Have you ever felt like a job was made for you? It’s a common feeling for the cast of Critical Role. The cast includes veteran voice actors, who are so prolific in the industry that their names are sometimes cited as reference material for audition breakdowns.
“It’s funny because sometimes agents will tell me about acting mistakes or casting mistakes, and they’re like, ‘We’re really looking for something that sounds like Laura Bailey,’ and I’m like, ‘Can I email her?'” Marisha Ray said during the Critical Roles Spotlight panel at New York Comic Con 2023.
Producers apparently make calls like this a lot, as Laura Bailey once did it too. “I was told at the audition that I looked like Laura Bailey,” says Laura Bailey.
“So you didn’t book it,” Ray asks. “Did you get a job?” Sam Riegel added.
“No,” Laura said, causing laughs from her castmates who played key roles and from the audience. “You’ve got to work on it. You’ve got to work on it,” Riegel teases.
Other cast members had similar experiences, auditioning for roles modeled after themselves. “I once auditioned for a project, and I won’t reveal the name, but they sent me a voice reference, and I had to do it, and it wasn’t a lock, and it took a few weeks, and I ended up getting the part,” said Liam O’Brien.
“There was another project that I auditioned for where the voice reference was me, but I didn’t book it, and I’m still hoping to meet the person who booked it,” Matthew Mercer added.
If you’ve ever felt depressed after failing a job interview, remember that Laura Bailey once passed up a role that required a Laura Bailey lookalike.
