(Burbank, CA)  In Nickelodeon’s animated series “Olivia”,  the piglet star may not oink, but ProScout OC event alum Emily Gray still hits all the right notes  in voicing the highly popular animated series to life. The babyish voice of Olivia, with just a hint of whine,  is pitch-perfect thanks to Emily.  

Emily is pitch perfect as Olivia on Nickelodeon

Houston-born but San Diego raised, she attended ProScout in 2007 and snagged ten callbacks. After being signed by Osbrink Talent (LA), she’s  appeared in numerous commercials, print ads - and is currently recording the second season of “Olivia” on Nickelodeon. 

When her agent set up the Olivia audition, Emily pored over Olivia books while her mother drove from their San Diego home to Los Angeles.  Although she had read the books prior to auditioning, Emily needed a refresher on Olivia’s “let-me-do-it” character, she said.

“I guess they believed I could manage a 6¾-year-old girl’s voice, so I got the part,” said Emily, who is well past picture books - she has completed the entire Twilight series. She turned age thirteen in  December.

Emily identifies with Olivia’s optimism. “She’s outgoing, and she likes to try new things. She’s almost always happy,” Emily says, describing her title character. “I’m kind of like that. I try not to get discouraged a lot, but nobody can be perfect.”

Olivia’s character is a self-confident dynamo that wears black, red and white fashion and concocts imaginative schemes involving her family and friends.   Many children know the series - the first Olivia book won the 2001 Caldecott Honor. Olivia went on to save the circus (2001), search for a missing toy (2003), form a band (2006) and help with Christmas (2007). In 2006, Olivia was featured on a U.S. stamp as part of the Favorite Children’s Book Animals collection and eventually became a popular merchandising character. 

Nickelodeon has ordered 26 CGI-animated half-hour episodes to air weekday mornings, and the second season is underway.

(Boston)  Seeing is believing.  Upon ProScout check-in at the Boston Sheraton, faces expressed excitement, nerves, anticipation.  Adrenaline was flowing.  Would it be a flirt with fashion or full-on stardom? 

Procout at the Sheraton Boston

ProScout rolled out it’s first regional new face showcase in Boston this past week - and after the dust had settled, many were enjoying their first taste of professional agency recognition.  The Sheraton Boston was the venue, the Grand Ballroom the place to be.  

Top callback girl, Suzanne Schaub from Syracuse, NY

Top callback (female) honors went to Suzanne Schaub, a 20-year old waitress from Syracuse, NY.   Top guy was Weston Jacoby a 15 year-old high school freshman from Wellesley , MA.  Agents gave out over 250 callbacks, and the interview room was busy until late Sunday night.  Let’s meet a few of the agents’ favorite finds.  

Top callback dude Weston before (and after) swim team haircut. Priceless!

As always, callbacks were spread among a wide variety of people. Tall, not so tall.  Thin, not so thin.  Sixteen year old Anna Coyle (below, left) was contacted later Tuesday by Los Angeles casting directors, saying a 30 episode role had come up that she would be perfect for - encouraging her to send in her audition tape. 

Anna Coyle was requested by LA casting director on Tuesday, her audition for the 30 episode project is in the works. She screamed upon hearing the news.

Morgan and Abigail McIntosh

Below is a ”shot on site” gallery of  Boston ProScout 2010 (February)… enjoy and leave comments below!

Alexa Blanco, age 12

Rhenita Brade

Was that Megan Fox?

The men from Ford Models looking on...

Jessica Owens (the new Kirsten Stewart) and friend...

Didiayer Snyder and Nicole Hogan talk shop...

Four years old, gives monologue before audience

Aria Moschief, a strong and spirited delivery

Simone Harrison, sharp and poised

Amanda Lane is measured up by JJ Cortez...

Ashley Bissell, all smiles, seems headed to NYC

Abdi Abdirahman was the man, snagging nearly 10 callbacks

RETURNING STARS:  some event attendees had been to ProScout before.  While some  were going for their first  callbacks, others came back to help switch career paths. Below is Nicole Hogan who began modeling internationally  after going to ProScout (Denver) four years ago - she is now eyeing acting in L.A. as a next career step. 

Nicole Hogan. Will she be the class of Hollywood 2011?

Cherubs, Cheerleaders, and other Cheeky standouts…

Lindsey Barrows is a New England Patriots cheerleader, a future broadcast journalist/actress. Did we mention she's a wicked good hula hooper?

Sarah Dzurenda has beauty, brains, and she's one to watch.

Christian Gifford is highly bookable; now eyeballing pilot season in L.A.

Peace and Love from Natale Miquelena...

The next (and last for 2010) ProScout Boston will be  April 3 & 4,at the Marriott Copley Center. Call ProScout fro screening & registration  info.

Who was your favorite face at ProScout?  Comments below…

The ProScout Poughkeepsie (NY) session  has been postponed till Saturday (2/13) due to weather and airport delays.  The new session will be Saturday at the Poughkeepsie Grand Hotel (40 Civic Center Plaza Dr., Poughkeepsie, NY).  All interviews at 12 Noon!

ProScout session (Poughkeepsie NY) is now set for Saturday!

Be safe, and enjoy winter responsibly!

(New York) We love how stuff like this gets “leaked”.  Sports Illustrated does a bang up job of building buzz around their hotly anticipated swimsuit issue by getting photos (like these of PS discovery Hilary Rhoda) bouncing around the the Internet.  We think if they wanted to be really clever, they’d ”leak” one of those viral videos where the model gets really pissed off and throws her bikini top at the photographer because he keeps shooting her “bad side”.

Leaked image of supermodel Rhoda from SI...

The shoot was done mostly on location in India… where Rhoda gets to ride elephants,  dance with gypsies, and carouse in the pools of Indian palaces. The swimsuits will be definitley “bolly-wood” and the scenery fantastic.  Oh… and did we mention the bodypainting videos? 

Hilary Rhoda, 22, was born in Chevy Chase, Md., and discovered at a ProScout event in Washington, D.C.
She’s appeared in ads for Balenciaga, Valentino, Dolce & Gabbana, Givenchy, Donna Karan, Gucci and
Ralph Lauren among others. She is one of Estée Lauder’s newest faces and has also graced the covers of
Vogue, British Harper’s Bazaar and W. 

This is Hilary’s second Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue appearance.

(Los Angeles)  Chace Crawford is one of those great looking specimens that creates legions of adoring fans - as well as pockets of envious actors disapproving of his pop idol good looks.  Yet, despite his made-for-tv looks, Crawford’s appeal goes beyond his role as Nate Archibald on the CW’s “Gossip Girl”.   Crawford has said,  ”I was never Johnny Theatre in high school back in Plano, TX.  I grew up the son of a dermatologist father and teacher mother.  I fell into modeling, and it provided me a chance to break into acting.  It was a lot about timing and meeting the right people.”

From Plano TX to Hollywood

On the urging of a friend,  he met with a commercial agents who then helped him meet up a theatrical agent.  As he made the transition, he made money parking cars.  When he started to hit pay dirt with roles with MFTV roles, his once-in-a-lifetime chance came with 2007’s casting of “Gossip Girl”.

Now one of the the CW's golden boys

What is Crawford’s advice for other aspiring performers?  “There are a lot of people that try too hard to be the starving actor and try to be psuedo-intellectual and dark - when there is a simpler business side of modeling and acting that needs to be paid attention to and pushed towards.  I know there’s a definite range of casting you have to be aware of when you start off… but it becomes bland if you get locked into just one thing.  See many agents, read many scripts, entertain many projects.”

Film and more MFTV series up for Crawford

Crawford is next up in Joel Schumackers’ “Twelve” where he plays a Harvard-postponing pot peddler who gets wrapped up in the trappings of the Upper East Side.  

Also is his role of reprising Kevin Bacon’s role in “Footloose”, which is still looking for a director.

(Los Angeles) “Israel Broussard went to ProScout in Little Rock in ‘08; got 9 agency callbacks and signed with
MC Talent in Los Angeles.  “I know, ’cause I’m Israel’s dad“.

Israel Broussard set to play opposite Alyssa Milano

You may already know Israel’s second film, Rob Reiner’s “FLIPPED”, premiers in September.  He loved shooting
on location in Michigan this summer.  But here’s an update.  Just today Israel landed a recurring role (Justin, the son of Alyssa Milano’s character)  in the ABC comedy “Romantically Challenged” and begins filming this week.  The show premiers on April 5, 2010.

Alyssa is back in Romantically Challenged.

 
How this went down was really cool.  Israel returned to Los Angeles last Thursday after a brief hiatus back
home in Mississippi.  His very first audition was for “Romantically Challenged,” and he nailed it!
I think he is the only child actor on the set.  He has his own parking space, and he doesn’t even drive!  LOL

Challenged or gifted? The ABC series premiers April 5'th.

 
“So, yeah, I’m bragging on my kid and encouraging you to do the same.  I need to brag on ProScout as well.
Living in rural Mississippi, we just didn’t have the resources or know-how to find a national level agency.

ProScout brought top-notch agents to us, and it cost less than headshots!  Unbelievable but true!

I’m doing my part to spread the word:  Proscout is the real deal.”
 
Thanks again, Mel (and the staff).  We’re lovin it!
 
Gil Broussard (Dad)

Good luck Israel… may an Emmy (and a renewal) await you!

(Dallas)  Dwayne Daniels is just 17 years old, and another recent rising star from ProScout.  He’s from Roanoke, Texas and on his first try at ProScout he raked in numerous callbacks at the November Dallas Agent Invitational.  After choosing to sign with the savvy staff of the Page Parkes Management agency, we can’t wait to see where he is headed.

Dwayne Daniels signs big

He’s in good company - the bookers here at PPM have launched of stars like Tatum Channing (who , BTW is set to star in the upcoming film “Eagle of the Ninth”). 

Channing Tatum

Tatum in Eagle of the Ninth movie

Besides repping a group of hot models, PPM also was pleased to have another face, Barret Helms, who plays breakout actress Gabourey Sidibe’s fantasy lover in the critically acclaimed movie “Precious” - the film where Mariah Carey won widesprerad praise for her gritty no-glam role as a family counselor.

Barret with Gaboury Sibedes in Precious

We wish Dwayne the best - he’s a bright-eyed eyed star and a heart-throb in the making.

(New York) ProScout discovery Lindsay Ellingson (originally from San Diego) will grace the cover of Victoria’s Secret 2010 SWIM catalogue in nothing but a daring “topless” bikini.  Lindsay said she felt right at home shooting on Necker Island, calling it “really an experience of a lifetime!”

Lindsay grew up with beaches, it's the perfect fit

Lindsay explains, “We shot the cover in the evening during sunset. It was really a magical setting.”
Ellingson has walked for scores of major designers after being discovered at a past ProScout event held in Orange County where she was signed by DNA agency of NYC and Photogenics LA.  She tells PEOPLE that she is thrilled to be chosen for the cover. Just last month she walked in the Victoria’s Secret worldwide fashion show in New York - she also appears in their stores nationwide.

a little more...

a little less. Half price?

“Being chosen for the cover is one of the most exciting things that has happened in my career”.   As for showing off her own sensational form, she told PEOPLE magazine that she was really very comfortable in her sexy suit, with or without the top on. “So, on the cover I’m wearing a “topless” bikini with a removable bandeau [pictured on]. We shot it both ways, with and without the bandeau. I felt great in it and my hair covered me when I shot topless so I wasn’t uncomfortable at all.” She elaborates, “I actually got so comfortable I was dancing around on the beach — of course, with the bandeau.”  

She and other buyers  beware - although the swimsuit is listed at $58, the going fine for indecent exposure on most public  beaches is about twice that.  Discretion applies!  The 2010 Victoria’s Secret SWIM catalogue hits mailboxes this week.

Comments below…

Lindsay Ellingson is VS SWIM covergirl for 2010

 
Having already walked the runway for designers such as  Galliano, Gucci and D& G,  Ellingson told PEOPLE magazine that she is thrilled to be chosen for the cover.   Being a Victoria’s Secret model means so much to me. The greatest thing about being a VS model is that I get to be myself and show who I am.”  She also told PEOPLE she was very comfortable in her suit, with or without the top on!

a little more...

a little less...

“So, on the cover I’m wearing a “topless” bikini with a removable bandeau [pictured on]. We shot it both ways, with and without the bandeau. I felt great in it and my hair covered me when I shot topless so I wasn’t uncomfortable at all.”   The 2010 Victoria’s Secret SWIM catalogue hits mailboxes this week.

VS looks to California and finds it's soul

Ellingson can also be seen in Hilfiger, D& G, and Mac cosmetic campaigns this year.

Comments below…

(Los Angeles) Ready to audition? It seems like TV smells the end of the recession. OR , at least, is it just that NBC seeks the best program shuffle to accomodate  viewers who believe TV is their new econo - entertianment choice?   NBC annnounced it will produce 18 pilots for the 2010-11 season, the most since 2003.  Actors everywhere are warming up for auditions. 

Some Hollywood columnists make the case that by ordering so many pilots —10 dramas and eight comedies — the network seems to be leaving itself some options in case it decides to end its 10 p.m. “Jay Leno Show” strip.

But Angela Bromstad, NBC president of primetime entertainment, told Bloomberg over the holidays that the pilots are intended for 8-10 p.m.: “We have so many holes that we have to essentially rebuild the schedule. Not having the additional five hours has certainly relieved some of the pressure.”

Two things are certain though: 

ONE,  Jay Leno should be nervous, many have given his talk show poor marks as a lead in to local news.  

Jay Leno, Barack Obama

TWO, actors who are weary of slumping studio activity have somenthing to look forward to as TV production and film box office ratings show steady increases.