Taylor Sheridan has always had that tried-and-true, handle-things-yourself mentality… and it sounds like that attitude helped him land his first ever acting role.
In case you didn’t know, the Yellowstone co-creator first got into Hollywood through acting. His first major acting opportunity came through Walker, Texas Ranger. Sheridan starred in Season 3’s double-episode that was titled “War Zone,” and played a character named Vernon who was a drag racer.
But prior to that, Sheridan was fighting (in this case literally) in every audition that he could have arranged, and he told a story on The Howard Stern Show about one of the non-conventional ways that he secured a role early on in his career. As he tells it, Sheridan was in the middle of his audition when other actors – specifically one person – kept talking over him:
“I told him I was gonna. I’m like, ‘Look if you interrupt me again, I’m gonna knock you the f*** out.’ He looked at me like I was nuts, and he kept talking. I was just sitting on the couch and I just went *pop* (and punched him). Then I knew like this (audition) is over. So I said, ‘I guess this wasn’t the job for me. Thank everyone very much.’ And I got up and I walked out.”
Taylor Sheridan was sure that the punch effectively removed him from the casting conversation.
With his tail between his legs, the young, aspiring actor that would one day really find his footing in writing and directing walked back into the his talent agency’s office. It was there that he was surprised to find out that the fit of rage he showed actually helped him:
“I went back to the talent agency. I walk in and they say, ‘Congratulations!’ And I’m like, ‘Congratulations?’ They said, ‘You got it!’ I said, ‘I got what?’ They said, ‘You got the job.’ So I went to the job. You take a break between filming. They turn the cameras around and I walk outside to smoke a cigarette and there’s this dude.
I still remember, he’s wearing a Chicago White Sox baseball cap, a sport coat, and jeans and tennis shoes. Just that whole combination fascinated me. So I said, ‘What do you do? You like a camera guy or something?’ He looks at me and just laughs. He can’t stop laughing. He goes, ‘I’m the executive producer. I’m the one who hired you.'”
As Sheridan stood there next to the man that hired him onto the project, he had to know why the executive producer went with him for the role. So Sheridan simply asked why he was chosen, and here’s the response that he got:
“I was hoping for, ‘Well you’ve got it kid. You’re just so charismatic. You’re a movie star. I could just tell when you walked in.’ He starts laughing and he said, ‘You told that guy you were going to hit him, and then you hit him. And it’s the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. I’ve watched it 50 times.'”
