The Campbell Reporter
News
'Acting' CEO is actually a tax accountant
By Cathy Weselby
Steve Voldseth is not a CEO, but he plays one on film. Voldseth stars in Around the Bay, an independent film premiering at San Jose's Cinequest film festival.
A self-employed tax accountant in Campbell, Voldseth did not quit his day job to become an actor. Instead, he added acting to his repertoire 10 years ago, mostly by accident.
He was enrolled in UCLA's online screenwriting program when his teacher, Jack Sowards, encouraged him to sign up for an acting class in order to hone his writing skills. The class expanded his perspective, and Voldseth realized he could be introverted and still act.
Soon after, he met Christy Wioncek, an acting teacher who studied under acting coach Sanford Meisner in New York City. In the 1930s Meisner chose to deviate from his teacher, Lee Strasberg, and develop his own model.
Voldseth describes Meisner's technique as "intense." Whereas Strasberg's method is about accessing emotional memory, Meisner's technique is about establishing an emotional connection with one's fellow actors.
"It's really more about connecting than acting," Voldseth says. "Acting is really not acting."
Wioncek ran her students through drills of repetition and external observations of scene partners until Voldseth says he was able to read people intuitively. He says Meisner's technique opened him up.
"You can't play another character until you can play yourself," Voldseth says.
And this training helped him land the starring role in Around the Bay.
When he was selected by director Alejandro Adams to play the role of Wyatt, a high-powered CEO who has just lost his job, Voldseth asked Adams, "Why me?" Adams answered, "Because you didn't do anything."
Voldseth explains that his Meisner training complemented Adams' philosophy of natural filmmaking.
Most of the dialogue in the film was improvised. A day before the shoot, Adams would send the actors a scene list and a few suggested lines. The actors were encouraged to read the lines and forget them.
"When it works it's amazing, and when it doesn't, it's boring," Voldseth says of the improvisation technique. "Fortunately, with film editing you can control that."
The film was shot in a multimillion-dollar home in the Los Gatos hills, the Belgian Diamond store in downtown Los Gatos, Bella Saratoga restaurant and Coffee Grounds in downtown Saratoga and at soccer fields at the Campbell Community Center.
Adams shot with three cameras instead of the typical one-camera style and let the cameras continue to run for 20 to 40 minutes at a time. Voldseth says that when there are cameras all around, it's easier to forget that they're there, which is good for the actors. The long takes, however, took their toll on the boom operator's arms.
The film took three months to shoot in 2006, and most of 2007 to edit. Voldseth says that the first time he will see Around the Bay in its entirety is at the Cinequest premiere on March 1.
In addition to independent films, Voldseth has a commercial agent who finds him acting work in industrial films for high-tech firms such as Hewlett-Packard and Adobe, and in-store videos for Wal-Mart.
"You audition all the time--it's a grueling process," Voldseth says.
Fortunately, the flexible schedule of self-employment helps to balance out his days.
Voldseth says that discovering acting has changed him considerably.
As a child, he says he was extremely shy and used to feel invisible. Now, he says, "people notice me when I walk in a room."
Still a private person, Voldseth says acting has allowed him to take risks and share his talents with others.
"Around the Bay" will be shown on March 1 and 8 at 7:45 p.m. at the San Jose Repertory Theatre, and March 4 at 4:15 p.m. at Camera 12 Cinemas. For more information, visit www.cinequest.org.