Isidora Goreshter plays Svetlana, the Russian prostitute/bartender on Showtime’s Shameless. While it’s been her big break, Goreshter told The Huffington Post recently that her audition for the show was by far her worst ever.
“I remember calling my manager right after and apologizing in advance if she got really bad feedback from the casting directors. Initially, there were no lines. They sent over a part of the script where I come in the door after Terry has violently beaten up Ian and Mickey. I knew I was playing a prostitute but wasn’t too sure how that was going to work in the audition room. Then the day before, I went in and I got sent ‘new sides.’ [piece of script]. It’s a scene that we ended up filming but got cut in Season 3 with Ian coming to see me at the massage parlor.”
“If I remember correctly,” she said, “in the room was John Levy and Melanie Burgess, our casting directors. Mark Mylod one of our Executive producers and Anthony Hemingway who was set to direct that episode. I had to massage the back of a wooden chair then pretend the person I was massaging was touching my boobs, while acting with a Russian accent with the reader. It was incredibly awkward!”
The Shameless actor also recalled her time in the waiting room before she was called in for the audition. “I remember the girls in the waiting room were all dressed up like your typical Hollywood type prostitute. Tight dresses, cleavage, heels, trench coats. I started to wonder if I made a mistake because I was in a ratty old pair of black jeans, a New Order t-shirt and a very dirty pair of converse and barely any make-up. That was just my instinct on how I saw her straight away. I guess it worked.”
Isidora Goreshter can be seen Sunday nights at 9pm on Showtime’s Shameless.
