How do you end up with a script signed by John Travolta and Nicolas Cage? You cast the background actors for the blockbuster movie Face/Off. That’s the kind of work Vanessa Portillo does, and she has some amazing stories. 

Actors will learn a ton from how Vanessa breaks down how she works and how actors can keep leveling up. She also reminds us all how small the casting community is and that casting directors hear everything, so be on your best behavior!

Some of the things she touches on: 

• What it’s like to work with producers like David E. Kelley
• How she gets her info about what directors look for
• What it takes to become a background actor
• The hidden value of acting classes and table reads
• Stand-ins vs. photo doubles
• The school of set
• What it was like doing casting for the show Beef

Vanessa came to the studio with an incredible scrapbook with photos that captured her family’s history working on movies dating all the way back to the 1940s. You’ll see all that when this show premieres on YouTube soon. 

Her grandfather, Rafael Portillo, was a Mexican filmmaker (director and editor) based in Mexico and in the US who worked with legends like Bob Hope, Clark Gable and Ernest Borgnine. And her grandmother was a production manager on a number of movies. Her father, Ralph E. Portillo, was a filmmaker who directed and produced numerous feature films and television projects. It's safe to say the apple did not fall far from the tree.

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