That One Audition with Alyshia Ochse

Today we're sitting down with Reid Scott, the actor who spent seven seasons as Veep's Dan Egan and three as Detective Riley on Law & Order, and who never planned to be an actor at all.

Reid tells the story of the one-line Sopranos audition that ended with him saying the same line to 15 different writers in an all-white room, cracking a Simpsons joke, and showing himself out.

He also shares how a stutter led him to acting, why a casting director told his agent "I don't know what you see in this kid" right before he tested for the lead of Scrubs, how Armando Iannucci crumpled up the script and just talked to "Dan," and how Stephen Colbert and Dick Cavett helped him build his Marvelous Mrs. Maisel talk show host.

Plus, the note from his acting teacher that changed everything, and why the actors who book are often the ones who want the job but don't need it: "I wanted it, but I didn't need it."

These are the unforgettable stories that landed Reid Scott right here.

• Law & Order
• The Idea of You
• Veep
• The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
• The Afterparty
• Curb Your Enthusiasm
• American Horror Stories
• Venom
• Late Night
• Black and Blue
• Home Again
• Who Invited Charlie?
• The Big C
• My Boys
• All My Children

• IMDB: Reid Scott, actor, writer, director

For exclusive content surrounding this and all podcast episodes, sign up for our amazing newsletter at AlyshiaOchse.com. And don't forget to snap and post a photo while listening to the show and tag me: @alyshiaochse & @thatoneaudition

• THE BRIDGE FOR ACTORS: Become a WORKING ACTOR (50% off special)
• THE PRACTICE TRACK: Membership to Practice Weekly
• CONSULTING: Get 1-on-1 advice for your acting career from Alyshia Ochse
• COACHING: Get personalized coaching from Alyshia on your next audition or role
• INSTAGRAM: @alyshiaochse
• INSTAGRAM: @thatoneaudition
• WEBSITE: AlyshiaOchse.com
• APPLE PODCASTS: Subscribe to That One Audition on Apple Podcasts
• SPOTIFY: Subscribe to That One Audition on Spotify

• HOST/PRODUCER: Alyshia Ochse
• WEBSITE & GRAPHICS: Chase Jennings
• SOCIAL: Alara Cerikcioglu

David Denman's line from this week's episode, "the second you need a job, you will never book that job," applies to more than just the audition room. This week: why desperation reads on camera, the negotiation moves to use when an offer comes in low, and how to actually build the "enough" underneath the mindset so it's not just a trick you're playing on yourself.

Subscribe now for insightful discussions, empowering interviews, and practical advice to enhance your career longevity and satisfaction.

Connect with That One Audition:

• PUBLIC POP UP NOVEMBER 10th: FREE WHAT'S MY FRAME
• THE BRIDGE FOR ACTORS: Become a WORKING ACTOR - 50% OFF
• THE PRACTICE TRACK: Membership to Practice Weekly
• CONSULTING: Get 1-on-1 advice for your acting career from Alyshia Ochse
• COACHING: Get personalized coaching from Alyshia on your next audition or role
• INSTAGRAM: @alyshiaochse
• INSTAGRAM: @thatoneaudition
• WEBSITE: AlyshiaOchse.com
• APPLE PODCASTS: Subscribe to That One Audition on Apple Podcasts
• SPOTIFY: Subscribe to That One Audition on Spotify

Subscribe today and be part of a community that celebrates resilience and passion in the world of acting! #ActorsResilience #RecoveryMindset #ThatOneAudition #PodcastJourney

CREDITS:

• Host/Producer: Alyshia Ochse
• WRITER: Alyshia Ochse
• WEBSITE & GRAPHICS: Chase Jennings
• SOCIAL: Alara Cerikcioglu

Today we're sitting down with David Denman, the Juilliard-trained actor the world met as Roy on The Office, a role he only auditioned for because a friend called and told him to watch the British version. His agent didn't even think he did comedy.

Thirty years in, David pulls back the curtain on the business side nobody talks about: why he turned down a role on Kate Winslet's Mare of Easttown, how he pitched his way into the part he wanted, and what happened when HBO came back with the lowest offer of his career.

He also shares how he self-taped for James Gunn's Brightburn while his newborn son was in the NICU, the "awkward blind date" with Elizabeth Banks that sealed the deal, and how a one-day job with Antoine Fuqua on Emancipation turned into The Equalizer 3.

Plus, the advice that's kept him working: own your choices, keep all the plates spinning, and never audition from a place of need, because "the second you need a job, you will never book that job."

These are the unforgettable stories that landed David Denman right here.

• The Night Agent
• The Five-Star Weekend
• Peacemaker
• Rebel Ridge
• The Equalizer 3
• Emancipation
• Mare of Easttown
• Greenland
• Brightburn
• Puzzle
• Logan Lucky
• Outcast
• 13 Hours
• The Office
• The Replacements

• IMDB: David Denman, actor
• INSTAGRAM: @david_denman

For exclusive content surrounding this and all podcast episodes, sign up for our amazing newsletter at AlyshiaOchse.com. And don't forget to snap and post a photo while listening to the show and tag me: @alyshiaochse & @thatoneaudition

• PUBLIC POP UP NOVEMBER 10th: FREE WHAT'S MY FRAME
• THE BRIDGE FOR ACTORS: Become a WORKING ACTOR (50% off special)
• THE PRACTICE TRACK: Membership to Practice Weekly
• CONSULTING: Get 1-on-1 advice for your acting career from Alyshia Ochse
• COACHING: Get personalized coaching from Alyshia on your next audition or role
• INSTAGRAM: @alyshiaochse
• INSTAGRAM: @thatoneaudition
• WEBSITE: AlyshiaOchse.com
• APPLE PODCASTS: Subscribe to That One Audition on Apple Podcasts
• SPOTIFY: Subscribe to That One Audition on Spotify

• HOST/PRODUCER: Alyshia Ochse
• WEBSITE & GRAPHICS: Chase Jennings
• SOCIAL: Alara Cerikcioglu

Wendy Braun is a working actor, mindset coach, and creator of the Success Breakthrough workshop featured in Forbes — but this episode is really about the moment she sat in her car outside a preschool, ready to quit the business, and chose to stay.

Working since 1995 with credits on Grey's Anatomy, This Is Us, Atypical, and Criminal Minds, Wendy built a parallel life coaching actors through the inner game of auditioning — writing and recording her own guided meditations, building workshops, and helping thousands of actors shift from proving to playing.

Now she's on Jury Duty Season 2 as the villain, and her audition story is a masterclass: a 24-hour self-tape turnaround the day after a 10-day meditation retreat, a live callback where she brought apples with lime and Bristol Farms chicken, and a booking that arrived 30 years into her career — when she finally stopped needing it.

We also talk about self-tape vs. in-person prep, memorization, motherhood and ambition, and why "nerves are just excitement without the breath."

These are the unforgettable stories that landed Wendy Braun right here.

• Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat
• Grey's Anatomy
• This Is Us
• Atypical
• Criminal Minds
• Lost
• The West Wing
• Castle
• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
• The Mentalist

• IMDB: Wendy Braun, actress

For exclusive content surrounding this and all podcast episodes, sign up for our amazing newsletter at AlyshiaOchse.com. And don't forget to snap and post a photo while listening to the show and tag me: @alyshiaochse & @thatoneaudition

• PUBLIC POP UP NOVEMBER 10th: FREE WHAT'S MY FRAME
• THE BRIDGE FOR ACTORS: Become a WORKING ACTOR (50% off special)
• THE PRACTICE TRACK: Membership to Practice Weekly
• WENDY'S SUCCESS IN THE AUDITION ROOM: 5 min FREE MEDITATION
• CONSULTING: Get 1-on-1 advice for your acting career from Alyshia Ochse
• COACHING: Get personalized coaching from Alyshia on your next audition or role
• INSTAGRAM: @alyshiaochse
• INSTAGRAM: @thatoneaudition
• WEBSITE: AlyshiaOchse.com
• APPLE PODCASTS: Subscribe to That One Audition on Apple Podcasts
• SPOTIFY: Subscribe to That One Audition on Spotify

• HOST/PRODUCER: Alyshia Ochse
• WEBSITE & GRAPHICS: Chase Jennings
• SOCIAL: Alara Cerikcioglu

In this episode, 23 years as a SAG-AFTRA member, and I'm watching eight-page, plot-driving roles get labeled "Large Co-star" by CBS, ABC, HBO, Netflix, and Apple — a mislabel that's the difference between needing 23 TV bookings a year to qualify for health and pension versus needing 3. This week, I'm breaking down SAG's actual co-star definition, the pattern I'm seeing across every platform, and why it matters for every actor trying to build a real career.

Subscribe now for insightful discussions, empowering interviews, and practical advice to enhance your career longevity and satisfaction.

Connect with That One Audition:

• SAG PETITION SIGN: Protection for the Working Actor
• THE BRIDGE FOR ACTORS: Become a WORKING ACTOR - 50% OFF
• THE PRACTICE TRACK: Membership to Practice Weekly
• CONSULTING: Get 1-on-1 advice for your acting career from Alyshia Ochse
• COACHING: Get personalized coaching from Alyshia on your next audition or role
• INSTAGRAM: @alyshiaochse
• INSTAGRAM: @thatoneaudition
• WEBSITE: AlyshiaOchse.com
• APPLE PODCASTS: Subscribe to That One Audition on Apple Podcasts
• SPOTIFY: Subscribe to That One Audition on Spotify

Subscribe today and be part of a community that celebrates resilience and passion in the world of acting! #ActorsResilience #RecoveryMindset #ThatOneAudition #PodcastJourney

CREDITS:

• Host/Producer: Alyshia Ochse
• WRITER: Alyshia Ochse
• WEBSITE & GRAPHICS: Chase Jennings
• SOCIAL: Alara Cerikcioglu

Today we sit down with Luke Tennie — the Shrinking, Abbott Elementary, and Nickel Boys actor whose path to Hollywood began not in an acting class but on a football field, where being "too small" for the O-line turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to him.

Luke takes us inside his jaw-dropping first week out of AMDA, when he pinned both Jumanji and Shock and Awe simultaneously — and chose Rob Reiner. He shares the hard-won lessons from the lulls between jobs, including two pilots he booked that never shot, why he slept on a rolled-up mattress topper until 2019 to protect his audition time, and how starting to write his own material completely changed what he books.

Plus, a masterclass on self-tape strategy from the guy who literally taught audition technique back at his alma mater.

These are the unforgettable stories that landed Luke Tennie right here.

• Shrinking
• Abbott Elementary
• Nickel Boys
• Players
• On the Verge
• Deadly Class
• Shock and Awe
• Snowfall

• IMDB: Luke Tennie, actor, writer

For exclusive content surrounding this and all podcast episodes, sign up for our amazing newsletter at AlyshiaOchse.com. And don't forget to snap and post a photo while listening to the show and tag me: @alyshiaochse & @thatoneaudition

• PETITION for SAG: Working Actor Protections
• THE BRIDGE FOR ACTORS: Become a WORKING ACTOR (50% off special)
• THE PRACTICE TRACK: Membership to Practice Weekly
• CONSULTING: Get 1-on-1 advice for your acting career from Alyshia Ochse
• COACHING: Get personalized coaching from Alyshia on your next audition or role
• INSTAGRAM: @alyshiaochse
• INSTAGRAM: @thatoneaudition
• WEBSITE: AlyshiaOchse.com
• APPLE PODCASTS: Subscribe to That One Audition on Apple Podcasts
• SPOTIFY: Subscribe to That One Audition on Spotify

• HOST/PRODUCER: Alyshia Ochse
• WRITER: Maddie McCormick
• WEBSITE & GRAPHICS: Chase Jennings
• SOCIAL: Alara Cerikcioglu

Today we're sitting down with the luminous Natalie Martinez, whose path to Hollywood started not in a classroom or on a stage — but at a mall in Miami, wearing a tank top and no bra, auditioning for Jennifer Lopez on a $100 bet from her mom.

From winning J.Lo's national model search to becoming one of television's most trusted leading ladies, Natalie has spent over two decades learning the craft entirely on the job. She shares what it was like to have Taylor Sheridan as her acting coach before he became a Hollywood powerhouse, how David Ayer had her and Michael Peña go on "mini dates" to build their chemistry for End of Watch, and why she credits Woody Harrelson for getting her cast in Brothers — even though the tape she submitted was never actually seen.

It's one of the most jaw-dropping "what's meant for you will find you" stories we've ever heard on this show.

These are the unforgettable stories that landed Natalie Martinez right here.

• Brothers
• Bad Monkey
• Ordinary Joe
• The Fugitive
• APB
• The Crossing
• Kingdom
• Secrets and Lies
• Under the Dome
• CSI: New York
• Detroit 1-8-7
• End of Watch
• Death Race
• Saints and Sinners
• Fashion House

• IMDB: Natalie Martinez, actress

For exclusive content surrounding this and all podcast episodes, sign up for our amazing newsletter at AlyshiaOchse.com. And don't forget to snap and post a photo while listening to the show and tag me: @alyshiaochse & @thatoneaudition

• THE BRIDGE FOR ACTORS: Become a WORKING ACTOR (50% off special)
• THE PRACTICE TRACK: Membership to Practice Weekly
• CONSULTING: Get 1-on-1 advice for your acting career from Alyshia Ochse
• COACHING: Get personalized coaching from Alyshia on your next audition or role
• INSTAGRAM: @alyshiaochse
• INSTAGRAM: @thatoneaudition
• WEBSITE: AlyshiaOchse.com
• APPLE PODCASTS: Subscribe to That One Audition on Apple Podcasts
• SPOTIFY: Subscribe to That One Audition on Spotify
• STITCHER: Subscribe to That One Audition on Stitcher

• HOST/PRODUCER: Alyshia Ochse
• WRITER: Maddie McCormick
• WEBSITE & GRAPHICS: Chase Jennings
• SOCIAL: Alara Cerikcioglu

Christopher Thornton — actor, writer, teacher, and one of the most quietly extraordinary storytellers working in Hollywood today.

His journey is not a straight line. It is a rock climbing accident that fractured two vertebrae and left him in a wheelchair — and an agency that dropped him in a signed card from his hospital bed. It is a then-unknown Mark Ruffalo tricking him into performing Waiting for Godot five months later — and the Drama-Logue Award that changed everything.

It is understudying the lead at the Mark Taper Forum with zero rehearsals and going on for a matinee AND an evening performance the same day. It is writing Sympathy for Delicious in 1997 and not shooting it until 2009. It is a Magnum P.I. surfboard scene he absolutely claimed he could handle. And it is thirty years of showing up — to the stage, to the room, to the tape, to the work — until Vice Principals, Magnum P.I., Lincoln Lawyer, and now The Pitt and Netflix's All the Sinners Bleed made the industry take notice.

These are the unforgettable stories that landed Christopher Thornton right here.

• The Pitt
• Magnum P.I.
• Vice Principals
• Lincoln Lawyer
• All the Sinners Bleed
• Sympathy for Delicious
• Waiting for Godot
• Alias
• Will & Grace

• IMDB: Christopher Thornton, actor, writer

For exclusive content surrounding this and all podcast episodes, sign up for our amazing newsletter at AlyshiaOchse.com. And don't forget to snap and post a photo while listening to the show and tag me: @alyshiaochse & @thatoneaudition

• THE BRIDGE FOR ACTORS: Become a WORKING ACTOR (50% off special)
• THE PRACTICE TRACK: Membership to Practice Weekly
• CONSULTING: Get 1-on-1 advice for your acting career from Alyshia Ochse
• COACHING: Get personalized coaching from Alyshia on your next audition or role
• INSTAGRAM: @alyshiaochse
• INSTAGRAM: @thatoneaudition
• WEBSITE: AlyshiaOchse.com
• APPLE PODCASTS: Subscribe to That One Audition on Apple Podcasts
• SPOTIFY: Subscribe to That One Audition on Spotify
• STITCHER: Subscribe to That One Audition on Stitcher

• HOST/PRODUCER: Alyshia Ochse
• WRITER: Maddie McCormick
• WEBSITE & GRAPHICS: Chase Jennings
• SOCIAL: Alara Cerikcioglu

Cara Jade Myers asked Martin Scorsese how he wanted her to play Anna in Killers of the Flower Moon. He said — "You're the actor. Figure it out." And that single sentence gave her permission to know exactly what to do. This week we unpack why the permission you've been waiting for has always been yours to give yourself — and why Cara's decision to stop waiting for the industry and start writing, producing, and creating her own opportunities is the most important career move any actor can make right now. Stop waiting. Start creating. Figure it out.

Subscribe now for insightful discussions, empowering interviews, and practical advice to enhance your career longevity and satisfaction.

Connect with That One Audition:

• THE BRIDGE FOR ACTORS: Become a WORKING ACTOR - 50% OFF
• THE PRACTICE TRACK: Membership to Practice Weekly
• CONSULTING: Get 1-on-1 advice for your acting career from Alyshia Ochse
• COACHING: Get personalized coaching from Alyshia on your next audition or role
• INSTAGRAM: @alyshiaochse
• INSTAGRAM: @thatoneaudition
• WEBSITE: AlyshiaOchse.com
• APPLE PODCASTS: Subscribe to That One Audition on Apple Podcasts
• SPOTIFY: Subscribe to That One Audition on Spotify
• STITCHER: Subscribe to That One Audition on Stitcher

Subscribe today and be part of a community that celebrates resilience and passion in the world of acting! #ActorsResilience #RecoveryMindset #ThatOneAudition #PodcastJourney

CREDITS:

• Host/Producer: Alyshia Ochse
• WRITER: Alyshia Ochse
• WEBSITE & GRAPHICS: Chase Jennings
• SOCIAL: Alara Cerikcioglu

Today we are sitting down with Cara Jade Myers — the Native American actress who spent ten years grinding through background work, PA gigs, and craft services before booking one of the most coveted roles in recent Hollywood history: Anna in Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon.

Cara takes us through the entire extraordinary journey — from auditioning for casting director Rene Haynes for years before getting noticed, to a nine-month process that ended in a Zoom call with Scorsese where she could only see his iconic eyebrows on screen. She shares what it was like working alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, the improvised flask moment that Scorsese immediately greenlit, and why the film's premiere on Hollywood Boulevard — during the strike — became one of the most bittersweet moments of her career.

Plus — why writing, producing, and building her own creative projects out of sheer frustration has become the most powerful move she's ever made.

These are the unforgettable stories that landed Cara Jade Myers right here.

• Killers of the Flower Moon
• This Is Us
• Icefall
• Day of Reckoning
• How We Stand

• IMDB: Cara Jade Myers, actress

For exclusive content surrounding this and all podcast episodes, sign up for our amazing newsletter at AlyshiaOchse.com. And don't forget to snap and post a photo while listening to the show and tag me: @alyshiaochse & @thatoneaudition

• SLAYTEMBER CLASS: Starting September 24th
• THE BRIDGE FOR ACTORS: Become a WORKING ACTOR (50% off special)
• THE PRACTICE TRACK: Membership to Practice Weekly
• CONSULTING: Get 1-on-1 advice for your acting career from Alyshia Ochse
• COACHING: Get personalized coaching from Alyshia on your next audition or role
• INSTAGRAM: @alyshiaochse
• INSTAGRAM: @thatoneaudition
• WEBSITE: AlyshiaOchse.com
• APPLE PODCASTS: Subscribe to That One Audition on Apple Podcasts
• SPOTIFY: Subscribe to That One Audition on Spotify
• STITCHER: Subscribe to That One Audition on Stitcher

• HOST/PRODUCER: Alyshia Ochse
• WRITER: Maddie McCormick
• WEBSITE & GRAPHICS: Chase Jennings
• SOCIAL: Alara Cerikcioglu