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In every industry, there comes a time when ambitious professionals have to stop and ask themselves just how far they’re willing to go and how much of their integrity they are willing to compromise in order to get ahead. In a recent interview with the Hollywood Reporter, “Black-ish” actress Tracee Ellis Ross reminisced about a time when she was tasked with wearing someone else’s T-shirt and bra to audition for a network television show.
Ross showed up for the audition, which was for the role of a Harvard-educated lawyer, wearing a “skirt suit and heels,” but her appearance quickly became a topic of discussion and she was required to change clothes on the spot.
“I tested once for a network show to play a lawyer,” she explained. “A Harvard-educated motherf—in’ lawyer, OK? I wore a skirt suit and heels. Seemed appropriate. Then there were many discussions about my hair. They’d printed up all these pictures of me of what they wanted me to look like from 15 f—in’ years ago. I’m not gonna look like that. We were literally sitting in the casting director’s office and they had me in and out of the bathroom trying on clothes.”
Casting executives eventually settled on a short skirt and a T-shirt, which belonged to someone else, but they quickly realized that Ross didn’t have on the proper undergarments for the top they had her change into.
“They finally pick a skirt — the shortest I brought. Then got a T-shirt from one of the people in the office. The woman says, ‘Hmmm, your boobs.’ I was like, ‘I didn’t bring a bra for this T-shirt.’ She goes what size bra do you wear? ‘Who wears a 34B?!, she screams down the hall. You’re in that situation and you’re testing. I was thinking about so many other things. I’m trying to do my best to take care of myself as a human. […] I put on someone else’s bra, a size too small, and somehow auditioned.”
On her way out, Ross explains that she ran into another actress who was auditioning for the role, which only added to the already awkward experience.
“I remember wondering, ‘What did I just allow myself to do?’ The other actress [who auditioned] was dressed like she was going to a club and got the role.I remember thinking, ‘Thank God I didn’t get the role because I would’ve died every week.”
Of course, she kept it classy and didn’t name drop, but we would love to know which network, television show and fellow actress she is referring to.
“It was one of those moments where you’re so confused and humiliated. But that’s part of the biz,” she concluded.
Ross appears on the cover of the June 5 issue of the Hollywood Reporter alongside fellow Emmy-contending actresses Lena Dunham, Ellie Kemper, Kate McKinnon, Gina Rodriguez and Amy Schumer.
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