“Black and White Headshots are So Back!” says Guy Whose Printer is Low on Ink

by Leah Windahl. @leah_windahl.

NEW YORK, NY – At home, actor James Camarillo may have just been a guy with no printer ink. But in a holding room this past Tuesday he was a trailblazer, armed with little more than a water bottle, a dream, and a black and white headshot.

“I see you’re looking at my headshot” said the actor, unsolicited (we were, of course, not even kind of looking at his headshot). “Well, I’ll have you know that black and white headshots are so back! I might be one of the first to jump on this bandwagon, but it’s the next big thing. You’ll see.”

Though Camarillo seemed confident, we couldn’t help but notice he was simultaneously googling walking directions to Quick Custom Color Photo Lab.

Fellow auditionees were quick to notice James’ bold choice.

“I thought it was weird at first, but James gave me a lot to think about today,” chimed in fellow actor Lou Webb, looking shamefully at his own sleek, colorful headshot. “When you think about it, black and white headshots are an old theatrical tradition. What do Patrick Stewart, Sir Ian McKellen and James all have in common? The black and white headshot. All the greats still use them.”

When pressed to cite a source for that, Webb admitted to having learned it against his will from Camarillo in the moments prior. 

When we followed up with James to clarify if it was also in theatrical tradition to have black and white headshots printed on crumpled printer paper, he suddenly “had to take a call from his agent” and said he’d “catch up with us later,” though we later caught him eyeing us suspiciously from behind a potted plant.

When asked if the headshot successfully made Camarillo stand out, casting director Jennifer Westfall weighed in.

“It did – but only because I assumed he was a seventy-year-old man using a headshot from forty years ago. I was shocked. If I had known that he was twenty-eight I wouldn’t have asked him to come to the Grandpa Joe dance call.”

In a follow-up interview, Camarillo’s roommate clarified the situation. 

“He said that? ‘Tradition,’ my ass! His printer ran out of cyan last week and he’s been too deep in his Gilmore Girls rewatch to run to Staples and get more.” 

As for the printed headshots, Camarillo reportedly gave away his last glossy 8 x 10 at his nineteenth Fiyero callback of the year.