New Gigs

Somehow, someway, I'm able to continually use the Jedi Mind Trick on directors and producers and convince them to cast me in their projects.  It's a pretty nifty trick.  I can teach this skill to you for just 3 easy payments of $9.99.  Now how much would you pay?

The latest projects that will have to deal with me are Feed and Mr. E Comics.  I'll be filming a trailer for Feed shortly and a webisode for Mr. E-Comics at the end of the month!  I'm really excited to be attached to these projects.  Check out the links for each project to learn more about them.

Sniper: Anatomy of a Kill

Raj Suri as an Arab
Originally uploaded by Raj Suri

I recently had the pleasure of work with Karga 7 Pictures on "Sniper: The Anatomy of a Kill". I played a Taliban insurgent. I think it'd be fun to try and go through airport security dressed this way. I wonder if I'd get stopped?

Anyhow - the documentary is set to air sometime in Q4 of this year on the History Channel. Here's the imdb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1411248/

New Comedy Reel

I think most of you have seen this but I recently uploaded a new comedy reel to youtube.  It's not a whole lot different than my last demo reel.  In fact, it's exactly identical to my original demo reel.  The one thing that has always bugged about my original reel is that I felt it was a tad bit long.  As much as I like looking at myself, I just really wanted to make sure I wasn't boring the audience (like I am in this blog) so I shortened my original reel by taking out the intro sequence showing me as a bunch of different characters.  There is nothing worse than sitting through an overly long and painful demo reel.  Of course, I've already received feedback from someone saying that I cut out a part they really liked!  Despite this, I think the edit was a good one.

I also am now calling my demo reel a comedy reel.  I was going to add some dramatic material to the reel but I think the reel is really strong as it is in it's current form and I couldn't stand the thought of breaking up the continuity of the funny stuff in there.  Plus, I think the reel gives a casting professinal a good idea as to what my type is and how to cast me in comedy roles.  So, I decided to keep the reel as a comedy reel and I'm going to cut a drama/academy award reel soon.  As of now, the strongest material I have in that realm is from Red Corvette.  Being that it hasn't been released yet, I'm going to wait till the premiere before I upload the drama reel.  The first cut of the reel will most likely contain only scenes from Red Corvette until other projects currently in post get completed.  Of course, the one downside of uploading new reels is that the momentum of hits and ratings of old reels takes a hit.  For example, my last reel had about 200 hits in a few months and 1 rating of 5 stars (thanks mom!).  Oh well, it's good to have fresh material out there.  So, without further ado, my latest comedy reel:

Scenes from the above demo reel were created by the following filmmakers:

RenderFilms

SyntheticHuman Pictures

Gary Sundt

Michael Bast

Some trailers, a premiere and other updates

Well, it's been a while since I've updated this thing. With most people able to follow the stuff I do on either Filmixer, Myspace or Facebook, the need for this blog has somewhat diminished. But, not all of you are on one of those sites, so this update is for you - both of you.

Well the most exciting thing going on by far in my acting life is the upcoming premiere for Red Corvette. It's a feature film that I shot late last year with the boys over at D+NA. I've had movies premiere on a big screen before and usually I'm a wreck throughout the whole thing. It's pretty nerve wracking. I typically shake throughout the whole thing. Yup, I'm a big mess. Yay, me! For those of you who'd like to see the spectacle first hand, you can get tickets at this link. Here's the Red Corvette trailer:

Red Corvette on YouTube
As my friend, Lisa Shoap, says, I'm pretty bad ass in this.. Oh, and if you ladies needed another reason to come to the premiere, I've got a pool scene in this movie. Please ladies, try not to crash the internet buying tickets to this thing.

In other news, I've been trying to do the creepy/mean acting jobs lately. I don't want to be the actor who's only known for his good looks, impeccable comedic timing and nice body.. Not to mention, humble, too.. With that mind, check out the trailer to a short film I shot last year called Jones.
Jones

Ooooh, mysterious. That'll be a fun one when it's done!

Last, but not least, I was cast in Spinning Out, a Ryan Noble film. However, 15 minutes into the table read, I was promptly UNCAST from the movie. LOL. Turns out that I had a schedule conflict on my shoot day. That conflict was my anniversary celebration. 2 years! Although some days it feels like 20.. ha ha. Just kidding Ru! I wish the guys at Spinning Out the best of luck and hope to see the final product.

Well, if you've made it this far, I'd like to thank you for reading this and your continuous support! I have had auditions for some really exciting projects recently so hopefully there will be more good news here soon!

Updated demo reel

Well, I've finally gotten around to updating my demo reel. It is somewhat similar to the last one but I decided to make this one purely comedic. The serious content on my last reel wasn't terribly strong so I've decided to market my strength which is comedy.

While this reel is comedic in nature, I've been working pretty hard with my acting coach to spiff up the dramatic side of me as well. I should have some good dramatic footage coming up in two projects that are currently in post production. When I get copies of those, I'll be sure to add that footage to the reel and perhaps have two reels - one for comedy and one for drama.

Anyhoo - enjoy the reel!

Middle Men, Red Corvette, DCC, other updates...

First things, first.  I had a really cool experience recently.  I was able to land a featured role in the film, Middle Men (IMDB).  It's a comedy starring Luke Wilson and Giovanni Ribisi about the genesis of the online porn industry.  Being on this set was really quite the experience as it was by far the highest budget film that I've been on - $15M if you believe IMDB.  Kind of crazy when you think that there some actors that make more than that on a film!  I have a nice little role in this movie which might get about 3 seconds screen time.  It's a nice little reaction shot and hopefully it won't get cut in the final version! :)  I was cast as the masturbating Pakistani terrorist.  Not so sure it's a good thing that everyone was saying how believable my performance was after the shoot.  Perhaps that's a complement? The movie is slated to be released in May of 2009.  I'm not sure if it will get a theatrical release as it is an independent film but it's gone some big names in the movie so I'm hoping it will!

This little "Bollywood shot", as my friend Meera Patel calls it, was taken on the set of Red Corvette.  Red Corvette is an anti-drug independent film.  Naturally, I play the cocky, drug selling, egomaniac named Larry.  I was pretty fortunate to get cast on this project.  I had auditioned for Larry thinking he was a day player but he turned out to be a fairly substantial character in this movie.  Turned out to be a nice change of pace from the characters that I typically get cast as... doctors.. terrorists.. The movie was directed by Brenton Covington of Dynamic Film.  Just check out his IMDB page to see how awesome this guys is.. 'Nuff said.  I believe the movie was funded by a local church and I think the plans are to maybe have it broadcast on Christian-based TV channels.  But, I'm not sure about that..  Oh, and ladies, I have a shirtless scene in the movie.. (I can see the DVD pre-order sales going through the roof right about now.)  Here are some of my production stills.

In other news, some time ago I shared with you guys the web series I was in called Data Center Chronicles.  Recently, Render Films released an extended cut of the webisodes on their website.  Click here to check them out!

Last, but not least, I did an educational medical video on asthma.  That was really nice to work on because you know the videos will really be put to good use.  There will most likely be many of these types of videos made and if I ever do have anything that I am allowed to share with respect to that, I will definitely do so here.  I play a pediatrician in these videos.  I know..  scary.

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