Jenna Ushkowitz: Broadway Kid
When I was three, my parents put me in for commercials and voiceovers, then print ads and all that fun stuff. I went in for my first audition which was a Toys R Us commercial. I booked that. My parents were like, “All right, college fund.”
I was nine when I was on Broadway. There was an open call for The King and I, so I went on for that. I went through probably like three or four callbacks over the span of two months, and then I found out I got it. I was in the fourth grade at that time, and so I had a tutor for a month when we rehearsed and there were 14 kids. The King and I triggered my love for music and theater and how the Broadway community works. It really is a community. When you open, you have eight shows a week. Sometimes, when it’s a bigger role, they switch off four and four shows. That way, nobody’s getting burnt out. But we did all eight at the age of nine years old. Luckily, my teachers were extremely supportive.
My parents bought a minivan, so I could do my homework on the way in, then do the show, and sleep on the way home so I could go to school the next morning. We lived on Long Island, so we were driving to the city every single day. My parents waited, they would go to movies, they would go see other shows. The ushers would let them sit at the back of the house and watch the second act of our show, and in between they’ll take us to dinner, and then we’ll do another show. I’m sure that there are times that I wanted to see my friends, or see my family or do something else. But,even as adults, we have those moments. I don’t remember being tired at all. I just remember my father said I always wanted to be the first one to the theater and I would always be the last one to come out.
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Alison Goodman is a Writer, Casting Director and pop culture junkie based in New York. She has worked for the CW, ABC Family and the WB. A self-proclaimed TV fanatic, there isn’t a Bravo marathon she hasn’t vegged out to, she still mourns the loss of “Friday Night Lights,” and can’t go to sleep on Thursday night if she hasn’t watched “The Vampire Diaries.”
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[...] Article 1: Broadway Kid When I was three, my parents put me in for commercials and voiceovers, then print ads and all that fun stuff. I went in for my first audition which was a Toys R Us commercial. I booked that. My parents were like, “All right, college fund.” [...]
[...] Broadway, as well as an entire survey full of fun facts on our favorite goth-chic stutterer! Article 1: Broadway Kid When I was three, my parents put me in for commercials and voiceovers, then print ads and all that [...]
[...] Article 1: Broadway Kid When I was three, my parents put me in for commercials and voiceovers, then print ads and all that fun stuff. I went in for my first audition which was a Toys R Us commercial. I booked that. My parents were like, “All right, college fund.” I was nine when I was on Broadway. There was an open call for The King and I, so I went on for that. I went through probably like three or four callbacks over the span of two months, and then I found out I got it. I was in the fourth grade at that time, and so I had a tutor for a month when we rehearsed and there were 14 kids. The King and I triggered my love for music and theater and how the Broadway community works. It really is a community. When you open, you have eight shows a week. Sometimes, when it’s a bigger role, they switch off four and four shows. That way, nobody’s getting burnt out. But we did all eight at the age of nine years old. Luckily, my teachers were extremely supportive. [...]