How to Act Truthfully in Horror & Fantasy Genres with Casting Director Suzanne Smith | ‘How We Role’

Want to know the key to grounding an acting performance in a heightened world? Emmy and Artios Award–winning Casting Director Suzanne Smith* (Resident Evil, Band of Brothers, and the Outlander universe) joins host Robert Peterpaul to explore the craft of acting truthfully in fantasy, horror, and period stories.

Suzanne pulls back the curtain on what actually books roles: clean, human choices over theatrics; accents that honor rhythm and region; posture and breath that reflect period constraints; and self-tapes that highlight your eyes and thinking, not your props. Suzanne Smith is an Emmy & Artios Award winning Casting Director with over 30 years experience.

This episode explores:

• Grounding performance in heightened genres.
• Practical audition tips for horror, fantasy, period, and other genres.
• How to do a “heathly” horror scream.
• 2 skills every actor should know.
• Out of the ordinary self tapes tips and more!

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Episode Preview: How to Act Truthfully in Horror & Fantasy Genres with Casting Director Suzanne Smith

Suzanne Smith: I don’t mind if somebody wants to sit or stand, as long as we can see your eyes and face, you know, that’s the important thing. A lot of foreign actors like to do props. Or they will do, say it’s in a forest, they will actually shoot it in a forest.
Robert Peterpaul: That was a question I had for you, because a lot of scenes are very environment-based. I’ve found even with my own auditions lately, I’m just having more fun if I’m not throwing up the backdrop and like keeping it perfect with the ringlight, if you’re actually doing it in the space and keeping it clean with the backdrop, it sounds like you’re ok with that?
Suzanne Smith: [laughs] I’m ok with that!