Senior "Actor of the Year" has big plans
WILMORE-Senior Mitch Colley is a successful aspiring actor at Asbury
College who competed against more than 5,000 actors to win the title
Actor of the Year at the International Model and Talent Association in
Los Angeles.
Acting isn't new to Colley. When he was 12, he auditioned and qualified
for a trip to Los Angeles, Calif., with the International Model and
Talent Association. Yet, he chose not to pursue that opportunity until
now. Colley auditioned again this winter and decided this time he
would go to Los Angeles.
"I didn't go necessarily to win," said Colley. "I went to get callbacks from agents."
The five-day competition was made up of monologue, sitcom, soap opera,
commercial script and cold reading auditions, which involve scoring,
rating and judging. It is the largest of six conventions in the United
States.
Each finalist gave a resume, and headshot to the agents interested in
further contact or contract possibilities at the end of the
convention, hoping for an interview. Colley chose from 250-300 agents,
receiving a ‘big time' callback from Al Onorato, manager for Katie
Holmes, and co-founder of the Casting Society of America. Onorato
thought Colley a ‘natural,' and now that the Writers Strike ended,
Onorato wants to revisit signing Colley.
Along with the title of Actor of the Year for IMTA, Colley received the scholarship to the Adam Hill Acting School and Promenade Playhouse Theater. He will study under Adam Hill in New York City upon graduation from Asbury College.
Colley first got involved by auditioning at Images Talent and Modeling Agency in Lexington, Kentucky. For four months, Colley attended classes
each week at ITMA in preparation for his competitive trip to L.A. He
said, however, that his Asbury education made the most impact on his
acting career.
"Everything I learned and applied in the L.A. competition I learned
from Jeff Day. I made it to L.A. because of Asbury College's theater
and cinema performance program and hands-on training and experience
with Jeff Day."
Jeff Day, professor of theater and cinema performance,
is excited about where Colley will go from here. "I am very proud that
he could represent Asbury College on a national platform," Day said.
One hundred people first tried out in Lexington at IMTA, but only 16
qualified for the trip to L.A. Janie Olmstead, coordinator and head of
auditions at IMTA in Lexington said, "In the 30 years I¹ve been doing
this, Mitch was part of the best quality group of people I've ever
seen."
"He's really great. I¹ve never had anyone win that scholarship. It's great for him as well as Jeff Day and the theatre and cinema performance department at Asbury," Olmstead said.
Colley did not come to Asbury College as a theater major, but after
being cast in a film written for Asbury College's award-winning media
communications program, he opened his eyes to the opportunity.
"I actually used to be a Bible and theology major," Colley said. "I was
cast in the short film Three Day Wake, then got involved in the
[theater cinema performance] department from there. It's been golden."
Colley's advice to aspiring Actors of the Year is simple: "Just get involved! Advertise yourself! Be a part of the theatre and cinema
performance major. If acting is something you've always wanted to do,
you have to go for it, because you'll never know if you don't try.
Success isn't going to just be handed to you."
Colley believes that a new generation of Asbury College theatre and
cinema performance graduates will emerge to pursue employment in
theater and film.
"It can be a medium to glorify God," he said. "I'm taking the Christian
professional principles that Jeff has instilled in me and I'm putting
them into use at greater heights in the industry."
See Colley perform in "Reduced Shakespeare" Feb. 28, 29 and March 1. Read more.
Released: Feb. 22, 2008
Tagged: films, jeff-day, theatre-cinema-performance and features
