From Demo Reel to Off-Broadway? Sweet.

Jesse Eisenberg, Oscar-nominated actor from The Social Network, recently stopped by Late Night with Jimmy Fallon to discuss Asuncion, the off-broadway play he wrote and stars in.

When the subject moved to his co-star Camille Mana, Jimmy Fallon commented, “Who is this girl? I’ve never heard of her before this.” To which Jesse Eisenberg replied, “Her name is Camille Mana. She’s phenomenal.”

Jimmy Fallon knows who she is now.

How does an Asian-American actress go from UC Berkeley to starring alongside Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Bartha, & Remy Auberjonois just steps from the Great White Way? To hear Jesse tell it, he found Camille from her online reel and didn’t even make her audition.

Hear it from the horse’s mouth:



Sounds like a dream, doesn’t it? Immediately I had to look up Camille’s reel to see what impressed Jesse so thoroughly. Found it on Camille’s Web site:



It’s a fantastic reel. Great variety – sexy, quirky comedy to indie drama. Color me envious.

This just proves my theory that a solid demo reel is vital for actors in this industry. If you don’t have any on-camera scenes to edit, create some! Find scenes from How I Met Your Mother or True Blood or Criminal Minds – whatever fits your type and talents – get some friends together and shoot them yourself. Focus on quality – bad tape isn’t better than no tape – and be sure that there’s variety.

Look what it did for Camille.