Auditioning is such an unnatural thing. You're in a tiny little room with, like, seven people cramped together, acting to a casting director; just, none of it makes any sense.
Just before I auditioned for 'The X Factor,' there was nothing in my diary at all. I had no shows; nothing was happening. It was make-or-break time for me, and I had to consider doing another career altogether.
It's hard to do things like auditions, because you don't want to put weeks of work into just an audition.
The more you love something, the worse you tend to audition. If you don't really care about something, you kind of nail it.
When I go to these auditions, I feel like I have to prove myself 10 times over... acting is a challenge.
My parents tried to convince me that school won't always be there, but auditions will. I said, 'Really? Are they tearing down NYU?'
Most actors hate the feeling of being handled.
Commercial auditions can be pretty humiliating.
Some of the best auditions I've ever had have been when my agent called and said, 'They want you 20 minutes ago, in an office in Century City, to see you for something.' I'm not sitting there thinking for a week and a half, before I'm supposed to go in front of a network president to do something. That just gives you time to be nervous.
I remember my mom saying, 'I will take you to every audition, I will support you, but the minute you stop caring about it, I will stop.'
I am always nervous when I'm auditioning for a part I really want.
Actors want to impress at the beginning, so you take advantage of that by suddenly saying, 'Right, you're here for two weeks.' What you're doing is creating a siege mentality.
Even when I was little and going on auditions, it was clear who was there because they wanted to be there, and who was there because their stage parents were making them be there. There was a major difference.
Actors are almost conditioned to get their director's approval. 'I just did my song and dance, boss. What did you think?' Actors are infantilized so much.
Whenever you hear somebody else is auditioning for something, you sort of assume they're going to get it. You should try to just ignore it. I don't find it very helpful to know who else is going up for stuff, generally.
I've certainly auditioned for big budget studio films. I don't know if it's because there's so much money involved, but a lot of times the pressure overwhelms me and engulfs me. I end up falling apart in the audition.
I'm always nervous doing auditions - to be honest, I hate it. I always envy the actors who are so cool and cold-blooded when they go in for an audition, especially if it's for a part that you would really love to play.
There are roles I want that my agency might not want me to do because of the subject matter or whatever. Or there are roles that people won't bring to me because they don't think I'll do it. And that is a big strain because an actor wants to act.
Louis Walsh, he made me audition for Girls Aloud, he said, 'If you don't, I won't speak to you again.' I was like, 'We don't speak that much anyway.' I went and it all worked out well, I wouldn't have gone to the audition if it wasn't for him.
