The life of an actor is not all adoring groupies and fancy limos, TV interviews and glamorous charity galas, big movie premieres and exotic shooting locales.

Oh, how I wish.

My parents named me David Berglund, but please, call me Dalton Black, my professional name. I’m an actor. It’s all I ever wanted to be, and I’m busting my butt trying to make it in this tough, tough business.

I go to high school in the Northern Virginia suburbs, and I get pretty good grades—if I didn’t my mother wouldn’t let me pursue acting. So I whip through my homework as fast as possible. But the rest of the time, I’m out there hustling, scouring the Internet listings for possible gigs, showing up at auditions, doing whatever it takes to land a role. Bad dinner theater? Check. Extra work? Check. Student films? Check. Spinning signs at the corner for the mattress store’s Memorial Day sale? Check, check, and check.

Luckily, I have help. My manager, Alfred McMasters, arranges most of my auditions. He’s pretty well connected, on the East Coast anyway, and he’ll submit me for a wide range of roles. Anything he thinks I might have a shot of booking, as well as a few things I have absolutely no shot at. The more auditions I go to, the more comfortable I get doing them, and the better I do. As Alf always says, one of the most important parts of being a good actor is being a good auditioner. He’s always spouting wisdom he’s gleaned from his decades of experience working with some of the greats in the business—or so he says, I’m not sure how much Alf embellishes his tales. He does have a flair for the dramatic, after all.

Anyway, some of these auditions can be downright depressing. If a role calls for a teen bicycle rider, for instance, there might be a dozen teens in the casting office’s waiting room, all dressed in shiny spandex with helmets tucked under one arm, reciting their lines while they wait nervously. All good-looking kids with excellent diction and projection. All exuding confidence (we’re actors, right?). All out to get the role you want. And unfortunately, there’s usually just one part to be had, which means a lot of rejection. Actors quickly develop a thick skin.

And you never really know what the casting director wants. Even more depressing: when they reject you just because you’re a few inches too short. Or too tall. Or your hands are too big or you’re too skinny or you just don’t “have the look we’re looking for and we’ll be going in another direction.”

Like I said, it’s a tough, tough business.

Good thing I have my two best friends, Miguel “Patch” Gutierrez and Trinnie Thomas to help me through it, to talk me down when the rejection has gotten the best of me. Without them, I might have given up my acting dream long ago. I’ve known them forever, and we’re in the school drama program together, and we pretty much hang out in any free time I have. Other kids might make fun of us drama geeks from time to time, but I wouldn’t want anyone else to have my back. Ever.

Well, enough fantasizing about that spot on a network sitcom. I’ve got homework to do, sides to memorize for an upcoming audition, and then I’m going to meet Patch and Trinnie at the mall to get something to eat.

As Alf always says, Ta Ta For Now!

I Play One On TV
Genre: YA Thriller
Release: July 2021
Purchase Link

All’s great for sixteen-year-old actor Dalton Black as he portrays a teen killer on a crime reenactment show. That is, until he realizes someone is stalking him. When that someone turns out to be Homer Lee Varney, the man convicted of the murder, things take a dark turn, and Dalton is afraid for his life. What does Varney want? Some sort of twisted revenge? Or something even worse?

Can Dalton and his drama friends discover the truth, before they become the killer’s next victims? Stay tuned to find out!

About the author
Alan Orloff won an ITW Thriller Award for his novel, Pray For The Innocent, and he won a Derringer Award for his short story, “Dying in Dokesville.” He’s also had novels shortlisted for the Agatha Award and Shamus Award, and a story selected for The Best American Mystery Stories. His YA thriller, I Play One On TV, comes out this month from Down & Out Books. He loves cake and arugula, but not together. Never together. Connect with him at alanorloff.com.

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