Senior Anthony Justus has never considered the field of acting as a career. Yet somehow, he still found himself on the set of the television show “Veep,” an HBO satire of the vice presidency.  Justus acted as a Marine, on screen for a total of maybe a few seconds, despite hours of work on the set. The opportunity came up through a friend, senior Connor Martin. “He sent in a headshot and a biography to the company,” recalled Justus. “They called him up, and he got the part, and they asked him if he had any friends 18 years or older who might be interested. He came to me, so I said sure, why not?”

Justus quickly learned that being an extra isn’t all makeup artists and lavish dressing rooms – in fact, it’s quite the opposite. “I wasn’t really sure what to expect going in,” Justus said.

The extras met hours before the official cast of the show arrived, outside the studio in a large tent. This is where costumes were distributed, and people waited for the action to begin. “Then you walk out of that tent, and there are smaller tents, and that’s your changing room,” said Justus. “Some of the people got their hair cut right there [for the Marine look].”

Other surprises appeared between takes. Hours could pass before they were needed, and during the breaks, he had the opportunity to meet some professional actors – some of whom were normal, and some of whom were not so normal. Justus said this experience has definitely verified his expectations of actors. “They were normal for the most part, but there are a few people who are really out there. It was just amazing to see all of the different kinds of people.”

He recalled one actress, who would do physical exercises in the lounge room, while they were waiting to be called out. “She just went up against one of the walls, and started doing pushups while in a hand stand. It was cool the first time, but then she did it a couple more times, in front of the whole room, and she would do all these other weird exercises – it looked like she was doing some freaky tai chi,” Justus said.

While Justus’ experience may have been rather unusual, Justus said, “If the opportunity comes up and it looks good, I’d probably do it [again],” and opportunities such as this one are a good starting point for serious acting careers.” So should we expect to see the name of Anthony Justus in pop culture films some day? Probably not – this unusual adventure was purely an endeavor of fun. Justus’ real interest lies in teaching elementary school students.