569: Walking Dead / Vampire Diaries actor April Billingsley

[00:00:00] The other thing that people ask me about that show is what were we eating when we were eating Bob's leg? Ah, what were you eating? It was, I'm pretty sure it was like charred pieces of ham. Okay. That they blackened the ham, they basically burnt it. And then before the takes they'd come over and put oil on top of it to make it look grosser. It was all edible, but I try not to eat too much unless I knew they were going to see my face.

[00:00:28] Hello everybody, welcome back to the Film Buds Podcast. This is episode number 569 and my name is Henry. This time around we are going to be doing our first interview of the year which is with actor April Billingsley who has appeared in a number of projects, The Walking Dead, Vampire Diaries, HBO's The Outsider, American Maid with Tom Cruise,

[00:00:58] The Summer I Turned Pretty, the Amazon original show, and many others. So thanks as always for being here. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe, all that good stuff. Follow us on social media, on Letterboxd, and visit our website filmbudspodcast.com. We are also on YouTube just in case you didn't know that. All right, well let's go ahead and get into our interview with April Billingsley. So take a listen. Can you hear me okay?

[00:01:28] I can hear you. Can you hear me okay? Yeah, I think we're good. Okay. And also, so my wife, Elle, and she's my co-host too, she unfortunately couldn't make it. She got consumed with work and so it's just going to be me. It's fine. But either way, thank you very much for taking the time to talk and yeah, it's nice to meet you. Yeah, nice to meet you too. Thanks for having me on. I'm excited. Yeah, no problem.

[00:01:54] Well, I guess the first thing I just wanted to ask you kind of out of the gate was, how did you get into acting and was that something you'd always wanted to do ever since you were a kid or did you kind of stumble into it like some people do sometimes? Um, great question. So I started acting when I was like five at an extracurricular thing that my parents were like,

[00:02:20] here, do this. You might have fun. And I loved it. And I think when I realized that some people had that as a career, at that point, I was like, I don't want to do anything else. Yeah. I mean, anybody want to do anything else? Um, and I think at that time, if I'd known how difficult it was, I might've, I might've thought differently, but today I just, I love it so much. I think that

[00:02:49] acting sort of at its heart is this, I like to think of it as this idea of a practice in the radical acceptance of all that is humanity. Sure. Sure. And, and, and also really fun and playful and, you know, you're trying to entertain people, but at the same time, you know, really accepting, you really have to be really your character's advocate,

[00:03:15] no matter how horrible or weird or off or whatever it is. And I fell in love with it mainly because of that. And I can't imagine not acting now. I can imagine doing something else for money, but I'd still, you know, be making my own little short films or doing something. Well, what was it that like your, what was your first, like first or second job that you said,

[00:03:43] Oh, Hey, I'm getting paid for this. Like, what was it kind of the point where like, Oh, Hey, I maybe could, you know, not that I just want to do it for a career, but now I have a chance to actually like go into it, make it a career. Well, my first paid acting job, I was 10. Oh, nice. I, but it, but it was for, and it was for a play downtown in Atlanta, the 14th street playhouse. And I had auditioned for like this.

[00:04:11] True that was going to be a paid thing that I did. And they told me, you know what? We don't know if you're right for a troop, but my friend is casting this part and it's actually paid like, Oh, and I ended up doing that for a while. But my parents, because I was very young, they, they both worked full time and they were having to drive me downtown every day. And as a young kid working to like 10 at night, every night after school, my grades just plummeted. And they were

[00:04:40] like, okay, well, we're not going to do that anymore. But I caught the bug, you know? So when I turned 18, I was like, this is what I'm doing for better or worse. Yeah. Were there any actors growing up who you really admired or like, whether it be TV and movies or, or stage actors, anything that you, or, or even now, you know, favorite actors now or.

[00:05:07] Yeah. So I always loved Tom Hanks as a kid. I mean, who, who doesn't, you know? Who doesn't love Tom? And he's such, I've yet to meet him. I hope I get to one day, but who knows, but he, and he is such a, just a wonderful human being too. And today, if I think about it, I really love everything Regina King's done every time. Oh yeah. He's kind of blown away.

[00:05:31] I actually got to meet her because I, I got cast for a day player role in a man in full. And maybe that was, it was one of the very, you normally don't get nervous, you know, meeting stars. That was one of the very few times that she was like, hi, I'm Regina. And I was like, yeah, no, I mean, that's because we, um, my wife and I just went to the, uh, the Albuquerque comic-con and we met some actors from Lord of the Rings and, um, some other things.

[00:06:01] And that was my first time meeting people in person like that, who I'd, you know, I'd watched their movies growing up. And so I definitely had that same kind of feeling. Well, what was it like? Who did you meet? That was, uh, we met, uh, Elijah Wood and Sean Astin, who were Frodo and Sam. They were there. And then we met John Rhys Davies, who was Gimli the dwarf. And then, uh, my wife met some twilight actors. Uh, I mean, it was honestly a pretty, a pretty,

[00:06:30] I'd never been to a comic-con or anything like that before. So it was, that was very starstruck. Kind of feel for me, but very fun though. But anyways, um, so with you having done a lot of appearances on different shows and movies and things like that is something like, let's say The Walking Dead, is that something that you're just there for a super short time and then you're out? Like, what's the kind of experience of you getting onto a set that you're not necessarily

[00:06:59] continuing on? You're just kind of appearing there and, you know, getting out. I think any show that is, been around for a little while tends to have a feel of a well-oiled machine. They kind of know how things run. And if you're just a smaller actor coming in for a couple episodes, you do kind of have this new kid in school feel, you know, of like, oh,

[00:07:26] I don't know anybody. I'm just going to hang out here and try not to, you know, just do my job. But Walking Dead was, was everyone actually was really nice on Walking Dead. I try not to talk too much to the big stars unless they, you know, initiate conversation, but they all, I mean, for the most part, hanging out, they spoke to me and asked me questions. And it was very, very cool.

[00:07:51] You know, I didn't try to bother Andrew Lincoln, who plays too much. There's this one moment I want to tell you about. So we're in the church and the, it's the four walls and a roof episode and killing me in that, but we're in the church and we're sitting, I'm sitting there in the pews, you know, waiting to be called and Andrew's actually sitting right next to me, but he's talking to somebody else. I don't remember who he's talking about too, but he was saying how he

[00:08:17] didn't like watching himself because of that. Have you seen, do you know, do you remember the scene in Love Actually where he has the cards? Oh yeah, of course. Yeah. So he's, he didn't love the edit of that, I guess, cause it was like cheesier than he imagined or whatever. I don't know. But he was like, he didn't say any of that. So I'm not, don't quote me on that. But after he saw that scene, he didn't like watching himself

[00:08:43] back anymore. So he doesn't ever watch his work back anymore. And I was, cause they were talking about Love Actually and he was speaking about that scene. And I am a little, like I watched Love Actually almost every Christmas. And so I just like whispered next to him. Cause I, you know, I did one of her out, but I couldn't help it. I was like, Love Actually is like one of my favorite movies. I watch it every Christmas. And he like stopped and he turned to me cause

[00:09:11] I was playing a cannibal, you know, and he turned to me and he's like, you're not a cannibal at all. You're just like a big salty, huh? I was like, yeah. I mean, Hey, that's the power of acting, you know, that's cool though. How much were you actually like how many kind of takes were you typically doing on a show like that for, or like if with like the eating scenes or whatever, like how many is, does it vary, you know, with a show like that or.

[00:09:39] I think it varies with Walking Dead. They had a lot of these very large scope scenes where there was a lot of moving parts and a lot of people in these wide shots, which isn't typical on all shows. You know, every show sort of has their shooting style. So a lot of the scenes I was in had just tons of people and were these wide shots and they might do, you know,

[00:10:07] three to five takes at most, but still hoping to get it in one or two. Right. But because there's so many moving parts, something, something's inevitably going to mess up in a few of the takes that you hope it's not you. Right. Yeah. And your whatnot, they're trying to smooth out a camera movement or whatever that is and takes a few takes, but yeah. If again, they moved on. They were like done.

[00:10:34] Yeah, no, I can imagine. Well, with a show, cause my, my wife, it's one of her favorite shows, the vampire diaries. And there's, and I guess we're talking about makeup and everything. So there's a scene where I think it's, if I'm not mistaken, you have this kind of blood coming out of your, like crying. Yeah. Okay. And then, so is that kind of makeup? Is that just like the kind of your typical blood makeup? Is it like an extensive process, like in terms

[00:11:02] of touching it for shot to shot or anything like that? So I've had, so I've had extensive makeup processes before. I actually did this. I'll tell you about that. And then I'll tell you what walking dead, I mean, what vampire diaries was. I did an episode of Constantine. It was a show. It wasn't that long, but I had this nice part in it, but my character died and got this weird, like rash vein thing and turned a weird color that they then animated and

[00:11:31] post. But for that, I was in makeup for two, two and a half hours and they were doing all this detailed airbrush work. Meanwhile, on vampire diaries, they had special eye drops that the blood drops that were eye safe and they put it in my eyes before the take and said, let's go. Easy, yeah. Yeah.

[00:11:58] Isn't it? I mean, I'm guessing it's fun to have makeup, whether it's, you know, just blood coming out of the eyes or anything like that. I'm guessing it's kind of fun as an actor just to have that because you never really know what, I guess, the final project is going to be like it. You kind of really do get to turn into someone who you may not recognize depending on the extensiveness of the makeup. I've gotten to do a lot of creature makeup. I am kind of a big sci-fi nerd though, so I have

[00:12:24] hope for the future. That's not something I've done a lot, but I've died a lot. And so a lot of times the, you know, death makeup or whatnot has been that one time it was interesting. Yeah. And then when I got my eyes gouged out, that was fun too. Oh, yes. It had to do a face. They had to like get a plaster of my face beforehand. And then so that it fit me perfectly. And yeah.

[00:12:53] Yeah. And one thing with the cast of, like you're talking about The Walking Dead, but with other shows, I know you're talking about how they were very welcoming. Do you find that if you go onto a set or even onto a movie where maybe you don't know anybody, you're there for a little bit, is it, do you need to interact with everybody to kind of feel comfortable? Or can he kind of just say, this is my, these are my lines. This is my part.

[00:13:18] I can just do my job and get out. And I'm just as confident as if, you know, someone wasn't coming up and introducing themselves to me. Like, do you, do you feel comfortable somewhat either way or always uncomfortable? No, I mean, part of being an actor is being comfortable being uncomfortable. No, true. Yeah. One thing we say in, you hear in acting classes all the time, but I would say really interacting

[00:13:44] with everybody is never going to happen because sets are huge with tons of different moving parts. Of course. And everybody's doing their thing. There's certain people you're definitely going to interact with. So as an actor, you find the base camp PA when you get the set on a bigger set, it might be the second ED on a smaller set. But basically you find the people whose job

[00:14:11] it is to know where you are at all times and you make sure you stay in touch with them. And usually the actors you're in the scene with, who you're interacting with, will introduce themselves to you. Oftentimes there's tons of downtime where you're just sitting in a cast chair while they're switching around a scene. Yeah. So you're sitting there for a long time with the other cast members, but not necessarily other people on the set. And then you spend a lot of time with the hair and makeup people

[00:14:39] because the whole time they're doing your hair and makeup, you know, oftentimes they'll end up chatting with them or whatnot. For instance, on Last Vegas, I did, there was five Oscar winners and then like one character who'd been a series regular before and then me on the call sheet. And for the most part, if I didn't have a scene with somebody, I didn't really interact with

[00:15:06] them on that show, but they would, they'd be nice, you know, but they weren't like trying to have conversations. And in that case, the actors were of such a high status that they kind of had their own little private places that they went away to so that people wouldn't bug them. Right. So you are going up to Andrew Lincoln, like putting your arm around him and being like, Hey buddy, none of that. These working actors are the nicest people. Yeah, of course.

[00:15:36] You know, if they're not nice, they don't, oftentimes they don't continue to work, especially not on high profile things. Yeah. Well, I guess one of the kind of the bigger questions, what are some, if one or many, or if any big lessons that from when you first started out as a kid to even to now any kind of lessons or things that you have really stuck with you, maybe something somebody said to you

[00:16:03] or an experience you had personally that you said, Oh, I'm not going to do this again, or I'm going to make sure to keep an eye out for this or just an awareness. Is there anything that sticks out to you that you are glad, you know, at this point, having done it for so long? It's kind of a big question, but it is a big question. I would say it's important to be happy with your own artistry. And I think one of the biggest

[00:16:29] things that I really try to hold near and dear now that was harder for me at the beginning of my career is this idea of stacking your proof, not your doubt. I think almost all actors, no matter how successful or not successful they are, can be very self-conscious or always concerned about their next job or, you know, even the biggest actors are like, well, the movie's on me. What if it

[00:16:54] doesn't do well? That type of thing. So for me, just this idea of we're all humans, we're all people. Just be another human. Yeah. Don't, don't think about the things that went wrong. Just really focusing on stacking the proof, not the doubt in this type of creative career,

[00:17:17] I think is important because that makes you want to continue on. So if you think, oh, well, this cast director, for instance, in acting, most of my job is auditioning, right? So it's like, oh, this casting director asked to see me again and they must like me, right? Versus, oh, another audition that I didn't get. Yeah. But just switching that mentality, I think has been really,

[00:17:41] really helpful. Yeah. And I feel like, especially with something like acting and no matter what part it is, the kind of your, I guess the energy you bring to the set can really be contagious. You know, like if you see someone who's just not like, just not having a good time, not acting properly, that can bring the whole kind of vibe of the set down. I would think, you know, as it, as it came with any workplace really, but I think especially with acting where

[00:18:08] you are creating something, if someone's really not bringing their, their a game or not the right attitude, it can kind of. I think that's mostly true for the higher ups, like the director and the lead actors, certainly in the opportunities I've had to be a lead actor on set. It's important to know that people are looking to you for the tone and for how things are going and that just by being

[00:18:38] at ease yourself, you can put them at ease. Yeah. So I think that's important, but maybe as somebody who comes in to do a guest star here and there. It's, it's not, it's not gonna. Your attitude matters, but it's not gonna affect the boy's bed. I mean, you just need to be a human. Yeah. No, that's fair. Yeah. Who, who, and, and not, not a diva or anything. Like,

[00:19:05] like don't, don't be, you know, on set for, you know, you're on set for three days and you're like, I need my lunch from, I don't, I don't even know. Your trailer, you know. I need my lunch in my trailer and I need like 80% protein. Don't be, you know, be, be nice, be kind and professional. Yeah. Always. I like to say, so one of my teachers, Catherine Dyer, um, a drumming,

[00:19:34] she always says she has her three Ps, prepared, professional, and working from a place of peace. Good, good rules. Yeah. Well, one of the last things, um, are there any kind of genres or specific shows or movies that you would love to be part of one day? Anything that you're like, if I could get

[00:20:00] a part on that show or, and even in a certain genre, you know, a certain horror thing, a comedy thing, is there anything that sticks out in your mind is I got, I got to get there or I hope, I hope I get the Star Trek. Oh yeah. Or Doctor Who, but also I'm a big sci-fi fan, so shows that are shooting right now, I'd love to be a part of Fallout or Silo or Dark Matter. Also, also I really love that

[00:20:24] show Shrinking that's out. Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah. I would love to be a part of that because I enjoy doing funny-ish stuff too and I just think the actors are so good and the show is like, I, yeah, I'm into it. And then also, I love urban fantasy books. There's two book series I love. One is the Mercy Thompson series, which got optioned a couple years ago. I can't remember by who, but I don't

[00:20:54] know if they're just sitting on it, if they'll end up making it or not. And then the Kate Daniels books are both these urban fantasy series that I don't even know what character I would play in, but if I could be anything in those worlds, I'd love that. Yeah. Well, talking about shrinking, Apple TV Plus shows and movies too, but especially the shows are underrated, honestly. I feel like

[00:21:20] there's so much great production value. So many times I hear people not having that subscription, which maybe it's still like a niche thing. I don't know, but it's a very underrated platform. Isn't Severance on Apple? Yes. Yeah. Oh good. That's another one. Yeah. Wait, why can't I remember? Ted Lasso? Ted Lasso is another one. Yes. It's like,

[00:21:44] it's stacked. Yeah. It was so good. Yeah. Just lastly, is there any, any other recent projects or anything upcoming that you'd like to have out there? Anything that, you know, you're excited about or you're, you know, or, or maybe, maybe you can't talk about it, but. No, I know. Well, I don't have any that I can't talk about right now, but I did a movie recently called Elijah

[00:22:09] Peel. I'm actually filming pickups for that next week. Okay, cool. So I'm excited about that and it's a cool little project and an indie film, but hopefully it does well. And I have one of the, I have a main role in that. And then there's another movie called The Juggler that it hasn't filmed yet, but I've, I'm one of the two leads in that, that is, seems like it's going to be really

[00:22:34] awesome. It's sort of a semi-biographical story about two people who kind of fall in love and one is sort of like into the circus and whatnot. And so I don't want to give too much of that away, but they're, apparently there are going to be scenes where I get to throw a bowling pin on fire or a juggling pin. I guess now I'm like, Oh, that sounds cool. Yeah. So I'm excited to do that as well. And

[00:23:02] then another thing, I don't mean to keep talking. No, there's, I wrote some, I wrote some spec scenes for this NPC character from fallout that I want to play. She's the character is Southern and she works in the Hoover Dam and her boss takes credit for all of her work. And she is the smart one who's getting

[00:23:29] everything done, but he takes credit for all of her work. And I, anyway, I, I kind of loved the character and I looked up, if you look up the NPC, she kind of looks like me. And so I wrote these spec scenes for her and I have a friend who I've been talking to who has, who's done a couple like fan film type things that we might end up making it. I don't know. Nice. And in terms of the,

[00:23:56] the Southern accent, I'm from North Carolina, pretty good Southern accent. Oh, well, I'm from Atlanta. Oh, nice. Well, good. Then, you know, then. So, but, um, just in the world of film, it seems at least, you know, cause it's been a rough few years. I'm sure, you know, doing this podcast. Yeah. You know, being in the, but it does seem like things are picking back up because there've, there've been a lot more auditions lately that I've seen. That's good. Yeah. Cause I know

[00:24:24] with COVID obviously. And then now the, the wildfires, you know, that hit things too. So it's just kind of. Yeah. So there was the pandemic. Then there was all of the strikes. Yeah. Then they moved a lot of production overseas and then now the wildfires. There's always something, but it feels like just from, cause I'm an acting coach too. So it feels like just from having my

[00:24:52] finger on the pulse of things like production is coming back a little bit. So that's good. Yeah. April. Um, I think that's about all, all that I have. Um, and again, thank you very much for taking the time to talk and, um, look forward to checking out all those projects you've been talking about and we hope to get you back on sometime. And cause my wife, again, I know my wife will geek out over the vampire diaries and, and all those things, but.

[00:25:21] Amazing. It's been really fun. I so much appreciate y'all having me and please tell her hi for me and whatnot. And I'd be happy just to talk to her about it whenever. Okay, cool. Thank you so much. I'm sure she'll appreciate that. But yeah. Thanks. Bye. All right. Well, there you go. Hope you enjoyed that. And as I said, at the beginning, we will be doing more interviews in the coming months. We have some actors lined up,

[00:25:50] composers, and if there's anyone that you know, or you want us to try and reach out to, please let us know. We'll do our best as always rate review, subscribe, all those good things. And thank you very much to all those who have share us on social media and hope you enjoyed it. Even half as much as I did, and we'll see you next time. See you. ... ... ... Thank you.