Actor Tennille Read Focuses on Artistry
The life of a working actor can be challenging — the competitive grind of auditions, the hard work of creating a character, long hours on set, punishing location shoots — but the toughest part is simply surviving between jobs. Many turn to appearing in television commercials but, for an uncompromising artist like Canadian actor Tennille Read, this in itself presents a dilemma. Nonetheless, striking the necessary balance between the creative and the commercial is a problem the seasoned player meets with characteristic grace — always delivering precisely what the client requires with dignity and aplomb. It’s an attribute that has earned her a sterling reputation as both a brilliant dramatic interpreter and an appealing, reliable commercial performer.
“For me it’s a balance,” Read said. “Commercials provide me with financial freedom so that I don’t need to rely on a ‘day job,’ like serving, catering or moving furniture, just to get by. I’ve worked those jobs in the past and it’s an added stress to juggle them along with auditions that come up at the last minute. Not to mention that those jobs can involve very long and late hours that can be quite draining. Sometimes they can even exhaust my drive to pursue the roles I really want to put my best foot forward for. But commercial work can hold me over between the more serious acting roles that my artistic side feasts on. The work itself may not be as enthralling as a lead on a crime series, but it’s work that sustains me and my pursuit of bigger projects through out my career.
The striking, poised Read takes her craft seriously and draws from a deep well of both natural instinct and formal training. Starting with an intensive three year Acting Conservatory in hometown Toronto to extensive live theater experience to a formidable roster of film and television work — earning her the Hollywood North Film Awards 2018 Best Actor award for her memorable performance in dramatic short “I Lost My Mind” — Read excels in arresting characterizations, a skill she shrewdly brings to bear in her TV ad spots.
“In commercials, the product is the real star, not so much the actor,” she said. “So on a commercial set, we’ll do many takes to get the product placement just right. Not that the acting becomes secondary, it’s just that there’s an added focus on to the product. But then again, sometimes a commercial director wants to play around and see what else you can bring to the character. Then there’s room to improvise and that can be very satisfying and fun. Since there is a lot of money in commercials, they can afford to take more time. Shooting a 15 second spot can take an entire day, whereas for TV it moves a little faster in order to piece together a half hour show.”
Read has no little experience in the field, taking assignments for a wide variety of products, including Kellogg’s Rice Krispies cereal, Virgin Mobile phones, KFC fast food, Mazda automobiles and Canadian investment group Questrade. And while these sound like simple straight forward pitch work, it can get complicated.
“The biggest challenge I ever had was for a series of spots with pages and pages of technical information about cars — something I knew nothing about at the time,” Read said. “I was told there would be a teleprompter but I discovered very quickly that you can’t depend on it unless you want to look like you are reading off a screen! So, every moment I had when the crew was setting up the next shot, I was cramming my brain full of stuff about chassis, optimal torque, and turbo charged engines. I learnt a lot from that shoot about memorizing under pressure and on the fly.”
.For Read, it’s always about maintaining the delicate trade-off between art and advertising.
“Commercials are very lucrative,” she said. “Three hours of work has never been so profitable, but I do worry about the negative aspects of being part of consumerism and commercialism. Too much leads to so much waste. Commercials can create a perception of an ideal, and those kinds of ideals aren’t always easily attainable for everyone. Every so often a gem of a project comes up that I can really get behind because there’s something very artful about how the spot is being filmed, or I get to do some solid acting. Bonus, if I get to promote a message I believe in.”
That opportunity recently arose for Read with a gorgeously rendered ‘message’ spot for Brita water filter systems.
“It has an amazing message about water conservation, and reducing our plastic water bottle waste,” Read said. “We shot at a beautiful Ontario cottage on a gorgeous summer’s day. With a message like that, in a setting so peaceful, it didn’t feel like work at all. I love the spot that’s airing right now. It’s a positive message that celebrates our oceans, while it raises awareness and has an attainable call to action. For Brita, it wasn’t just about getting people to buy their water filters, but it was also to be more aware of plastic bottle waste and clean water preservation. I respect that. Plus I got to work with the nicest crew ever.”
The feeling was mutual, as director Goh Iromoto made clear: “The actor for this spot had to be subtle enough to allow the audience to imagine themselves in her position, but also engaging and personable enough to provide a face and emotion to the content. Tennille had the perfect amount of grace and an exceptionally calming demeanor that fit seamlessly into my ideas for the commercial.”
While that type of happy medium is rare, Read always focuses on the possible.
“I can usually rationalize that work is work, and the pay check helps me to pursue bigger, more meaningful opportunities,” Read said. “But then there are other times when I’m picking at my teeth with a hygiene product while smiling at myself in a mirror held up by duct tape and it can feel awkward and limiting — like I’m just a hand and some teeth, no acting required. And my inner voice is crying “I’m so much more than this! I can do Shakespeare! You want to hear some Shakespeare?!’ I think there’s always something to be learned on any set and that fulfills a large part of my creative philosophy — to be constantly growing as a performer in order to do my best work. “
