It is often said in the world of show business, you never know when or where you will be discovered. Such was the case this past Thursday for one of our New York Film Academy Los Angeles Acting students, Petter Egge, who was stopped on the street by a rather clumsy magician. After the magician spills his entire bag of tricks, Petter decides to lend a helping hand, even though he was on his way to acting class at NYFA.
“I was on the street helping him for about five minutes,” said Petter. “After a while, I thought either this guy is really weird or something else is going on.”
As it happens, the magician was merely a producer playing a bit called “Cash for Kindness” on Ellen DeGeneres’ popular daytime NBC television show, Ellen. A crew eventually asked Petter to get in a black car to drive him over to the Warner Bros lot to meet Ellen live on her show. Petter was skeptical at first, even asking a nearby police officer if, in fact, these people were legitimate. After reassurance from the officer, Petter got in the car to see where this crazy day would take him. “You got to take a chance sometimes,” added Petter.
The car whisked him away, going through a back entrance of the famous WB lot. It wasn’t until the studio gates opened, revealing cameras, crew, and of course, Ellen DeGeneres, that Petter realized, this isn’t a dream at all.
As a reward for Petter’s random act of kindness, Ellen brought Petter live onto her show where he was exposed to millions of viewers! Not only that, Ellen gave the young actor $1,000 in cash.
Within hours of Petter’s surreal day, he was already front-page news in his hometown in Norway. “I’ve been bombarded by Norwegian journalists all day,” Petter admitted with a chuckle.
It’s the type of day that could only happen in a movie or, as we’ve seen in this case, while you’re in Los Angeles on your way to the New York Film Academy.