William Tokarsky is an actor from Atlanta. Having made his name as the fourth-wall-breaking killer from the Too Many Cooks viral video, he has gone on to continue his small role work on huge pictures like Hunger Games: Catching Fire (IMDB credits William as “Someone Else (uncredited)”), Anchorman 2 (“Cab Driver (uncredited)”) and Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (“Bread Vendor”). I originally reached out to William via Facebook and asked for an interview, to which he sent me a colourful graphic informing me that his IMDB features a picture of him in a bra. Well… enjoy!
FinalBoss: What’s the background of the name “Tokarsky”?
William Tokarsky: All my grandparents came through Ellis Island. My mother’s side from Russia and my father’s from the Ukraine. And I have worked as a spy once upon a time in service to my country…
FB: You’re the very first person on screen in Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell. You open the entire show. That must feel pretty special.
WT: I am special. I rode the short bus to school, seriously … I made friends on set and my best friends are always the editors.
FB: How much of that show is a real set vs green screen? How difficult is that to perform against as an actor?
WT: Season one was all location shoots. Season two 50/50. Season three & Four are 100% blue screen. I’m not a very good actor so I just play myself… that’s why my performances are memorable.
FB: What is your relationship with, Too Many Cooks and Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell director, Casper Kelly?
WT: Casper has opened doors for me. Anything he wants I will do for him… we are friends and I love him and his family.
FB: How did you originally start out as an actor? You have described yourself as a “highly trained background artist”
WT: I went to see Robert Duval & Bill Murray filming “Get Low” where I live .. never saw them but I spoke with some extras and thought “ I could do that”.. I started doing background and I was on the set of Hunger Games: Catching Fire when I ws told “You have a speaking Line with Jennifer Lawerence”… I worked two days made $2,400 and been drawing residuals ever since … I just loved the treatment and took classes and got lucky.
FB: Do you have a regular day job, or do you work enough as an actor to survive?
WT: I have a Pension, Social Security and a 401k, no debt. So I am comfortable… now the occasional blockbuster film and the residuals from it has really upgraded our vacations.
FB: In every interview that I’ve seen with you, pretty much all of them have mentioned your wife. Can you tell us a little about her?
WT: She is a saint. We have been happily married over 50 years and in all that time we never considered divorce. Murder many times… but never divorce.
FB: Please tell me what kind of shooting schedule you had for Too Many Cooks. How long did it take, overall?
WT: Three 12 hour days and nine months later some reshoots – when I kill the tennis player in the reshoots my beard had greyed. Check it out.
FB: You described the set as having a family atmosphere – was it conflicting then to have to hack this family into pieces?
WT: It was a non-union shoot so everyone did everything for everybody, gorilla filmmaking at it’s best. A couple of the perps just killed themself in the family spirit of things.. I think I was booked because I’m just a Natural Born Killer!
FB: Did you get to meet Smarf, the puppet? What’s he like?
WT: Smarf and I are still very good friends to this day and we have made many personal appearances together.
FB: And Anchorman 2? You have one wordless scene as a cab driver. How did you get into that role? Was there much research involved?
WT: I was speechless getting to work a tight scene with my hero Ron Burgundy. $64 day as an extra. Adam McKay picked three of us by photo to film a cab scene. Mine made it to the final cut – remember that make friends with the editor thing… Thank you for doing for this interview … I will be sending you a copy of my latest book.
William Tokarsky’s IMDB is right here. You’re Pretty Face is Going to Hell is on AdultSwim. It’s really great too.
If you liked this chat, please consider checking out more of our interviews!
