F e b r ua r y 15
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F e b r ua r y 21 , 2 oo7
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TIME FOR THE BARACUDA HULA-HOOP CONTEST.
ARTIST’S CORNER
JON HILL
What are some things you do for fun? I like to wr ite. I wr ite KERI CARPENTER • ARTS EDITOR poetry, spoken word. I play the guitar and write songs. I’m in the process of writing a screenplay that I’m doing as an independent study with one of the professors here — Lisa Dixon. It’s something I’m interested in for the future. What age did you begin acting? Well, the first thing I did in theater was write a play in first grade and the school actually produced it, so I got to see it. The next year I started auditioning because I saw the actors and I was like, “Wow, I want to do what he does.â€? What was the play about? It was about my brother getting lost in the zoo. I think it was called My Day at the Zoo or something. Tell me about some of the shows you’ve been in here at PHOTO BY GREGORY HINCHMAN the University. At 21 years old, Jon Hill has already made history. The first show I did at Krannert was King Lear. I Last month, he became the youngest member of the famous learned so much from that. I was also in Six Degrees Steppenwolf Chicago Theatre company, an ensemble to of Separation — loved that. Then there was A Flea in which belong actors and actresses such as John Malkovich, Her Ear and we did Gint most recently. Actually, one Laurie Metcalf and Jeff Perry. Hill is a senior with a of the most interesting projects I’ve done here was a concentration on acting at the University of Illinois. staged reading of a hip-hop play by Chad Belsmen.
He’s very into the hip-hop theater movement that happens in New York. It explores theater based on the beginnings of hip-hop. Now what’s all this buzz around town about the Steppenwolf Theatre Company? Oh! Yeah — Jan. 8 I was scheduled to have a reading at Steppenwolf, but the artistic director, Martha Lavey, asked me to have a meeting with her before that took place and she didn’t tell me what that was about so I was already nervous. I didn’t know what was going to happen. I get in there and they ended up telling me that they wanted me to be a part of their ensemble, which doesn’t happen very often to anyone. I just remember being completely stunned. Jan. 29, they had a press conference at the theater and they announced to the world that they were making me and five other actors that they’ve worked with ensemble members — permanent ensemble members. This was coming out of an issue of lack of diversity in the ensemble and the age — there wasn’t a lot of age diversity and I was just very lucky to come along at a time where they were looking for diversity and youth. That’s amazing! You know, there are a lot of people that look up to you; what advice would you give an aspiring actor or actress? Work hard, work close to yourself. Don’t forget who you are in the process of playing these other characters and auditioning for things. Most importantly, probably, have fun in what you’re doing because you will go crazy if you forget that it’s supposed to be fun. What’s the weirdest role you’ve ever played? We were doing these one-act plays in high school
and I was a part of this show called The League of Extraordinary Superheroes, and my character was the human puddle and his ability was that he could cry at any time. That was a bizarre show. If you could have any superpower, what would it be? I’m going to go with a selfish one. It would probably be to fly — yeah, flight. The power of flight. And why is that? Everyone has the dreams where they’re flying and they’re like, “This is the best,� and then you wake up and you’re like, “Wow, I can’t fly; that was just a dream.� It would be the most enjoyable thing ever to be able to fly. How has your experience been in the theater department here? So positive from the moment I got here. From the moment I got auditioned I’ve just felt so supported. What plans do you have for the future as an actor? My overall goal is to become connected internationally with other cultures through acting and through my art and eventually, reach a plateau where I can go into less fortunate communities and give them another outlet for their art and have that actually be recognized as a real voice. And I don’t know; open up some doors for people that just need a way out or something to do.
15th Annual * % *3 ! " Contest the
Yo u r 2 0 0 7 Oscar Pics
Best Actor ! ! & % " & " # ! ' & $" # & $!"$ # % "" ! "# # ! & "# #
Best Supporting Actor * *! & ## . "" $ " - + ! % & ## ! 1 $ " $ & + .$! % & ! ! " . ! 0 ! & !#
Best Actress 6 !$5 & 2 ! -$ & # " . !! & /$ . !% #! & 2 !" ! # " # & ## !
Best Supporting Actress * ! !! 5 & 0 # ## & # " *0 ! " & ## . "" $ " - ! $ " & ! ! " $ & 0
Best Picture 0 !# ## !" ! ,3 - ## . "" $ " /$
Best Foreign Language Film * # ! # ( ! ) %" !% (, 6 ") (* ! ) 2 " # !" ( ! %) '" 0%! # (. 4 ) # ! ( )
Deadline:
Wednesday, February 21st, 2007 at 5pm
NAME: ADDRESS: PHONE: EMAIL:
the
15th Annual * % *3 ! " Contest
Send Entries to: DI Marketing, 512 E. Green St., Champaign, IL 61820 Drop Off Entries At: Illini Media, 512 E. Green St. Savoy 16 Theaters, 232 W. Burwash, Savoy
sounds from the scene
21
First Place:
52
Admit Two Passes to Savoy 16 Second Place:
52
Admit One Passes to Savoy 16 Third Place:
26
Admit One Passes to Savoy 16
Only one entry per person. IMC employees are not eligible. Must be 18 to win. All prizes won through a random drawing of ballots containing the most correct answers. Prizes non-transferable. The Daily Illlini reserves the right to print winners names. Other restrictions may apply.
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