Guest Blogger- Part II

Recapping from Guest Blogger- Part 1:

'“F*** it, I’m growing a beard!”  I didn’t shave for 18 months.  

And I loved it. Oh, the crew hated it, and this thrived for Seattle Ceej. I wanted it longer, bigger, grosser, and for whatever reason Adria didn’t mind it. And so I kept it.'

"We are the music makers, we are the dreamers of dreams."

The Beard That Got My Seattle Back

by CJ Brady

Now all of a sudden I no longer wanted or needed anyone else’s validation.  Just as the days when I was growing up, getting beat up for wearing grungy flannels and holey jeans to school. I didn’t care. As far as I was concerned it was awesome, because I made it awesome.  Now during this period it dawned on me, “You don’t want to be production slumming for the rest of your life do you?”

No, I wanted to entertain people and perform, that I was sure of, so as of the next few months, I gradually weaned myself off the reality TV weekly paycheck, working fewer episodes and started playing music again.

Now feeling more like Seattle again, I was starting to really enjoy life in an entirely new way. Or old way… however you want to look at it.  I still wasn’t performing for people like I wanted to be, but I felt good, had a rocking beard that got looks, good and bad.

I wasn’t working as much, but still had to eat and pay some bills so I rejoined Central Casting Networks, a background actor service for film and television. The day after I joined up, I got a call- True Blood needed someone with a beard. There I was, “Viking Guard” for True Blood, in a trailer, with fake blood, a super sweet costume, getting killed, happy as a Pig in Shit as they say.  That day I realized two very important things.

1. The crew on this set, camera guys, grips, Pa’s Etc…were not only very professional (something that was missing from the other show) but also just very happy and supportive of everyone and everything. It was very refreshing to see that every set wasn’t like what I had experienced.

2. More importantly, I loved being in front of the camera rather than behind it. It was invigorating and exciting, watching the headliners of the show exercise their acting chops, prepare for scenes, etc. It was just amazing.

Clockwise from lower left: True Blood (2), 1000 Ways to Die,  Suite Life on Deck

I came home afterwards, so excited, and told Adria: I want this. Rather than work on crappy reality shows, I would prefer to try and get background gigs using my beard as my in, being that beards are kind of hard to come by.

 So I start doing background, getting quite a few gigs right away, and then I got the audition that changed it all again. 


"Roads? Where we're going we don't need roads."


xo




For more info on CJ Brady, check out twitter @thecjbrady