An interpreter's interpretation » acting

Meeting the Life Cereal Kid — My Childhood Stint in Commercial Auditions

Daniel Greene — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 15:17:44 +0000

When I was eight, I went on about 25 commercial auditions with my maternal grandmother in NYC. I once went up for a peanut butter commercial against the boy who played Mikey in the famous Life Cereal commercial– you know, they one where the brother says, “He likes it! Hey, Mikey!” Well, “Mikey” was about 9 or 10 by that time. Of course, he booked the gig and I saw him on TV a few weeks later. There’s nothing like auditioning in NYC as a child to make your life surreal. I would see the competition in the waiting room and then see them on TV a few weeks later. It was strange and disappointing to audition and never get anything. Eventually, I stopped getting calls from my agent.

Apparently, none of the exhuberance I had on the train to the city translated to the studio once I got there. I would be an excited little ham on the train, telling anyone around that I was going to an audition, but I would clam up in the audition itself. Of course, I never had any acting training or preparation for commercial television. Oh well.

Thank God I went to the School of Creative and Performing Arts when I was 11 and got a great performing arts education for 7 years. I’m happy to say that I’ve had many rewarding performance experiences in my life since then. I even finally got to do a local television commercial.

My Experience in the Performing Arts

Daniel Greene — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 23:44:46 +0000

[Moved from http://danielgreene.com/performing/]

Background

I was born into a family that appreciated the arts, and I got an early start at singing. My first role was Jerome in South Pacific at Camp Saskatchewan in the Adirondack mountains of upstate New York when I was eight years old. When my family moved from New York to San Diego when I was ten, I was fortunate that the San Diego School of Creative & Performing Arts opened its doors only months later. I attended SCPA from sixth grade through high school graduation. From there, I went to UCLA to study Theatre Arts. I learned a lot about theater but wasn’t ready for college, I guess, so I worked in LA for a while before moving back to San Diego. Then I realized I wanted to learn ASL, so I went to Mesa College, lived with a deaf man, and in a couple of years I became an interpreter.

ASL interpreting has been my day job since 1990, but I have continued to involve myself in the performing arts. I have performed in straight plays, musicals, operettas, and even opera. I have trained in voice acting (a.k.a. voiceover) and on-camera acting and have some voiceover and student film credits to my name, including one voiceover/camera commercial. I have studied singing under several singing teachers including Dianna Ruggiero, Stephen Crawford, and Dan Hooper. My most recent performing arts experience was singing in the opera chorus of Aïda with the Phoenix Opera in February 2009.

When not performing on stage, I use my YouTube channel as an outlet for singing and a do a lot of photography that I share on Flickr.

Voiceover

In 2003, I began an ernest study of voice acting with The Commercial Clinic in San Diego, CA. I have a Commercial, Corporate, and Audiobook voiceover demo. If you would like to hear it, please contact me.

I first explored voiceover work when I played the title character in The Invisible Man radio drama at the San Diego School of Creative & Performing Arts when I was 11.

Some of the voiceover jobs I have done include:

On-camera/voiceover 60-second promo spot for a Makeover Madness show on Community View
Gambler in a radio ad for Golden Acorn Casino
Ring Announcer in a soundtrack for a multi-media performance art piece called Chela
Reader of short stories, poems, and pronunciation drills for the companion CD to a textbook called Monthly Integrated Method ESL for a Mexican company called Advanced Methods Company
A radio ad to promote a play I was in with The Alternative Theatre Company on Energy Arizona FM

One of my voiceover mentors, Penny Abshire, wrote a lovely testimonial of my work. Thanks, Penny!

Voiceover Testimonial for Daniel Greene

Daniel Greene — Mon, 07 Jun 2004 19:00:53 +0000

Daniel Greene is a multi-talented actor who is as comfortable and capable behind a microphone as he is on stage. He takes direction very well and is delightful to work with… Daniel also has the uncanny ability to slip effortlessly into any character I suggest to him—as well as many he has developed on his own. Not only can he get into character quickly; he can maintain a character for long periods of time without losing any of the character’s strength or energy… Working with Daniel has been a joy. Directing him, watching him, and hearing his work is a treat! —Penny Abshire, Senior Producer/Director/Writer, The Commercial Clinic

If you have a testimonial to add, please leave a comment here or on my LinkedIn profile. Thanks!