About the Book:

What is the most important quality to bring to an audition? How do you chose an acting or vocal coach? If you decide to 'go pro', where do you start? This inspiring advice guide shares all the secrets of the billion-dollar entertainment industry, and the secrets of how to make a living while creating a satisfying life working in the acting profession.

Now You Tell Me! 12 Actors Give the Best Advice They Never Got reads like a conversation with honest, insightful and inspirational chapters from twelve successful working actors including: Pauley Perrette (NCIS); David Oyelowo (Selma, The Butler); Charles Busch (Vampire Lesbians of Sodom); Joseph Kolinski (Les Miserables, One Life to Live); Michael McKean (This is Spinal Tap, Laverne & Shirley); Brian Stokes-Mitchell (Ragtime, Man of La Mancha); Julia Motyka (The Kindergarten Shuffle, In the Family); Alexandra Neil (As the World Turns, Rock 'n' Roll); Michael O'Neill (The West Wing, Grey's Anatomy); Eden Sher (The Middle, Weeds); Sam Waterston (Law & Order, King Lear); the last major interview with Lynn Redgrave and a bonus interview with director Kent Paul.

Most importantly, the subtitle of the book is Making a Living; Making a Life. The editors of this book have carefully selected professional actors who have not only been successful in their chosen professions, but have also made purposeful decisions when it comes to building a good life. The diverse group of actors in Now You Tell Me! have shared their experience in balancing their careers with their personal lives, offering a dialogue about making a living while making a life for the actor. Their admissions and observations will be fascinating for fans, but for those in the acting trenches, this warm and wise advice can cut twenty years off the learning curve.

What people say:

"What's the worst thing that can happen at an audition? You don't get the job? Well guess what – you already don't have the job! So you don't have anything to lose." — Michael McKean

"Acting with a really great actor is like having really great food or really great sex." — Julia Motyka

"Never be so busy making a living that you aren't taking time to make a life." — Lynn Redgrave

"You have permission. Go do it." — Charles Busch

"The life experience chronicled in these interviews applies to anyone in the creative industries. Rarely has so much real life, practical advice about keeping your talent and your sanity intact been so succinctly compiled." — Rick Fisher, Tony-Winning Lighting Designer

About the Author:

Sheridan Scott is the primary co-author of the Now You Tell Me! series and has edited half a dozen Chicken Soup for the Soul books. An award winning biographer, she has been a staff writer for five national magazines, and has ghostwritten for dozens of celebrities, as well as hundreds of regular folks.

Chris Willman is one of the top celebrity journalists in Los Angeles and has written for TV Guide, Entertainment Weekly and Rolling Stone among others.