Bow Street Meets is a web series about acting featuring interviews with leading Actors, Agents, Casting Directors and Filmmakers. Each guest gives candid and insightful tips for emerging and established actors about a variety of topics including auditions, self taping, showreels, headshots, nerves and many other aspects of acting, all based on their experiences working at the very top of the Film & TV industry.
Victoria Smurfit is an Irish actress and producer known internationally for her roles in Bulletproof Monk, The Beach and About a Boy. Since she found fame on the BBC series Ballykissangel in 1998, she has gone on to find success in both Film and TV with roles in series such as Dracula, Cold Feet, The Mentalist, Marcella and Once Upon a Time as well as feature films such as Homecoming and The Lears.
Ita O’Brien is the UK’s leading Intimacy Coordinator (BBC, HBO, NETFLIX, HULU) and founder of Intimacy on Set, which provides services to TV, film and theatre when dealing with intimacy, sexual content, and nudity. She has pioneered the role of the Intimacy Coordinator since 2014 advocating for safe, fair and dignified work for everyone. She has worked on numerous high profile productions including I May Destroy You (BBC/HBO), Normal People (BBC3/Hulu), Sex Education 1&2 (Netflix), Gangs of London (Sky Atlantic), The Great (Hulu), Watchman (HBO), Industry ( BBC/HBO) and It’s A Sin (Channel 4), and has been widely covered in the national and international media as the leading spokesperson in this groundbreaking space.
Bronagh Gallagher is an Irish Singer, Musician and Actor. After her big break as Bernie in The Commitments she followed up with small but memorable parts in Pulp Fiction, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and Mary Reilly. Combining her film work with TV and stage as well a successful career as a singer, she has worked with some of the industry’s leading filmmakers including Stephen Frears, Ridley Scott and Guy Ritchie. With a whopping 5 IFTA nominations to her credit she most recently starred in the award winning feature A Bump Along the Way.
Cathal Watters is an award winning Irish Cinematographer recently honoured with membership to the American Cinematographers Society who also nominated him for his work on the BBC period drama Peaky Blinders. Noms also followed from IFTA and the Royal Television Society Awards. He has worked with Irish director Paddy Breathneach on his films Viva for which he won an IFTA for Best Cinematography and Rosie which earned him another nomination. Cathal also has a long list of Film and TV credits which has led him to work with actors such as Adrien Brody, Salma Hayek, Tom Hardy and more recently Dakota Fanning and Daniel Bruhl on The Alienist: Angel of Darkness.
Aisling Walsh is a multi award winning Irish screenwriter and director best known for the films Elizabeth is Missing, Maudie and A Poet in New York. Her work has led her to direct actors such as Sally Hawkins, Ethan Hawke, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Hollander, Alfred Molina and more recently Glenda Jackson who won a Bafta for her performance in Elizabeth is Missing. Her next project is One Life with Anthony Hopkins and Johnny Flynn attached.
William Conacher has coached the voices of some of cinema’s most talented artists, including Nicole Kidman, Naomi Watts, Tom Hanks, Ralph Fiennes, Kate Winslet, Dustin Hoffman, James Franco and Rami Malek – to name just a few. A graduate of the Central School of Speech and Drama, he taught voice, dialects and phonetics in several drama schools before teaching at RADA in 1998, where he remained for eight years. William has also been a longtime collaborator with director Stephen Daldry, working on two of his Oscar-nominated films, The Reader and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Other Film & TV credits include Bohemian Rhapsody, No Time To Die, The Crown, Peaky Blinders, Happy Valley, Dunkirk, Jojo Rabbit and First Man.
Andrew Garfield has been nominated for an Academy Award, two Golden Globes and three BAFTAs. He is known for his versatility and ability to bring truthful performances to small independent films as well as blockbusters. He has performed with some of the greats including Robert Redford, Tom Cruise, and Meryl Streep and has been directed by some of the best Directors in the business including Martin Scorsese in Silence and David Fincher in The Social Network. He is also best known for his work on Boy A, Hacksaw Ridge and Spiderman.
Matthew Goode is an Emmy nominated actor known for his versatility and range from comedy to drama in both Film and TV. Shortly after his breakthrough role in Chasing Liberty he co-starred in Woody Allen’s Match Point and then Brideshead Revisited. Much praise has been heaped on him for his TV roles in The Crown, Downton Abbey and The Good Wife, as well as feature roles in A Single Man, Stoker and The Imitation Game.
Nathan Nugent is an award winning Irish editor known for his work on the Oscar nominated Room, Normal People, Disobedience, and the soon to be released Minamata starring Johnny Depp and Bill Nighy. A long time collaborator with Oscar nominated director Lenny Abrahamson, his credits also include The Little Stranger, Frank and What Richard Did.
With 4 Oscar nominations, 5 Bafta noms and a Golden Globe under her belt Saoirse Ronan is unquestionably one of the leading actors on the planet. Best known for her breakthrough performance in Atonement, more recently she has garnered critical acclaim for her roles in the films Lady Bird and Little Women. To launch the 1st episode of our new ‘Coronoa Sessions’ series we are honoured to have Saoirse as our first guest.
Helen Behan is an Irish actor recently BAFTA nominated for her performance in Shane Meadows The Virtues opposite Stephen Graham. She was also cast opposite Glenda Jackson in Elizabeth Is Missing which also received BAFTA nominations for Best Drama and Best Actress for Jackson. Helen previously worked with Meadows on This Is England and can also be seen in the upcoming Wildfire by Cathy Brady.
Niamh Algar is taking the acting world by storm having recently worked with Guy Ritchie (Cash Truck), Shane Meadows (The Virtues) and Ridley Scott (Raised by Wolves). She was named by Screen Daily a 2018 Screen International ‘Star of Tomorrow’ for her leading turn in the The Virtues, and was named as one of BAFTA’s rising stars of 2019. A past graduate of Bow Street’s Programme for Screen Acting, here she shares some wonderful observations on the importance of being open, trusting, flexible, and kind.
Oscar Isaac is a Golden Globe winning actor and musician known for his work on Inside Llewyn Davis, Ex Machina, A Most Violent Year and Star Wars. In 2016, Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world and in 2017 he was described as the “best dang actor of his generation” by Vanity Fair.
Hugo Weaving is a multi award winning actor best known for his work on the films The Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, V for Vendetta and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. An accomplished Voice Actor he has voiced many memorable characters such as Rex the Sheepdog in Babe, Noah the Leading Elder Emperor Penguin in Happy Feet and as Megatron in the first three installments of the Transformers film series. Hugo is also an ambassador for Australian animal rights organisation Voiceless, the animal protection institute.
Dan Hubbard is a major International Casting Director who is best known for his work on films like Jason Bourne, Captain Phillips, Hellboy, and King Kong, as well as TV Shows Downton Abbey and The Murder of Stephen Lawrence. He is the son of John and fellow Bow Street Meets guest Ros Hubbard He is also a passionate Liverpool FC supporter.
One of Ireland’s most successful filmmakers, John is a multi award winning Film and TV director, producer, screenwriter, and composer. He is best known for his 2007 Oscar winning movie Once, Begin Again (Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightley) and Sing Street starring Ferdia Walsh-Peelo and previous Bow Street Meets guests Aidan Gillen and Jack Reynor. John recently completed Modern Love a rom-com web television series for Amazon, based on the weekly column published by The New York Times featuring Anne Hathaway, Tina Fey, Dev Patel and Andy Garcia.
Kirsten Sheridan is a multi award winning writer and director. She has directed August Rush (Freddie Highmore, Keri Russell, Robin Williams), Disco Pigs (Cillian Murphy, Elaine Cassidy) and Dollhouse (Seana Kerslake, Jack Reynor) , and was nominated for an Academy Award for co-writing In America with her father, Jim Sheridan, and sister, Naomi Sheridan. Kirsten was also a co-founder of The Factory out of which grew Bow Street.
A compilation of all the best advice from our many guests on the art of Audition technique including LENNY ABRAHAMSON, NANCY BISHOP, STEPHEN BRIDGEWATER, JOHN CARNEY, JAMES FRECHEVILLE, AIDAN GILLEN, BRENDAN GLEESON, RICHARD E. GRANT, GERRY GRENNELL, DAN HUBBARD, ROS HUBBARD, OSCAR ISAAC, TUSSE LANDE, JACK REYNOR, GREG SESTERO, FIONA SHAW, KIRSTEN SHERIDAN, MARGERY SIMKIN and HUGO WEAVING.
Aidan is best known for portraying Tommy Carcetti in the HBO series The Wire, and Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish in Game of Thrones. He played Stuart Alan Jones in the groundbreaking Channel 4 series Queer as Folk for which he received a British Academy Television Award nomination for Best Actor. He was nominated for a Tony Award for his Broadway role in Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker and has also been nominated for an Irish Times Theatre Award for his portrayal of Teach in the Gate Theatre’s production of Mamet’s American Buffalo.
Richard is an actor, writer and director. He was born in Swaziland and came to public attention in 1987 for playing Withnail in the film Withnail and I, and achieved international recognition as John Seward in the 1992 blockbuster Bram Stoker’s Dracula. He has published 3 books and recently launched his new unisex perfume, JACK. Other major film credits include Corpse Bride, Gosford Park, The Player, The Age of Innocence, Henry & June, and L.A. Story.
Ros was born in Dublin and moved to London where she became ‘Queen of the Commercials, at which point her husband John joined her as a casting director. Together they established Hubbard Casting and have cast some of the biggest box office hits in recent years including The Lord of the Rings franchise, The Bourne Identity, King Kong, The Da Vinci Code, The Mummy and most recently The Hobbit. They have discovered thesps including Kate Winslet, Orlando Bloom, Colin Farrell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Saoirse Ronan.
Greg Sestero is an Actor, Writer, Producer famous for co-starring in the cult classic The Room with Tommy Wiseau. In 2013, he wrote the critically acclaimed bestseller The Disaster Artist, chronicling his experience making the film. The book went on to become an Oscar Nominated film starring and directed by James Franco. He has recently returned with Wiseau to co-star in and write Best F(r)iends Volume 1 & 2.
Lenny Abrahamson is an Oscar nominated filmmaker from Dublin Ireland. His films have garnered multiple awards and nominations including Oscars, Golden Globes, Baftas and awards from Cannes, Toronto and many more. He is best known for the films Room which received 4 Oscar Nominations, What Richard Did, Frank, Garage and the recently released The Little Stranger starring Domhnall Gleeson, Ruth Wilson, Charlotte Rampling and Will Poulter.
Fiona Shaw CBE is an actress and theatre and opera director, known for her role as Petunia Dursley in the Harry Potter films and her role as Marnie Stonebrook in the HBO series True Blood. She has worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, twice winning the Olivier Award for Best Actress. She won the 1997 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance for The Waste Land. She has worked with directors Brian De Palma, Terrence Malik and Jim Sheridan.
Margery is one of the industry’s leading casting directors. In the course of her career she has given early starts to such actors as Tom Cruise, Laura Dern, Kevin Bacon, Robert Downey Jr, Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Queen Latifah and Natalie Portman. has cast such films as Beverley Hills Cop, Top Gun, Brazil, Field of Dreams, Twelve Monkeys, Erin Brockovich, Marley & Me, Avatar, Pacific Rim and Beautiful Creatures.
Everything you ever wanted to know about Self-Taping but were afraid to ask! Here’s a compilation of the Top 10 tips to improve your self tapes including Framing, Sound, Eye Line. Lighting, Background, Choosing a Reader, and more.
Gerry is one of the world’s most in demand voice and acting coaches. He has collaborated with Heath Ledger on numerous projects including The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus, and Batman: The Dark Knight, and has worked frequently with Johnny Depp, Bruce Willis, Oscar Isaac, Natalie Portman Tom Cruise Marlon Brando, Sean Penn, Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Matt Damon, Amy Adams, Kate Hudson, Orlando Bloom, and many more.
Gerry trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, Constructive Teaching Centre London (Alexander Technique) and Hochschule fur Misik und Theater Hannover (Music). His unique acting method is the foundation for all training at Bow Street Academy for Screen Acting.
Jack Reynor’s meteoric rise to fame has been as impressive as his stand out performances in recent films What Richard Did and Glassland. It seems like only yesterday he was training at The Actors Studio in The Factory and now can be regularly seen on the big screen mixing it up with the likes of Michael Fassbender and Rooney Mara. With a wise head on young shoulders he has easily moved between the blockbuster genre (Transformers) and the Indie films like Dollhouse and the upcoming Sing Street.
Brendan is a multi award winning Irish actor of stage and screen with 3 Golden Globe nominations. He made his breakthrough in Braveheart and came to international acclaim playing the titular role in The General. He has since carved out unique performances in films like In Bruges, Calvary, Harry Potter and The Guard and worked with Directors Danny Boyle, Stephen Spielberg and Martin Scorsese. Brendan has also won an Emmy award for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in the HBO movie Into the Storm.
Nancy is an Emmy-nominated casting director with nearly one hundred major feature film and television projects among her credits. She is the author of ‘Auditioning for Film and TV’ and has been retained as casting director by dozens of major screen producers and directors, including Brad Bird, (Mission Impossible IV), Roman Polanski (Oliver), and Ridley Scott (Child 44).
Stephen is one of Hollywood’s leading and busiest Acting Coaches. His clients have included: Benicio Del Toro, Heath Ledger, Matt Damon, Jeff Bridges, Brad Pitt, Bruce Willis, Orlando Bloom, and Robin Williams. He has also worked with directors and cast members of Sons of Anarchy, The X-Files, The Sopranos, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, 12 Monkeys, The Fisher King, Brokeback Mountain, Forrest Gump, 21 Grams, Mississippi Burning, Pirates of the Caribbean, and many more. Stephen also has multiple credits as an actor, director, producer, writer, and script consultant.
James Frecheville is an Australian actor known for his breakthrough lead role in the Australian film Animal Kingdom for which he was nominated for multiple awards. He has since gone on to work with Tom Hardy and James Gandolfini in The Drop, Pierce Brosnan in I.T. and recently with Hugo Weaving and Jim Broadbent in Lance Daly’s Balck ’47. Other major credits include the highly acclaimed Highly Functional and The Stanford Prison Experiment.
Tusse Lande has more than 30 years experience in the Film and TV business. As Casting Director she was instrumental in casting Noomi Rapace in The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo, for which Rapace was nominated for Best Actress at the 2009 European Film
