Jeff Ward
Nominated by Danielle Aufiero: I first met Jeff through a second cousin who was in LA from the east coast and took me out to dinner with his golf buddies. One of that golf foursome was telling me all about his grandson who was studying at NYU and looking to move to LA once he graduated. When that grandson got to LA we had brunch and Jeff has been one of my people ever since.
Has there been a Casting Director that has encouraged and/or supported you in your career?
JW) I met Deb Aquila when I first got out here and she has always been really supportive. Jessica Kelly cast me in my first movie when I was starting out in New York. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing but it was a low stakes movie so it was fun. Also, Eric Souliere saw me in a play I did at the Taper and then cast me as Charles Manson in a movie he was working on. I will always be grateful for that because it was the first time I had a meaty role on film that I could properly get into. I also was surprised I the part in the play was nothing like Manson so it meant a lot that he saw I could do other stuff.
What work are you most proud of?
JW) I did a show called Channel Zero that comes out next month and it’s my favorite thing I’ve ever done. It’s like if Black Mirror and Twilight Zone were merged by Stephen King. Amy Forsyth, Aisha Dee and everyone who worked on the show is incredible.. but I think people will be talking about John Carroll Lynch’s performance. It’s different than other stuff I’ve seen him do and he’s fantastic in it.
How did you get your SAG-AFTRA card?
JW) When I was 18 I got two scenes on Law and Order: Criminal Intent opposite Vincent D'Onofrio. I appreciate the way he worked more and more as I get older because he was so effortless. But I will never forget how unbearably clueless I was.
What was your first IMDbPro credit and how did you feel when you saw it?
JW) My first one was for Law and Order: Criminal Intent. I got to do a scene with Vincent D’Onofrio who’s a hero of mine so that was amazing.
How has IMDbPro helped you market yourself to filmmakers?
JW) Hopefully because they’ve looked me up on there once or twice!
Any funny casting room stories?
JW) When I was 19 or 20 I had a chemistry read with an older actress to play her younger boyfriend in a new pilot. And I thought for sure that I was going to nail it because I loved the part and really felt like I got what the writer was going for. I was even confident enough to try some improv while I was in there.
The improv was absolutely terrible, the woman and I had zero chemistry, and I think on top of that she just didn't like me. It was a rude awakening and I still laugh at how hard I bombed that audition.
Tell us a fun fact about you outside of acting:
JW) I love Neil deGrasse Tyson and have a budding obsession with Astrophysics.
I just got back from a trip to Australia, and I spent some time in Uluru which is dead center in the middle of the country in the heart of he Outback. They call it a dark reserve because it's illegal to build anything with lights for two thousand kilometers to persevere the perfect view of the stars.
We could actually SEE the Milky Way, the Magellanic Clouds, and clusters of stars that are thousands of light years away. Everything we saw made humanity seem "itty bitty" in the hilarious words of our Australian tour guide.
I think about what I saw daily. Ironically, that sky making me feel so small and meaningless... it makes me think of the rise of nationalism and the state of the world in general... It makes me wish people would remember how meaningless all of this is, how lucky we are to be here for this tiny fragment of time, and just to be better to each other.
So... a fun fact about me is I like the stars and corny sentiments.
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