The Early 2000s
Over the years, I’ve had quite a varied career. Butcher, lecturer, food scientist, factory manager, consultant and executive. However, there’s one occupation that doesn’t usually appear on my CV.
Film and television actor.
Now, before anyone gets too excited, I should point out that my acting career was somewhat limited. I never had a leading role, nobody asked for my autograph, and I certainly didn’t have a dressing room with my name on the door. Nevertheless, for a few years at the beginning of the new millennium, I managed to find my way into the rather peculiar world of show business. It started around 2000 when, for reasons I can no longer entirely remember, I registered with an agency representing television and film extras. I had absolutely no acting experience. I hadn’t attended drama school, and I certainly couldn’t claim any particular theatrical talent.
But it sounded interesting.
Besides, how difficult could standing in the background possibly be?
As it turned out, there was rather more to it than I’d imagined.
My Family
One of my first assignments was an appearance in the BBC sitcom My Family, starring Robert Lindsay and Zoë Wanamaker.
I was booked as an extra for a scene in a pub.
Now, if there’s one thing a Yorkshire upbringing had prepared me for, it was looking comfortable in a pub. I considered myself reasonably well qualified.
The experience was fascinating.
What appears on television as a perfectly ordinary conversation involves an extraordinary amount of preparation. Cameras are positioned, lighting adjusted, actors rehearsed and scenes repeated.
Meanwhile, those of us in the background were expected to behave completely naturally while following very precise instructions. Where to stand. When to move. And, most importantly, where not to look.
I quickly discovered that the greatest challenge facing a television extra is appearing to do absolutely nothing while concentrating very hard on doing it correctly.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed myself.
For a few hours, I was part of a programme watched by millions of people. Admittedly, most of those millions would have been hard-pressed to notice me. Which, I suppose, meant I’d done my job properly.
An Ice Cream Empire
My next venture into the entertainment industry involved an advertisement. This time I was cast as an ice cream seller, operating from a van. Nothing particularly demanding. I simply had to look like a man who knew how to sell ice cream.
What surprised me was that the ice cream wasn’t actually ice cream.
It was a rather interesting mixture of shaving foam, food starch and glue, designed to look convincing under the studio lights without melting.
Having spent most of my working life in the food industry, I found this rather amusing. I’m fairly certain it wouldn’t have passed any of the food safety inspections I’d been responsible for over the years.
But it did look good on camera. In fact, the ice cream had more make-up on than I did.
Unfortunately, the advertisement didn’t lead to a lucrative career selling frozen desserts, although I did briefly consider whether there might be a future in manufacturing shaving foam that looked like a Mr. Whippy.
A Knight’s Tale
Then came the assignment that really caught my attention.
A Hollywood film.
A Knight’s Tale, starring Heath Ledger, alongside Paul Bettany, Rufus Sewell and Mark Addy.
And the filming was taking place in the Czech Republic.
I was required as an extra for one of the film’s final scenes, which meant traveling out for the week. Now this was more like it.
One minute I was dealing with the practicalities of running a food manufacturing business. The next I was flying off to Europe to appear in a medieval adventure film. It wasn’t quite the career path I’d imagined when I started work as a butcher in Wakefield. But then again, very little of my life had followed the original plan.
The scale of the production was quite something.
There were elaborate costumes, enormous sets, hundreds of people and enough equipment to make you wonder how anyone managed to keep track of it all. The amount of organization required was extraordinary.
And somewhere amongst it all was me. A Yorkshire lad who had somehow found himself involved in a Hollywood movie. I wasn’t expecting to become the next Heath Ledger, but I was certainly enjoying the experience.
As it happened, though, the highlight of the trip had very little to do with the filming.
It involved a few drinks with Mark Addy.
Two Yorkshiremen in the Czech Republic
During the week, a few of us extras found ourselves having drinks with Mark, who played Roland in the film.
Mark was already a well-established actor, but what made the encounter particularly enjoyable was that he was also a Yorkshireman.
Born in York, in fact.
At some point during the conversation, he picked up on my accent. It didn’t take long to establish that we were both from God’s Own County.
And that was that.
There we were, in the Czech Republic, involved in a major Hollywood production, having a perfectly ordinary conversation about Yorkshire.
We talked about home, the places we knew and the familiar things that Yorkshire people tend to recognise in one another.
Mark was friendly, approachable and thoroughly good company.
For a while, we could just as easily have been sitting in a pub somewhere between York and Wakefield. Although I suspect the beer might not have been as nice back home.
I remember thinking how ridiculous the whole situation was.
Here was Mark Addy, an established actor appearing in a Hollywood film.
And here was me, a food manufacturing executive who had somehow acquired a temporary job pretending to live in medieval England.
Two very different careers. One shared accent. And a few drinks in the Czech Republic.
I doubt Mark remembers the conversation.
But I certainly do.
Eventually, the week came to an end, filming was completed, and I returned to Britain. On Monday morning, it was back to factories, production meetings and budgets. Nobody seemed particularly impressed that I’d spent the previous week involved in a Hollywood movie.
Apparently, production targets were considered rather more important than my newly acquired film credentials.
Some people have no appreciation of the arts.
Back to Reality
My involvement in film and television continued intermittently for a while, but by around 2003, my brief acting career had largely come to an end.
Hollywood never came calling with a leading role, and I suspect the industry managed perfectly well without me.
But I’m glad I did it. I’d appeared in a popular television sitcom, sold ice cream made from shaving foam, and travelled to the Czech Republic to take part in a Hollywood film.
Not a bad collection of experiences for something that began with a simple decision to register with an extras agency.
Little did I know that, years later, I would eventually find myself living in Southern California, just a short drive from Hollywood itself.
And although my acting career was well and truly behind me, I did manage to secure another position in the entertainment industry.
Hollywood tour guide.
Not for one of the established tour companies, you understand, but for the rather exclusive Jevins Resort & Spa, otherwise known as our home.
Over the years, Julie and I have welcomed family and friends visiting from Britain and elsewhere, many of whom naturally want to see Hollywood, Beverly Hills and the other famous sights of Los Angeles.
And who better to show them around than a former Hollywood film extra?
Admittedly, my credentials are somewhat questionable, and my knowledge of Hollywood history is occasionally supplemented by a quick Google search.
Nevertheless, I like to think I provide a reasonably entertaining service.
The tours are highly personalised, the commentary is occasionally accurate, and the guests are generally very appreciative.
Particularly as the accommodation is free.
The Jevins Resort & Spa may not appear in the Michelin Guide, but we do offer a rather good breakfast and a complimentary chauffeur service, subject to the availability and enthusiasm of the management.
And so, in a rather roundabout way, my brief encounter with show business eventually came full circle. From standing in the background of a Hollywood film to standing on Hollywood Boulevard explaining to visiting relatives where the stars live. No where near Hollywood Boulevard.
Not quite the career progression I’d imagined. But then again, very little of my life has followed the original plan.
What I particularly enjoy about this little episode is that it had absolutely nothing to do with my career. I did it because it sounded interesting.
And sometimes that’s reason enough.
Throughout my life, curiosity has taken me into situations I could never have anticipated. Some have changed the direction of my career, others have changed where I lived, and a few have simply given me a good story to tell.
This was definitely one of the latter.
I never did become a film star.
But for one week, I was part of Hollywood.
And years later, I somehow ended up showing other people around it.
Not bad for a lad from Wakefield whose first experience of show business involved standing in a pub pretending not to notice the cameras.