Judy Kain
Judy has been a professional actress and public speaker for 38 years, showcasing her skills & talents in over 400 commercials and in over 110 roles for film & television. She is a published author of the book I BOOKED IT! The Commercial Actors Handbook.
Commercially, she has worked with countless celebrities, including: Ringo Star, Norm McDonald, Dr. Ruth, Kate Hudson, Blake Griffin, Chris Paul & Dinah Shore to name a few. She also appeared in 2 acclaimed Super Bowl Ads in 2013.
Over 50 of her commercials have won Cleo’s. Her extensive background in commercials has lead to several career highlights such as being remembered as the Judge in CLAIROL HERBAL ESSENCE with Dr. Ruth, a role in which Saturday Night Live did a hilarious spoof of her.
Actors all over the country have benefited from Judy's techniques as she speaks, teaches and holds workshops sharing her experience.
Some of her more well-known credits include a Television Series Regular on The Jackie Thomas Show. Currently Judy is recurring as Lauren on The Fosters. You may have also seen her in her Recurring role on the Emmy-winning show Mad Men as Olive Healey (Peggy’s Secretary), a role which won her a SAG Award.
Her other favorite recurring credits include The Odd Couple with Matthew Perry, Hand of God with Ron Pearlman, Married with Children, For Your Love, Grosse Pointe, and Manhattan, AZ with Chad Everett. She has done numerous guest appearances on the hit shows This is Us, Jane the Virgin, NCIS, Modern Family, The Middle, Bones, Castle, Scrubs, Desperate Housewives, ER, Seinfeld, The West Wing, NYPD Blue, and Friends, just to name a few.
Her teaching career has also lead to immense success, being voted BACKSTAGE WEST'S FAVORITE AUDITION TEACHER in 2014, 2015 & 2016 and FAVORITE ON-CAMERA COMMERCIAL TEACHER IN LA in 2010 and 2011, & 2012. Her other acting classes have won BACKSTAGE WEST'S FAVORITE IN LA a total of 4 times as well, and continue to produce amazing results for her students.
JOLENE KAY
Jolene Kay found her way into commercials, film, and television through her athletic pursuits. She grew up in the midwest, where camping, floating the river, rock climbing, pole vault, and softball lead to theatre exploration at the University of Missouri. Once in LA, the special skills lead to her beginning roles in J.J. Abrams Star Trek, the video game giant Call of Duty: Ghosts, and a rock climbing campaign for Coca-Cola.
She has appeared in countless other commercials for companies like Home Depot, Nissan, Toyota, Ford, Dr. Scholls, Naked Juice, Nespresso, Best Buy, Cigna, American Airlines, Farmers Insurance, and more.
Her television credits include The Terminal List, Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, House of Lies, Colony, Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, Rizzoli & Isles, and Flaked.
Jolene has worked for many years as a session director in casting, allowing her a unique perspective on auditions. She brings her experience to the classroom, both an actor, and someone who works side-by-side with casting directors. She likes to joke “I’ve made all the mistakes already, so my students don’t have to!"
STACY EDWARDS
Moving to Chicago on a dance scholarship with the Hubbard Street Dance school, it is also where Stacy started to pursue her theater training by studying the Meisner Technique at Wisdom Bridge Theater's acting program.
She was soon seen in plays around town, including 'In The Boom Boom Room' and 'Agnes Of God'. As a founding member of the 'Center Theater' company, she appeared in, 'Lysistrata 2011 A.D.' the musical.
Stacy was soon cast in the soap opera, 'Santa Barbara', which brought her to Los Angeles. Over the years, Stacy has appeared in numerous series and movies of the week. Most notably, HBO's Vietnam War Stories, TNT's film, Houdini and a series regular on Chicago Hope. Most recently she has appeared on, Shameless, Pure Genius and The Fosters.
In film, Stacy won best actress at the Taormina Film Festival and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for her role in, In The Company of Men. You can also see her in Primary Colors, Superbad and The Bling Ring.
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Testimonials for Stacy
Tom Burke
Castable Actor Teacher, Headshot Coach, Image/Branding Specialist, & Backstage Expert
After transitioning from a successful print model working with well-known photographers and designers appearing in numerous campaigns in magazines and on runways all over the world, to an accomplished on-camera actor in commercials, stage work, feature films, soap operas, and episodic television, to a proficient on-set acting coach specializing in characters with mental disabilities... Tom focused his wealth of knowledge and keen eye to become one of L.A.’s premier image consultants, headshot coaches, and creator of the Castable Actor, a series of workshops, seminars, and advice designed to help actors open doors to a successful career.
Tom Burke’s work experience in the different acting mediums together with his diverse training in various acting methods (taught by some of the most renown acting teachers spanning New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles) has developed a talent to be able to successfully teach, coach, and understand a wide range of actors, helping them pinpoint their specific types, brands, and most marketable images. He currently writes a monthly column for BACKSTAGE which helps actors understand the importance of creating, presenting, and packaging a marketable branded image that the film and television industry is actually buying.
AVA HIMMEL
Ava Himmel has a serious passion for all things commercials. She is a proud SAG-AFTRA member who, while starting her career in film and television, found way more fun putting her improv and comedy skills to work in the commercial arena. Over the years, she’s performed in many commercial campaigns for brands like: AT&T, UPS, McDonalds, KFC, Samsung, Dunkin’ Donuts, Spectracide, etc. For well over a decade, Ava has also been a highly respected Commercial Session Director, helping other actors through their audition process. She’s worked at nearly every casting studio in LA (and Toronto) and for most of the Commercial Casting Directors around town. Everyone from: Elevator Casting, Dan Bell, RMB, Deming Casting, Jodi Sonnenberg, ASG, Jane Doe, McBride, Spot Casting, Katie Taylor, and many, many more. In that time she has been involved in 10,000+ audition situations and, needless to say, has seen it all! Throughout the years, Ava’s passion for commercials has only intensified, as has the passion for helping her fellow actors. She is always looking for ways to share her knowledge, experience, and love of the commercial world.
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Donna Rusch
Donna Rush was named LA's Favorite Kid's Acting Coach by Backstage West Readers. She has vivid childhood memories wanting to be an actor growing up in Houston. That, along with being a mom, fuels her passion for helping young actors learn the skills needed to succeed while having fun!
Donna has been seen in dozens of commercials over her career, including recent spots for Capitol One with Spike Lee, Charles Barkley and Samuel Jackson. This Fall she appears in the new NBC comedy Marlon, the new season of American Crime Story and the upcoming Feature Film Spinning Man with Pierce Brosnan. She's excited about a new project in the works to reprise her role in the sequel to the film Street. Other credits include Gone Girl, How to Get Away With Murder, Criminal Minds and Revenge. Ads a former Texas News Anchor, Talk Show Host and Reporter, Donna can be heard weekday mornings as Host of SoCal's MorningRush on 99.5 KKLA radio in Los Angeles. She's married to her college sweetheart, Craig.
Doug traer
Doug began his acting/directing career in his native Florida, where he earned his degree in Media Communications while serving as a reporter, photographer, and eventually managing editor at his college newspaper. Although he originally thought his calling was print and broadcast journalism, he realized he was drawn to visual media, learning film and video work at local television stations where he worked. He also developed his talent for acting, performing at area theaters in such diverse productions as Twelfth Night, An Enemy of the People, As You Like It, and Pippin, which he co-directed. He was then asked to direct several productions including The Rainmaker, Play It Again, Sam and The Wizard of Oz.
Since moving to Los Angeles, he has worked as an actor in stage productions such as the critically acclaimed The Jones Boy and Closet Land and appeared in a number of national and regional commercials. On film and television, he has appeared as a recurring role on General Hospital, as well as doing a string of films including Brenda Starr, with Brooke Shields.
Besides acting he works as a casting session director, video director/editor/cameraman and commercial casting director as well as teaching commercial and theatrical acting classes in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Oakland, Santa Barbara, San Diego and Phoenix. He's also done two international stints, teaching American acting to Japanese students in Tokyo. By his estimate, he has seen well over 200,000 commercial auditions.
Lisa Fredrickson
Lisa Fredrickson has been teaching and performing improv since 1989. She has been an ensemble member of Seattle’s Unexpected Productions, Orlando’s SAK Comedy Lab, Walt Disney World’s Comedy Warehouse, California Adventure’s Department of Untapped Hilarity, Universal Studio’s New York Window and LA’s Impro Theatre, where she currently teaches and improvises full length plays in the styles of Tennessee Williams, Jane Austen, William Shakespeare and more.
During the school year Lisa can be found teaching classes and running Improv groups at California Lutheran University and Harvard Westlake Upper School.
Lisa has appeared in numerous TV commercials in the last 25 years, including Target, AT&T, Avis, The NFL, Got Milk?, Little Caesars Pizza, AARP, Geico and International Delight. You may have seen her in a few TV shows as well, including Desperate Housewives, Chuck, Greek and The Tick.
Lisa encourages her students to ‘find the fun’ in a scene, a script or in everyday life! She enjoys babies and Banjos.
Soledad campos
Soledad Campos fell in love with acting after seeing Oedipus El Rey at the National Theatre and TV shows like Bonanza and The Brady Bunch in her native country, Chile. She then formed a theatre club in her high school where she worked on classics like Moliere and Beckett and sketches based on TV shows. Coming to the U.S. at age 19, she studied English, Theatre and Modern Dance at Montgomery College, MD and the University of Maryland.
She couldn’t get enough of theatre so she performed for ten years, non-stop, in Washington, DC including works like the title role La Malquerida at Gala Hispanic Theatre, New-Visions New Voices at The Kennedy Center, and Camino Real at The Shakespeare Theatre. She also performed Mexican Folklore for five years at many venues in Washington, DC. During the day, she was the Program Creator/Producer of “Encuentros: Latin/o America at the Smithsonian" for The Smithsonian Institution.
Upon moving to Los Angeles sixteen years ago, she has been in over 30 commercials in both the Spanish and English markets. She worked opposite to Forest Whittaker in the film Powder Blue and has been a co-star in Gilmore Girls, Samantha Who?, Raising Hope and The Mindy Project. One of her favorite projects though has been working on the DGA’s 48 Hour short film Coffee Break because she loved the creativity and team work under extreme adrenaline!
Soledad has been teaching Spanish for 15 years and freelances as a Dialect-Coach for Casting Directors and On-Set for commercials. Soledad offers Accent Reduction and private training for Latin X acting.
Frankie Manes
Frankie Manes began acting at the age of 3 and throughout his career has booked numerous national commercials, television shows, and films.
While studying at California Lutheran University, he began producing films and working with a wide variety of actors, celebrities, and influencers. After discovering his talents with social media and a window of opportunity, he used his relationships & network to start his own social media and brand management company - Media 43 Inc.
Some of his clients include actors David Henrie, Lorenzo Henrie, Jake Short, and director Mikey Murphy, as well as many more.
Instagram: @frankiemanes @media43inc
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Spencer Kramber
Youth Teacher
Spencer's from a one-stop-light county in West Central Minnesota where he grew up on a fishing resort on Lake Reno. He is the fourth of five children and the proverbial "forgotten child". He grew up loving adventure and entertainment. After high school Spencer attended college at Minnesota State University-Mankato and got his degree in Theatre Arts. Immediately after college he moved to Ireland to see the other side of the pond where he continued to do theatre. Upon returning to the States he traveled up and down the East Coast with the Boston Chamber Theatre performing 19th century literature. Eventually Spencer moved west to get his MFA in Acting from U.C.L.A. Today he works as an actor, a session director in commercial casting and as an acting teacher. Spencer has fallen in love with the Southern California lifestyle but still enjoys his midwestern roots.