Success Story: How Morgan Seiter Went From Modeling to Booking Acting Work Consistently
Morgan Seiter’s career has taken some interesting turns, but it’s always seemed like the universe has been guiding him toward acting. A Kansas native with a penchant for snowboarding, he started in the modeling world, made a stop in Colorado, joined up with a group of actors and never looked back.
Now living in Los Angeles, Seiter books work on Casting Networks regularly and is gaining some notoriety thanks to a certain billboard ad—also booked via Casting Networks—with his face on it. Seiter shares his acting origins, successes and lots of sound acting advice for his peers.
Insights: Lessons from Morgan Seiter
- Actively use casting platforms like Casting Networks to find and apply for roles.
- Invest in a good self tape setup and maintain resilience in the face of rejection.
- Prepare thoroughly for auditions; practice lines repeatedly to improve delivery.
How did you decide to become an actor?
I think the choice was kind of made for me. Honestly, I didn’t really consider it in the past.
I’ve been a model since I was 15, so modeling slowly started creeping me toward acting. I started off doing runway shows and then somewhere down the line, I was at a fraternity’s house party. One of these model guys that I had known from the industry came up to me and he was like, “Hey, have you ever thought about acting?” I said, “I’ve thought about it, but I don’t know how to do it.” He said, “You should come to this acting class that we do every Wednesday in Denver.” This was when I was living in Colorado.
I’m from Kansas, so this is a long-time coming type of thing. I’d always been interested in acting, but I mean, in Kansas, there’s no opportunity at all.
When I got to Colorado, I met that guy. He introduced me to the acting school and I started taking classes there. I met some people in that acting class who invited me out to Los Angeles to live here with them and I joined Casting Networks.
One thing led to another and here I am, but it was never like, “I’m going to be an actor.” It just kind of happened.
How did you end up discovering Casting Networks?
There aren’t a whole lot of agencies in Kansas, so when I got to Colorado, I got my first real agency and they signed me up with Casting Networks.
A lot of the agencies submit their actors through Casting Networks. I was getting auditions from them, and man, my first auditions—I watch them again sometimes—they are so bad! I didn’t know what I was doing at all! This was before I was in acting class.
Photo courtesy of Morgan Seiter.Through Casting Networks, you booked the Amazon snowboarding commercial and the billboard with Jacob Emrani—excuse me if I’m mispronouncing his name. What were those gigs like, and what was the audition process?
It was so simple [to submit for these projects]. People think that it’s a hard thing to get into this industry, but it’s really simple. For Jacob Emrani, they had me say one line and just record myself doing it. It was super easy.
It’s funny you say you’re not sure if you’re pronouncing [his name right], because that was the whole premise of the commercial.
I was playing a hippie stoner guy, which I fit the vibe of. The line was to call [him] Jacob Edamame instead of Emrani, so I just said that line a couple of times to the camera.
I got a call like, three months later. “Hey, do you remember doing that line about edamame? We’d like for you to do this commercial.”
I drove out to Calabasas, [where they] had a green screen set up. We did it all there. That’s one of my favorite projects I’ve worked on so far because not only [did they film] a video commercial, but they did billboards as well. They had billboards all over LA with my face on them.
The first couple of days that they had put them up, I was working a nine-to-five retail job. I had customer after customer coming in saying, “Yo, you’re that guy from the billboard,” and I was like, “What are you talking about?” Then someone came in and said, “You’re on a Jacob Emrani billboard.” That was awesome.
The Amazon commercial was probably my favorite gig I’ve ever done because I got paid quite a bit of money just to drive up to Mammoth Mountain and snowboard during August, which is crazy.
They [took] a snowplow and they pushed all the snow to one spot on the mountain because it was summer. It was hot outside, and they created a one-run [setup] that they had cameras set on. I got to snowboard in the summer, which was awesome, and I was well compensated.
What happened when you got on-set for that gig?
They had us meet in a lodge. I had driven up to Mammoth the day before and I slept in my car. That’s how bad I wanted it.
They brought us on the ski lift, took us to the top and there was a base camp set up there. We got on some snowcats and they took us to the top of the run. We were just doing runs and they were getting footage of us. Unfortunately, they didn’t use any of the clips with me in it … and only kept the main person.
It’s the commercial where there’s a dog on a snowboard and there’s a girl holding onto the dog with a leash. For some reason, they cut all the extra snowboard people out, but they paid me [to snowboard in the summer], so it was awesome nonetheless.
Photo courtesy of Morgan Seiter.What are some other successes and high-profile jobs that you’ve booked from Casting Networks?
Man, a lot. Just to name a few of the people that I’ve had the pleasure of working with, I’ve worked with Deion Sanders, Master P, The Weeknd, Jenna Ortega, Bad Bunny, BabyTron, Supa Hot Fire— only the real ones will know who he is.
When I say a lot, I mean a lot. I’ve been in six movies and I did a commercial for Outlaw Beer, which was awesome. There was beer and food. We had a barbecue and they filmed it for the commercial.
I also did a commercial for KFC—that’s where Deion Sanders was—and I did a commercial for Pepsi that had a backyard 90s-themed swimming pool vibe. We had a squirt gun fight all day and Mountain Dew and Doritos were there.
I have an agent in Colorado, I have an agent in LA and I have an agent in Utah. I do self-submissions every day on top of that. [A job I did for] UC Health, for instance, was submitted through my Colorado agent.
There’s been a lot of projects, and I’ve only been at this for two or three years. When I was living in Colorado, it was mostly modeling. When I got out here in 2022, I started acting, so it’s only been two years.
I also just recently finished wrapping my first starring role in a show. It’s [for] Dhar Mann [Studios]. It’s going to be on YouTube and Facebook, but it’s the first role that I’ve had where I’m the main character with lines. This is the first project that I have coming out where I’m starring, and I got that through Casting Networks as well. They had seen me from work that I had done and they reached out to me directly, so that’s the stage where [I’m] at now.
I’m still self-submitting to Casting Networks. I use it all the time, but I’ve started to get to that point where I’m known now, so people are reaching out to me and I don’t have to reach out to them as much.
What would you say helps someone succeed on Casting Networks?
You’ve got to be OK with rejection. That’s my number-one thing for all the actors. And you’ve got to just not give up. If you don’t give up and you show up every day, [meaning that] you sit at the computer and you submit to everything that you qualify for, you will get something.
I bought a blue screen, which you can see back here, [and it] just seems a little bit more professional than a white wall. Everything you can possibly do that’s in your control to be better—do it—and then just show up every day and you’ll succeed. I think it’s that easy.
What’s the best way to approach an audition, and do you have any audition tips and advice for your peers?
It depends on the project. If it’s a theatrical movie character role and you have big monologue [or a lot of] lines to get through, that [involves] preparation. That’s a process. You’ve got to start working on that a couple of days, if not a week or two before you tape the audition. That helps a lot because I like to just get up in front of the camera and go, and then work stuff out take after take after take.
If you look at my camera roll, there are hundreds of takes just to get that one. Working through it over and over and over again, your character will become better and more dynamic the more takes you do.
Preparation is a big thing. However, for commercials and easy one-liner things, I’ll just come in and I’ll do it in one take because it’s simple. For example, the edamame thing. I maybe did that 10 times to get the right stoner kind of voice, but it doesn’t take a whole lot of preparation.
A lot of actors freak out about learning their lines or memorizing their lines. It’s not hard to memorize lines. I was concerned about it at first, too. When I became an actor, I was like, “How am I going to learn this giant monologue?”
Here’s what you do—you set up the camera and you read the script once and you go for it without the script and you try. You’re not going to get very far, but I bet you’ll get past the first few sentences. Then you try to get a few more sentences locked in. Then you try to get a few more sentences locked in. With each take, I’m getting further through the script than I was before until [I’m about] 50 takes in. Now I can do the whole script without worrying about it. I got it memorized.
Have proper lighting, too. Having a blue screen, I think, sets you apart from the competition immediately. As soon as the casting director opens it up and they see you have a blue screen, I think it shows that you mean business.
Photo courtesy of Morgan Seiter.Thinking about joining Casting Networks? Sign up for a free trial today!
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Chris Butera is a voice actor specializing in commercial, eLearning and corporate narration voiceovers. When he’s not helping clients achieve their goals, he’s playing guitar and bass.
