Conor Sherry
Interviewed by: Neely Eisenstein, CSA
1) Has there been a Casting Director that has encouraged and/or supported you in your career?
Betty Mae Casting booked me on my first SAG job and got me Taft-Hartleyed into the union. It was Covid times; I sent off a self-tape into the abyss, unsure what the show was about. After booking it, I quickly learned it was for three episodes recurring on The Terminal List with Chris Pratt and Constance Wu for Amazon... I was stoked. While I never got to meet Mary Vernieu or Sydney Shircliff formally, I am super grateful they gave me not only my first professional job but that they believed in me to join the cast of such high-caliber talent.
Shortly after Terminal List, Sheryl Levine pulled my apartment bedroom self-tape and cast me in my first lead series regular role on Are You Afraid of the Dark. Sheryl has been incredibly supportive over the past year. Through the audition process, you never really know what's going on. But one year later, producers informed me that Sheryl was championing me and pulled my tape out of the mix. Obviously, she has a keen eye for talent (she cast me). But in all seriousness, Sheryl is an iconic casting veteran with an incredibly impressive track record. I, for one, am so fortunate to have benefitted from her willingness to take a chance on an actor with only a few credits.
Many casting directors have positively impacted me in one way or another; even when I don't book the role, hearing positive feedback has always kept me inspired. The most recent job I wrapped- and my first feature film lead - was put together by Neely Eisenstein. I booked the role of A.J. in The Snack Shack, a feature film written and directed by Adam Rehmeier and produced by T-Street/MRC. I had covid during my tape and was quarantined in a room during my initial audition taping. I went through a few rounds and got the call that changed everything. I wonder if I should get sick before all my tapes because Snack Shack is certainly my biggest break so far. I'm excited about the movie and look forward to seeing it on the big screen along with audiences. I am forever grateful to Neely for bringing me in, along with Adam and the entire cast, for an experience that will always be my greatest summer ever.
2) What work are you most proud of?
Well, I am still kind of new to it all, but playing A.J. in The Snack Shack was definitely a challenging and rewarding experience on multiple levels. Playing the young version of the writer/director Adam Rehmeier was as special as it gets. I got to walk in his shoes (literally, we had matching 90s New Balance shoes), and we shot the movie in the actual town he grew up in. Lucky for us, small towns in Nebraska don't change much with time, so almost everything was the same as in 91' when Adam and his best friend had that memorable summer. From the second we landed in Nebraska City, everything felt so real... because it WAS real. I think I can say that we all - just like in the movie - had the best summer ever.
3) What or who inspired you to pursue acting as a career?
I've been acting for as long as I can remember. I grew up doing local theater and continued all through high school. Of course, I have to give credit to my Mom, who believed in me all along the way. Ever since I was a little kid, I knew I would be an actor, and she not only never shot that idea down, she was my biggest supporter. Having said that, I think I'm most thankful for my Mom holding me back from starting in Hollywood as a young kid, even though I desperately wanted to audition for movies. But through holding me back, and despite financial burdens, she gave me the most active childhood a kid could ask for, signing me up for every sport and activity possible and allowing me to perform in stage productions too. Those experiences have deeply informed my craft, and every "growing up" moment has become my primary source of inspiration.
4) What was your first IMDbPro credit and how did you feel when you saw it?
My first IMDbPro credit is three episodes on The Terminal List for Amazon. When I first moved out here to attend UCLA, I didn't even know what IMDbPro was, but I learned the ropes rapidly by week one in my dorm. I remember calling my family and telling them to look me up and being stoked when my STARMETER dropped below 1 million after the first credit was added. Looking back, it's wild because I've been fortunate to be doing what I moved to L.A. to do.
5) How has IMDbPro helped you market yourself to filmmakers?
Well, this is stating the obvious, but IMDbPro is clearly the defacto "resume" that industry professionals go to. So it's really an important tool for everyone, especially when starting out like me. It's a quick way for any director, writer, actor, producer – anyone who has an interest in you to get a holistic snapshot of your professional life. And I, like most actors I am sure, check there to see my fellow cast members the moment I am on a new project. It is great how it directly and succinctly presents one's work without embellishments. And it's continuously updated, so in a sense – for everyone listed there, it's a mirror reflection of a career in motion.
6) Any funny casting room stories?
When I moved to LA, I only got a few in-person auditions before the pandemic took over. So most of my stories are based on Zoom sessions. I do remember when I had my final callback/screen test for Are You Afraid of the Dark, I forgot to turn the A.C. on, and as I started to sweat, I was too stressed to pause the producer session to click it on. So I did my scenes for one hour at 80 degrees, dripping sweat with my face beet red. I knew I was sweating and thought that they MUST be noticing it. But – I got the role, so maybe it actually helped?
7) Tell us a fun fact about you outside of acting:
Outside of acting, I am ferociously competitive. Whether it's a card game, or Soccer, or the Olympics, winning games is my favorite thing in the world. That might sound a bit intense, so I'll add another: I was born and raised a Vegetarian, along with my entire family. That being said, I am known for ordering massive amounts of In-n-Out animal fries, grilled cheeses, and milkshakes. In other words, I am an unhealthy vegetarian that loves fast food. Sorry, Mom.
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