and started auditioning for plays around the local area. I would apply for stuff on Backstage like student films or commercials that were in NYC and if I had gotten any auditions, I would take that train back and fourth from Albany which was a 2.5 hr ride one way. As much as I would’ve loved to live the city, financially I couldn’t do it. In 2017 I was in a weird place mentally. I felt I wasn’t making any progress in what I was trying to achieve and feeling trapped where I was living and so I fell into a depression. I had to make a change and so I decided pack my bags to move to Georgia and what it had to offer. I already had family living here so I knew I wouldn’t be alone. When I arrived, I immediately searched out an acting studio to study at. Eventually I stumbled upon Anthony Meindl’s Acting Workshop(AMAW). I knew about Anthony and his studio. I would watch his some of his short lessons on Youtube and feel inspired. I decided to audit a class at the studio and ended up meeting Katelin Chesna, whose not only a talented actress and incredible teacher, but also a loving, caring human being. I immediately started taking classes the following month and it’s been an amazing learning experience and I’ve grown so much as an actor and as a human being. The thing I love about Katelin is that when you’re working with her on your scene, she pushes you to try new things and go even deeper than before. More importantly, she wants you to just PLAY and have FUN! So as my 3 years of residence is approaching soon, I say it’s been good so far. I did some background work for the show MIRACLE WORKERS with Daniel Radcliffe and Steve Buscemi. I did a showcase with my fellow actors from class back in November of last year and some projects with students from SCAD. I’m still working on finding representation but now that the industry has been put on hold due to COVID, I find that this has given me the chance to learn new things and try to stay creative in these hard times.

Has it been a smooth road?
Whenever you’re pursuing a career in the arts, its never a smooth road. Sometimes it can be lonely. I’m constantly fighting the inner thoughts in my head. You know the ones: “I’m not good enough, “I’m not smart enough”, ” Not good looking..etc”. Then you got the business side of things: Making sure your marketing materials are up to date (headshots, website, reels, resume), going to casting workshops and meeting the CDs and showing them your work. With the industry being put on hold on because of COVID, we won’t being seeing in-person auditions for a long time and Self-Tapes will be the new standard.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
Performing Artist

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Atlanta has been great so far! The film industry has been booming down here and it will continue to grow over time. Pretty soon it will be the number 1 spot to shoot. I’ve met so many actors, filmmakers and writers since arriving. It’s just a giant community of artists that want to collaborate with each other.

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