DEFINING YOUR CASTING DNA™:
The Signature Scene Cohort
Casting DNA™
The Signature Scene Cohort
Define and communicate
your casting identity.
You already have the talent. This process helps you focus it.
Define your casting identity and craft two scenes that communicate it instantly.
As actors grow, their craft deepens—and sometimes their materials simply haven’t caught up….
This 6-week cohort is designed to help you define and communicate your casting identity so your work lands clearly, confidently, and immediately.
Not by reinventing yourself.
But by refining what’s already true about you—and choosing material that illustrates it with precision.
By the end of this process, you’ll have:
a clearly defined casting identity
a focused set of actor prototypes
and two signature scenes that show the industry exactly who you are—quickly and unmistakably
Why I built this process
Early in my career, I was frequently brought in for the same types of procedural roles — often victim-driven.
On paper, they made sense.
I could play them.
The work was solid.
But I wasn’t booking them.
What eventually became clear wasn’t that I just couldn’t book those victim roles — I just needed to tweak how I played them.
I just don’t “wear” victim well. My essence screams surviver, fighter, winner, even regal queen! This is how I function in story.
So once I stopped trying to play the “woe is me” victim and instead play those characters through my actual casting essence, the work sharpened. The choices got braver. The reads got clearer. I started to book then victim – even though I was reading them like a regal queen.
That shift didn’t come from acting harder or better.
It came from understanding my casting identity — and choosing to play material from that angel and approach it with that knowledge of myself.
This Casting DNA™ PreCheck GPT exists to help actors begin noticing those same patterns: how they’re being perceived, how they’re being read, and where their real power lives — so the work they put out starts to land more cleanly.
How the 6 weeks work
WEEK 1 — DEFINING YOUR CASTING DNA
Honing in on who you truly are and the archetypes you’re meant to play
We clarify your casting identity by narrowing to 3–5 accurate actor prototypes that reflect how you read, how you function emotionally in story, and where you naturally belong.
This becomes the compass for every creative choice that follows.
WEEK 2 — CURATING YOUR SIGNATURE SCENES
Using your casting DNA to curate two scenes that communicate your casting identity instantly
With prototypes established, we source two contrasting, highly aligned scenes that clearly illustrate who you are and where you’re headed—not a reflection of past credits, but a signal of potential.
WEEK 3 — BUILD THE BLUEPRINT
Creating the foundation your scene can stand on
This is the foundational work that grounds your scene and gives your instincts the structure they need to play freely and truly come alive.
Actors build the inner architecture of each scene using:
place
relationship
moment before
conflict / fight
communication & competition
WEEK 4 — MAKE IT HAPPEN
Real-time alchemy: breathing life, heart, and truth into your scene
This week is about presence and immediacy—letting the scene unfold moment by moment so it feels alive, active, and genuinely happening.
WEEK 5 — BAIT & SWITCH
Mystery, secrets, surprises, discovery, and opposites—the mischief that turns solid acting into riveting on-screen performance
This week is about nuance, contradiction, and magnetism.
Actors layer in opposites (wanting + resisting), mystery, secret, humor, and mischief—the human conditions and contradictions that make performances textured, watchable, and impossible to ignore.
WEEK 6 — SHOOT DAY READY
Confident execution
Actors create a clear shoot-day plan and make smart, intentional choices about wardrobe, lighting, sound, eye-line, framing, props, and physical action—ensuring their work translates clearly and powerfully on camera.
Meet your guide
ADRIA TENNOR…
is a working actor, writer, and filmmaker whose career has been built on understanding how performers function in story — and how quickly those signals are read.
From her early breakthrough playing against type in Hal Hartley’s Amateur (which premiered at the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes), to scene-stealing television roles like Joyce Darling on Mad Men, to her work in the Oscar-winning The Artist, Adria has spent decades moving between characters who appear one way — and reveal something else entirely.
She trained at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and with some of the most respected teachers in the industry, and later expanded her work behind the camera as writer, director, and producer of the award-winning film Pie. Across acting, writing, and directing, one question has stayed central: how do I best serve this writer and this material?
The Casting DNA™ PreCheck GPT is built from Adria’s lived experience — helping actors begin to notice the patterns in how they’re perceived, who they are in the industry, and where their real power shows up on screen.
Interested in diving deeper?
Check out my 6 week Casting DNA™ cohort…
Interested? Get on the list.
This is a small, working cohort capped at 10 actors to ensure each participant gets focused attention on their individual work. Joining the waitlist gives you first access when doors open.
What’s it like studying
with Adria?
“ within about five seconds of meeting me, she completely read me, pinpointed what I needed to work, and what she suggested I shift in my work and in my mindset. Her comments really hit home for me. I was truly inspired.”
~Rebecca Rapoport-Cole
“Working with Adria on my audition prep completely shifted things. Her script analysis and pacing tools gave me the confidence to walk into the room grounded, present, and truly performing — not just reciting words.
~Elena Schick
“I have been in Hollywood for a very very long time and I have been through million acting classes and had a million coaches, and I have to tell you, Adria Tennor, in my opinion, is one of the best …
~Jesse Henecke
“Adria has super strong intuition and empathy when it comes to coaching. She really makes you think deeply, and she can read like a book, which is super helpful with whatever you’re struggling with because she can point you in the right direction and that is a skill that not many people have.”
~Sam Collins