Speaking to actors- first name/Mr./Mrs./Ms.?
Speaking to actors- first name/Mr./Mrs./Ms.?
SweetQintheLights
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/12/05
#1Speaking to actors- first name/Mr./Mrs./Ms.?
Posted: 1/16/07 at 10:11pm
I know you usually don't use their name when speaking to them specifically but, sometimes you do say, "Hi ____" if you see them...
Do you call them by their first name? Mr.? Mrs.? Ms.?
Does it depend on the actor?
**Let's say in such situations, you don't know them on a personal basis.
Also, when you write a letter to them, how do you address it?
I've heard different things.
I'll use Sutton Foster for example:
Dear Ms. Sutton Foster
Dear Mrs. Sutton Foster
Dear Ms. Foster
Dear Mrs. Foster
Dear Sutton
Yankeefan007
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/20/04
#2re: Speaking to actors- first name/Mr./Mrs./Ms.?
Posted: 1/16/07 at 10:12pmIn writing a letter, Dear _____ or Dear Ms/Mr ________ is appropriate.
picturetaker9211
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/20/06
#2re: Speaking to actors- first name/Mr./Mrs./Ms.?
Posted: 1/16/07 at 10:13pmI would say dear Mrs. Sutton Foster. Dear Sutton sounds a bit too friendly for a person who doesn't know you.
-Gilda Radner
#3re: Speaking to actors- first name/Mr./Mrs./Ms.?
Posted: 1/16/07 at 10:15pm
I think it depends on the actor. How friendly/personal they are when talking to you and if they introduce themselves to you or not.
The few times I have written letters I have always written "Dear Mr./Mrs. So-and-so. Except for one who I have come to "know" and now only address by first name.
If you are writing a letter and are not sure I would always go with just the last name "Ms./Mrs. Foster". That way you are being respectful. If she doesn't like being addressed that way she can say so.
#4re: Speaking to actors- first name/Mr./Mrs./Ms.?
Posted: 1/16/07 at 10:16pmBut. she's not Mrs. Foster. That's just wrong. I think Ms. Foster is the most appropraite.
ThankstoPhantom
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/05
#5re: Speaking to actors- first name/Mr./Mrs./Ms.?
Posted: 1/16/07 at 10:17pmI always address actors Mr. or Ms. (even when I know they're married). Mrs. can be seem a little strange when the actor keeps their maiden name, so I play it safe. It's also how I address actors when I meet them.
SDav 10495
Broadway Star Joined: 7/21/06
#6re: Speaking to actors- first name/Mr./Mrs./Ms.?
Posted: 1/16/07 at 10:24pm
If I were writing a letter, I would always say "Mr."- or "Ms."-last name. Using both the first and last name after "Mr." or "Ms." seems too formal to me, but I also wouldn't feel comfortable using just the first name.
Meeting them in person would be more informal. But interestingly enough, I guess I subconsciously freak out about how to address the actors when I meet them because I can't remember ever calling any actor by name--last name, first name, title, anything. I just tell them what I liked about their performance, what other work I admire...but when I'm face to face with them I guess I really don't know what to call them.
I don't want to call them by their first name out of the blue like some crazy fan who thinks we're friends before we've met, but I also don't want to call them "Mr." or "Ms." like some crazy fan who feels like I'm not worthy to be in their presence (stupid, I know, because actors are greeted both of those ways all the time and I can't imagine they care either way). I just want to talk to actors like they're humans that I respect--but when I try to do that I end up avoiding their names altogether. Please tell me I'm not alone.
SweetQintheLights
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/12/05
#7re: Speaking to actors- first name/Mr./Mrs./Ms.?
Posted: 1/16/07 at 10:26pm
SDav- you are not alone.
Your last paragraph basically explains my thought.
#8re: Speaking to actors- first name/Mr./Mrs./Ms.?
Posted: 1/16/07 at 10:29pmI usually go Dear Ms/Mr. first and last name.
ThankstoPhantom
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/05
#9re: Speaking to actors- first name/Mr./Mrs./Ms.?
Posted: 1/16/07 at 10:29pmMs./Mr. LAST NAME is the most respectful. They won't read into it that much, I think, so I wouldn't worry.
winston89
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/18/06
#10re: Speaking to actors- first name/Mr./Mrs./Ms.?
Posted: 1/16/07 at 10:33pm
Usually I have used first names and that doesen't bother them. The thing is that they want to be treated like the average joe despite their job. So, you don't normally go round calling people Mr. and Ms. Also, many if not all the actors I see are usually suprised when I call them by their first names. Only because there are a lot of people who eiather call them by there character name or just say you were good without addressing them at all.
I can understand addressing them by their character name. Many of the people that go to broadway shows are tourists that don't know the actors names and thus call them by the character they played or don't really use any greeting at all and just say that they were good ect.
#11re: Speaking to actors- first name/Mr./Mrs./Ms.?
Posted: 1/16/07 at 10:36pm
I also don't address them by name at the stagedoor. When I have been with an actor one on one it has varried by actor. Howard McGillin I have always called Mr. McGillin. In person and in letters. Maybe it is an age thing, maybe it is because he is a guy, maybe because he is a friend of a friend of my fathers . . . I don't know. When I was backstage talking to Diana DeGarmo I did call her by her first name. When I spoke to Karmine Alers at the Airgo Christmas show I called her by first name. Daphne Rubin-Vega . . . the first couple of times I met her was at the stagedoor where I did not call her by name. The first e-mail I sent her I addressed her as Ms. Rubin-Vega. Then she wrote back and signed it Daphne. After that in person or in e-mail she has just been Daphne. Norm Lewis backstage at Les Mis introduced himself to me as Norm, so that is what I called him.
Now that I'm thinking back I don't think I usually address actors in person by their name but the few that I do I go by how they have introduced themselves (if at all) or how they were introduced to me. Without that to go by I think I just would judge based on personality and age.
In a letter, unless it is someone like Daphne who I am fairly familiar with, I would go by Mr/Mrs last name. First and last seems too formal and just first with someone you are unfamiliar with could come across as to personal.
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#12re: Speaking to actors- first name/Mr./Mrs./Ms.?
Posted: 1/16/07 at 10:39pmI've always just called them by their first name unless they're significantly older than me, in which case I subconsciously just revert to a simple "hey..."
SweetQintheLights
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/12/05
#13re: Speaking to actors- first name/Mr./Mrs./Ms.?
Posted: 1/16/07 at 10:40pm
"The thing is that they want to be treated like the average joe despite their job."
Right, that's the thing. Who else do you call "Mrs./Ms./Mr.?"
Doctors? Teachers? That's about all.
I guess it's the most appropriate thing to do unless otherwise told by them but it just seems odd that you are calling them that when they are just another person in world.
winston89
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/18/06
#14re: Speaking to actors- first name/Mr./Mrs./Ms.?
Posted: 1/16/07 at 10:44pmSweetQ the only people I have seen call the actors by their first names are tourists who don't know anything about the broadway world. I don't understand why some of them don't even bother to look in their playbill to see who the actor was that played a particular role.
ashley0139
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/3/05
#15re: Speaking to actors- first name/Mr./Mrs./Ms.?
Posted: 1/16/07 at 11:12pm
I can understand addressing them by their character name. Many of the people that go to broadway shows are tourists that don't know the actors names and thus call them by the character they played or don't really use any greeting at all and just say that they were good ect.
What? That is one of my biggest pet peeves at stage doors. They are not their characters. Their name is right there in the playbill- open it. I feel like THAT'S the most disrespectful. Unless you're 7.
#16re: Speaking to actors- first name/Mr./Mrs./Ms.?
Posted: 1/16/07 at 11:36pm^^ Amen to that!
SweetQintheLights
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/12/05
#17re: Speaking to actors- first name/Mr./Mrs./Ms.?
Posted: 1/16/07 at 11:41pmWait, do actors honestly answer to people when they are called by their characters name?
#18re: Speaking to actors- first name/Mr./Mrs./Ms.?
Posted: 1/16/07 at 11:48pmI'm sure they inwardly groan and roll their eyes, but yes I have seen them answer to their characters names.
CurtainPullDowner
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
#19re: Speaking to actors- first name/Mr./Mrs./Ms.?
Posted: 1/17/07 at 12:30amMr. Sutton Foster is Christan Borle?
#20re: Speaking to actors- first name/Mr./Mrs./Ms.?
Posted: 1/17/07 at 12:31amWhen I saw Jersey Boys, after the curtain call, members of the audience started shouting out that they wanted another encore. JLY was trying to give the BCEFA speech, and one guy said really loudly, "Frankie, sing another one!" JLY said something like, "First, we don't have another one, and second, my name is not Frankie." I thought it was hilarious.
CurtainPullDowner
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
#21re: Speaking to actors- first name/Mr./Mrs./Ms.?
Posted: 1/17/07 at 12:37am
Well he better deal with that cause he will be Frankie most of his career,
Darn I did it again.
winston89
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/18/06
#22re: Speaking to actors- first name/Mr./Mrs./Ms.?
Posted: 1/17/07 at 1:22amPersonally, I find that the best way to get acotrs to talk to you after the show is to call them by their names and just start a normal conversation jutst like with anyojne you would bump into. Not any of this fangirl SH*T
#23re: Speaking to actors- first name/Mr./Mrs./Ms.?
Posted: 1/17/07 at 2:04amI think it depends on who it is and if you've met them before.
PeachesCat
Chorus Member Joined: 7/30/05
#24re: Speaking to actors- first name/Mr./Mrs./Ms.?
Posted: 1/17/07 at 2:44am
Raul Esparza, Harvey Firestein, Frank Langella, Tim Curry ALWAYS Mr and the last name...
First name is too personal. I don't know them, and they don't know me. Like a job interview... Always Mr or Ms. Show respect, and you usually get more respect. :)
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