By Kimberly Powell

Have you always wanted to be a movie star but don't know where to begin? Or maybe you'd just like to be able to brag to your friends about being in a major motion picture, movie, or television drama without years of acting lessons, auditions, and rejections. Consider the fun of being cast as an extra! Being a movie extra isn't always the most glamorous job - you usually get to walk a few steps and say nothing - but it allows you to make a little money (usually) and hobnob with the celebrities.

If being cast as an extra in the next big movie or TV show which comes to town sounds great to you, here are a few upcoming casting opportunities in the greater Pittsburgh area:

• NBC's hit political drama, "The West Wing," will film a quarter of its two-hour season premiere in the Pittsburgh area from August 20-27, 2002. Nancy Mosser Casting is the local casting company in charge of hiring about 300 extras, stand-ins, and photo doubles for the week-long television shoot. Anyone interested should visit the Web site for a registration form and mail that, plus a photo, to Mosser Casting, 239 Fourth Avenue, Suite 1217, Pittsburgh, PA  15222
   
• The hit CBS television drama "The Guardian" is coming back to shoot in Pittsburgh again. If you're interested in being an extra in "The Guardian," please contact Nancy Mosser Casting.
   
• CBS's daytime soap "As the World Turns" will shoot five scenes on the University of Pittsburgh campus on Sept. 19, 2002 and is looking to cast about 20 college-age students as extras, some with speaking parts. Executive producer Christopher Goutman and casting director Mary Clay Boland will be on campus Sept. 12 on a bus to audition students from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Those auditioning do not have to be Pitt students. Bring a recent photo (head and shoulders) if possible.
   

For more information see, How to Become a Pittsburgh Movie Extra.