Teresa Berkin profile picture

Teresa Berkin

Pink is my signature color! ~ Julia Roberts in Steel Magnolias

About Me

I'm a character actress who has played a prostitute; a surly nanny; a former beauty pageant queen/plantlike alien; a homeless person; time traveler; barflies; teachers; zombies; nurses; sideshow freaks; church ladies; and moms.
My complete resume can be found on my NowCasting Profile Page . I'm also listed on IMDb.com .
I can currently be seen on YouTube in a parody of The Fray's "How to Save a Life" music video, called "How to Bang My Wife."
One of my favorite projects was "The Monkey’s Paw," which is now up on YouTube. Be sure to rate it after you're done watching it!
Also on YouTube is a trailer for a new series from Greenlight Entertainment called "Trailer Court Justice." (I'm "Vanessa.") We know that the show has been sold, but there's no word yet as to which network will be carrying it. Stay tuned.
There's a great MySpace page for "Don’t Tell Lily: The Plants Make You Dead!" , a campy horror short that I shot during the summer of 2005. The film is finally "in the can," and I hope we'll be able to attend a screening soon.
You can now view the trailer for "Rikki" on MySpace. It's an extremely graphic horror movie that I'm also in. So far, it's a short, but we hope to expand it into a feature once we find investors.
Check out "Will You Be My Neighbor?" -- a cute short I did for film student, Ashley Moore.
"Scourge" is a creepy short that was made as an entry in the 2005 Los Angeles 48-Hour Film Festival. The teams draw the genre for their project from a hat (in this case, horror) and then have 48 hours to write, cast, film, edit and do all the post-production work on their submission. (Every team has to incorporate the same predetermined prop, character name, and line of dialogue in their project.) It's a grueling process for the production team, but a lot of fun for the actors!
I'm also featured in the music video, ”Lemmings,” by the band, Hail the Black Market.
You can hear me narrate the promo for Daniel Tan's ”Birthday Clown,” which is still in production. It will be very "artsy," mixing live action and animation. I'm very anxious to see the completed film, for which I've already recorded the complete voiceover narration.

My Interests

Meals, copy and credit. (And a SAG voucher, if you've got one.)

I'd like to meet:

Just about anyone who'd like to cast me in their project -- like the wonderful folks below!

Music:

I love all kinds of music! I appreciate anything that's written and performed well. I mostly listen to the old American standards, current country hits, and pop; but I also enjoy rock, blues, show tunes, classical, rap, and music from other countries. I adore Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Cass Elliot, Karen Carpenter, and k.d. lang. Favorite male artists are Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Al Jarreau, Harry Connick Jr., and "Weird Al" Yankovic! Check out my very talented musical friends: Scott Turchin , Ben Lazarus , Alison Acaster , Danielle Egnew , Mélange Lavonne , Slim K , Cynthia Wang , Gordy Haab , Rene Gruss , Modus Dei , Juniors 5 , Sugar in Wartime , Hail the Black Market , and Melodika .

Movies:

There are just too many wonderful movies, directors and actors to list! If I started to list every one that I admire, I'd be here all night. I'm always a sucker for a good romantic comedy, but right now I'm into silly, goofball comedies that feature people like Sandler, Spade, Schneider, Stiller, and Black. I love writers Kevin Smith, Mike White, and the Coen Brothers. I would give anything to work with Robin Williams, Steve Buscemi or Philip Seymour Hoffman, or to be in a Ron Howard or John Waters movie. "Young Frankenstein" remains one of my all-time favorite movies.

Television:

I'm a TV addict, a true child of the Boob Tube Generation. I'll watch just about anything -- and enjoy it. My current favorites are "American Idol," "The Office," "My Name is Earl," "Medium," "Ellen," "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," and "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." Some past addictions included "Will and Grace," "Friends," "NYPD Blue," "Roseanne," "Magnum," and "Pee-wee's Playhouse." My husband and I often spend evenings together watching DVDs of "Homicide: Life on the Street."

Books:

I'm making my way through Diana Gabaldon's "Outlander" series right now and really enjoying the adventures of Claire and Jamie Fraser! I finally picked up the first "Harry Potter" book a year ago and have read all in the series so far. I used to like Stephen King and Dean Koontz, but I haven't read them in awhile. "The Stand" is one of the best books I've ever read. I thought "The Shipping News" was beautifully written, and the movie that was made from it remains among my list of favorites. . .

Heroes:

Mother Teresa, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, and all the caregivers in the world who have the courage and compassion to sit with and comfort those who are making their transitions to whatever lies beyond this life.

My Blog

Other music videos that I've worked on . . .

I'm featured in Sugar in Wartime's music video, "Bitter Thing," which was directed by David Presley. The video received an "Award of Excellence" at the 2005 Berkeley Video & Film Festival and the ...
Posted by Teresa Berkin on Thu, 22 Mar 2007 11:55:00 PST

It's a wrap for "Gay Bash"!

Besides performing in "Lend Me A Tenor" this weekend, I also had the honor of shooting my scenes in rap artist Mélange Lavonne's music video, "Gay Bash."The story is about the artist's best friend, Ke...
Posted by Teresa Berkin on Mon, 19 Mar 2007 03:02:00 PST

Another Great Review!

'Lend Me a Tenor' Is a Riotous Farce with Great SlapstickBy Beth Temkin on March 14, 2007, for THE TOLUCAN TIMESNORTH HOLLYWOOD  BrynCo Theatre Group presents Lend Me a Tenor by Ken Ludwig, winner of...
Posted by Teresa Berkin on Fri, 16 Mar 2007 12:44:00 PST

Our first review of "Lend Me A Tenor"

PRESS FEATURES, LTDSpecial Interest Features WorldwideP.O. Box 93923 Los Angeles, Ca. [email protected] VERY SERENDIPITOUS OCCASIONIndeed, that is about the only way to describe a recent...
Posted by Teresa Berkin on Wed, 14 Mar 2007 02:18:00 PST

View my Ass Wipers, Inc. Episode!

Ass Wipers, Inc. - Episode Six, Part Two: "Three Legs Running" Be sure to go to Ass Wipers, Inc. to view Part One of this episode as well as the first five episodes of this Internet...
Posted by Teresa Berkin on Sat, 17 Feb 2007 05:47:00 PST

"The Metrosexual" Screening was Packed!

Last night I attended the private screening for the cast and crew of "The Metrosexual" at the Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills. The place was packed, and I was so pleased to see Bruce Weitz and Chr...
Posted by Teresa Berkin on Mon, 12 Feb 2007 01:39:00 PST

First notice to my blog subscribers!

Since the bulletins are down, I'm posting this here. It'll be popping up as a bulletin soon, but I just couldn't wait any longer!It's getting close! "Lend Me A Tenor" opens in less than a month! I ...
Posted by Teresa Berkin on Sun, 11 Feb 2007 11:12:00 PST

My "Ass Wipers, Inc." Episode Coming Soon!

You may recall that I filmed an episode of the online sitcom, "Ass Wipers, Inc.," at the end of September. The show premiered on November 1st and airs new installments on the 1st and 15th of each mon...
Posted by Teresa Berkin on Fri, 02 Feb 2007 04:45:00 PST

Should I add "Costumer" to my resume?

Bryn has asked me to take on the task of coordinating the costumes for "Lend Me A Tenor," the play we're doing at The Avery Schreiber Theatre in March. We have a cast of eight characters, some of who...
Posted by Teresa Berkin on Fri, 02 Feb 2007 04:06:00 PST

It's a Wrap for "The Punching Dummy"

Last weekend we shot "The Punching Dummy," the short film in which I played Coach Cindy, the owner of a self-defense clinic for battered women. They only needed me for about an hour on Saturday mornin...
Posted by Teresa Berkin on Thu, 01 Feb 2007 03:29:00 PST