I Am An Actor
Ask any resident in New York City or Los Angeles what they do for a living, and you are more than likely to garner that as a response. While New York is home to theater and Los Angeles is the go-to for film and television, both cities set the stage for the modern American dream: success in the entertainment industry. However, given the competitive nature of the profession and the high cost of living in both cities, most aspiring stars much take on additional part-time – or even full-time – jobs as a means of income and daily work. While extremely prevalent in today’s economy, this trend is nothing new: prior to stardom, Johnny Depp and Jennifer Aniston worked as telemarketers, Ashton Kutcher swept floors, and Brad Pitt danced around in a chicken suit. Fascinated by this classic and seemingly inevitable phenomenon, Franck Bohbot sought to explore these second jobs with the series, “I’m An Actor.” Through online castings, calls for auditions, already-established contacts, and even chance encounters on the street, Bohbot was able to found a group of dual-job actors to interview and photograph. Hoping to capture the individuals in their alternate elements, Bohbot photographed each in their place of work, which range from restaurants to gyms. While the venues inherently lack the glitz and glamour of the silver screen, they effectively set a scene and present a new and different type of stage, giving these all-around authentic photographs a fictional feel. Freezing each individual within a moment in his or her daily life in these both cinematic and documentary portraits, Bohbot successfully explores the concept that we are, in fact, all actors, as we all adopt various roles in our everyday lives and we all, ultimately, must learn to be somebody. This series became a shared project when Franck asked to his friend interviewer and writer Philippe Ungar to interview them in order to better understand the unique relationships they experience between their passion and the reality. They work as waiters, dog-walkers, delivery men, realtors, production assistants, lawyers or even private eyes... and most of the time learn something essential for their own acting. In those portraits, we are exploring the concept that they are all playing a role onstage and outside the stage, because ultimately, they all have to be somebody.