Angela Peri on How to Become an Extra on a Set

Sandra Bullock in The Proposal

As Massachusetts continues to be a hub for shooting Hollywood flicks (thank you, tax incentives), more and more of us want to find a way to rub elbows with the stars. Angela Peri, founder and owner of Boston Casting, gives us the goods on how to become an extra on a set this summer.

BOSTON COMMON: Can anyone be an extra?
ANGELA PERI: Yes! But it’s ideal for retirees or the unemployed. You need to be available for 12-hour days, but you don’t necessarily need acting experience. Just a good attitude.
BC: How do you start?
AP: Submit a photo and application online at bostoncasting.com. Once you’re listed, you’ll get e-mails about open calls for movies, commercials and reality-TV auditions. For instance, when Mark Wahlberg was filming The Fighter, we needed a lot of Cambodians and real boxers to make the movie authentic, so we sent out a mass e-mail.
BC: What other movies did you cast extras for?
AP: Furry Vengeance with Brooke Shields, the upcoming Knight and Day with Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise and The Proposal with Sandra Bullock, among others.
BC: Have you discovered anyone?
AP: John Krasinski—we put him in his first commercial— and singer JoJo Levesque, when she was 8 years old.