Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark Atteberry.
Hi Mark, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My adventures in the Entertainment Industry began as early as age eight when all the students in my grammar school were handed a tonette and taught how to play music. I fell instantly in love. Soon after, I switched to trombone and played music most every day until I was in my mid 30’s. I started on trombone but also played tuba and keyboards.
I played my first professional gig at the age of 14 and for the next two decades made my living as a musician. I specialized in jazz and classical but eventually worked my way into rock ‘n’ roll. Part of my musical journey included playing in pit orchestras in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. It was there that my love of acting began. A revival of Hair in the Bay Area had a particularly profound effect on me since the actors were actually on stage and part of the show. I was hooked. After countless tours and endless years of playing music on the road, I was burned out and was ready for a change. I slowly shifted to acting. I began studying with several of the more famous acting teachers at the time including Stella Adler, The Actor’s Studio, Roy London, Ivana Chubbuck, Larry Moss and Vladimir Ilyin at the Chekhov Moscow Art Theatre. My love of acting blossomed from that time on. I now make my full-time living as a working actor and have been for many years.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I don’t know that anyone ever has a smooth road to success, with perhaps a few exceptions. Like most, my journey into the arts was laden with bumpy roads and plenty of hurdles. But I’m a firm believer that the struggles, the vulnerabilities, and the insecurities are what make the great artists great. One of the joys of being an artist is that you get to help people go through their struggles by living out fully your own shortcomings, failures and successes right in front of their eyes. The more we show our humanity and our vulnerabilities the more relatable we are. One of the biggest bumps along my path was my transition from music to acting. Because I had decent success in the music world and I “knew people” I thought it would be easy to jump right into TV and film acting. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. I practically had to start over from square one. It took years, decades really. Sharon Stone once said she was an overnight success ten years in the making. That principle was absolutely true for me as well. Over time I had decent success commercially but it literally took me over a decade before I had any success whatsoever in the film and television world. Throw into the mix that I’m highly dyslexic and don’t have a good memory and my struggles of making it as an actor became even more real. I like to think everyone in this world was given a box of broken tools, different than other people’s tools, and our job is to make something beautiful with it.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
During my transition from music to acting I burned through my money and found myself in need of a good side gig. So, I became a headshot photographer since photography was my lifelong hobby and I was pretty good at it. Little did I know within a couple of years I’d be voted “LA’s Top Headshot Photographer” by Backstage Magazine. The irony was that I had no intention of making my mark as a photographer, I wanted to be an actor. Nonetheless, that opened doors for me and gave me a full understanding of how the industry works. And it introduced me to numerous insiders and decision-makers. Because of my success in headshots, I started an ad agency and began to direct. The knowledge I gained from those experiences has been life and career-changing for me. I now have a profoundly deep understanding of how casting works, why knowing your type is so important, the value of branding yourself and more importantly the importance of bringing your unique qualities and essence to this industry. What makes us unique is the key to standing out from all the others within our category. Very few were talking about this so I began teaching and speaking on the topic. After all, it was the most important part of getting work as an actor. Yes, acting technique is hugely important, it’s what gives you longevity and skill, but understanding what you have to offer to the industry and knowing how to market that is what helps you get the work. Even though I’m busy with my acting, I still make time to do private consultations with actors. It’s that important to me!
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
One of the most difficult things to do as an artist and as a human is to be objective with ourselves. We as actors have no idea what people see. We don’t know what casting sees when we walk into a room or when they look at our footage. We don’t know what audiences see when they watch your performance. We don’t know what directors see when they adjust our work. It’s incredibly important that we have help to get a grasp of how we’re perceived. Once we know that we can know how to market ourselves and exploit our particular gifts. Although I’m considered the industry expert and I’m known as “LA’s Type Specialist” I still can’t do this work on myself. All I can do is be me and turn to other experts or industry pros to tell me how I’m perceived. The flip side of that coin is to trust your instincts and always be you. As I said earlier, that’s what makes us stick out from all the others. The trap that most artist fall into is they try to do what they think others want to see. For example, if we get an audition, we’ll dissect every word and punctuation mark on that page to try to figure out exactly what the Casting Director, Director and Network want. We sacrifice all of our unique qualities to try to become something we’re not. When we do that we’re like 95% of the other actors out there that are just trying to please everyone in hopes of getting a job or furthering our career. It’s a mistake! Do it the way YOU would do it. Be yourself! Be unique! When you’re yourself, you have no competition. That took me years to learn. And it’s true for all artists.
Pricing:
- $195 for a private consultation.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://beaworkingactor.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.atteberry
- Other: imdb.me/markatteberry
Image Credits
Cameron Radice Photography
