He doth Protest too much...

I had my first professional acting gig in ten months last night. I don't normally take background work, but as the industry has been soooooo slow lately, I took it to keep my agent happy. A company is currently shooting a mini-series for CBC about the Protestant Reformation, and I was booked as a 16th century vagabond...drinkin', smokin' and gettin' laid whenever and WHOMever was available. You could call him one of the hippies of that era.

We shot at Black Creek Pioneer Village in Toronto, in the Half-Way House - which was setup like an ancient gathering hall. Between the multitude of candles, the chimney stoked and a smoke machine setting up the atmosphere, it got to be a pretty hot hour or so. I enter with two mugs, one for myself and the other for the rebel-rouser. I sit down, laugh and drunkenly chat with others at the table, then once the rebel gets up and starts yelling and tearing pages out of a book (assumed to be the bible), I go to one of the girls at the table, pull her up by the shawl to get a quick snuggle, pull the shawl off of her, throw it to a friend and then lead her out of the room for sights and pleasures unseen. Should look good on camera. Hence the unseen bit.
I'm not 100% sure when the series is going to be on, but I'll keep my ear to the ground and will report back once it is released. it'll be a short scene - the entire series goes over a 300+ year period, so there won't be too much focus on some drunken 16th century gits. It was a fun shoot though, and the cast and crew were a pleasure to work with. I'd do it again...but would still prefer some principle work.