Success Story: Umia Jones-Watson Talks Booking a DevaCurl Photo Shoot and ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’

Umia Jones-Watson didn’t set out to become an actor. She initially thought it was “boring,” until a suggestion from her mother flipped a switch. Today, she’s been on multiple episodes of Power, Gossip Girl and other big projects—many of which she booked on Casting Networks.

Umia took time to share how she booked a DevaCurl photo shoot and commercial, some thrifty self tape tips and more.

How did you get started as an actor?

Back in 2012, 2013, when I was in the seventh grade, it was time for me to apply to high school. I really wanted to go to a performing arts high school, and some [required an] audition to get in. I tried different things [like singing and dancing], but it just didn’t work.

My mom was like, “You should try acting.” I didn’t know if I wanted to do that because I had this weird idea in my head that acting was boring because our school would take us to plays for field trips, and the plays wouldn’t be exciting.

I didn’t know how to act, but I tried out anyway. I found a monologue somewhere on Google and I did it in front of my mom just to see if I’d be good at it. After I did it, she was sitting there and she was like, “That’s what you need to do.”

Now fast forward to 2016 when it’s time for me to apply to college. I knew I wanted to work in the entertainment industry, but I still had no idea [what I wanted to do]. I went back into acting.

My mom found this amazing acting coach in New York City. Her name is Wendy McKenzie. She worked with a lot of different actors, especially on the show Power on STARZ. I took her class [and] that was the start of my whole career.

I fell in love with the process of getting into character. I have so much respect for actors because it takes so much for us to get into character and to bring the character [to life].

Photo courtesy of Umia-Jones Watson.

How did you first discover Casting Networks?

My acting coach was telling us [about] different casting sites that we can use to find auditions, and Casting Networks was one of them. As soon as the class ended for the weekend, I made my account and it’s been great ever since.

You mentioned that you booked a hair shoot for DevaCurl. What was your audition process?

When I saw the casting notice, they were looking for different models with curly hair. I’d never done a hair shoot before and always wanted to do a shoot for a really big company.

I had to submit my headshot and my resume, too. I got contacted two days later to send a demo [that shows] my hair, talk about what I like to do and show my personality on camera. Nearly a week later, I booked it. It wasn’t like, a full audition process with lines or anything, but just showing my personality, showing who I am and my hair, of course.

What was your experience like on-set?

It was such a great experience. It was a really big production set with me and four other models. The production team was really nice. We had food and water to drink. They did our hair and makeup on-set. When it came time to do the photo shoot for the campaign and commercial, it was just this really big backdrop with the camera.

It was my first time being on a hair shoot like this. I was just ecstatic. We had a strong personality on camera, taking photos and everything. I love working with a production crew who are really nice and who really respect the craft that they do.

Photo courtesy of Umia-Jones Watson.

What are some other successes and high-profile jobs you’ve booked from Casting Networks?

That’s a lot (laughs). I recently booked a music video. I can’t say too much because it’s not out yet. That was a really nice time on-set.

I also booked a web series that I’m currently filming for—I can’t say too much about [that] yet as well. That audition process was cool because I had to audition twice with different scripts and different lines, like three to four pages for each audition. I got it right away. I’m excited for that project coming out soon.

What else? I booked a lot of background roles between 2020 and 2022, especially on Power Book III: Raising Kanan. I was in season 1, episode 2. It was a featured background role.

It was my first time being on a television network set and that was a cool experience. I’m wearing this yellow flannel with like two buns on my head. You see me the clearest in that episode. Another background role I booked was in the Gossip Girl reboot.

I did a lot of episodes for Raising Kanan. I did one episode for this season of Power: Book II, a background role, [that] should be coming out in the next few weeks. I also booked a background role in a movie.

Casting Networks is a big part of my career. This is the main casting site that I use for everything. I’m excited and blessed and thankful that Casting Networks is what it is because I’ve gotten to do a lot of incredible things.

Photo courtesy of Umia-Jones Watson.

What would you say helps someone succeed on Casting Networks?

Just being consistent. I’ve noticed when it comes to applying for different roles on Casting Networks, that as soon as you see [a role you are interested in], you have to apply for it—if you apply later that day, you have a lesser chance of getting picked to have a callback because you waited too long.

Even if you don’t get a lot of callbacks it’s okay, just keep going. Every day is a new day.

What audition tips or advice do you have that you could share with your peers?

With self taping, you don’t have to buy the most expensive equipment to have the best audition. I’ve lived by that since I started in 2016.

For my auditions, I have to have a green or blue backdrop. I will go to the fabric store and get, like, two yards of a cotton blue or green fabric and tape it to my wall.

Then I’ll have to have a good lighting setup—a Ring Light or a Softbox light. [Those are] affordable. You can get them on Amazon, and then you can do your auditions on your phone. A lot of my auditions that I’ve done and I’ve booked were done on my phone.

You can put up your phone on a tripod. As long as you have good lighting that’s on your face, it should be a perfect audition. Memorize your lines. Some auditions say you can have your sides [in front of you], but you should still memorize them because people love that.

And always remember to have fun. We can get caught up in the lines [or] whatever we have to do and whatever [the casting directors] are asking for, that we get too technical with it in our mind. But if you remember to just be yourself and have fun, you will have the best audition.

If you can have all these things, you’ll book it. And if you don’t book it, it’s OK. We’ll always try again for the next one.

Thinking about joining Casting Networks? Get 2 weeks free when you sign up today!

You may also like:

• 31 Activities for Every Day in August
• 5 Simple Tips for Nailing Your Shakespeare Auditions
• Tips and Techniques for Actors in the Genre World

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.