Rosenberg Uses Atlanta to Base Burgeoning Acting Career

You may have seen his handsome face and not attached the name, but Epstein School graduate Adam Rosenberg is the one to bet on. A few of his credits include the lead in a commercial for the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival in 2018 and appearances on the TV series “Better Call Saul,” “The Tonight Show” with Jimmy Fallon, and the movie, “The Founder.” Some tease him that his biggest claim to fame is being the grandson of the colorful Sephardic Shemaria family, which owns Bennie’s Shoes.

Rosenberg grew up in Roswell, playing sports and making comedic videos with a home camera. A graduate of Georgia State University, Rosenberg attends Congregation Or VeShalom and worked in the family shoe store. At Epstein, he knew he wanted to be an entertainer and thought he would be a “hip hop pop star.” To get his feet wet, he performed in the school plays, which were biblical or Jewish heritage-based. “I played Abraham when he was told to sacrifice Isaac. … There was one play, maybe Annie, where we needed a girl and no one could do it, so I took on the role. … Ha,ha.” He’s not a song and dance man, but started making jingles and raps, one of which was used as an introductory song for the weekend DJ on the Atlanta radio station V103.3 FM. “They played it for eight months. I called myself ‘Ad-Lib’ at the time.”

When asked after whom he most models style-wise, I guessed Tom Cruise or Ben Affleck, but Rosenberg corrected me, “I identify most with Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill.” Rather diverse group. His favorite movies are “Catch Me if You Can,” “The Dark Knight,” “War Dogs,” and “The Wolf of Wall Street.”

My personal favorite and his first really pithy role was alongside Oscar winner Michael Keaton in “The Founder,” which he filmed for nine days and was later featured on Jimmy Fallon’s “The Tonight Show.”

“The 15:17 to Paris,” directed by Clint Eastwood, would be a close second. On working with Eastwood, he said, “He’s very soft-spoken, and we had to lean in to hear him. He is not young. I think 88, but very nice and respectful.”

Between acting roles, Adam Rosenberg likes to chill with dog Hershey.

He also worked with Damon Wayans Jr. and Jake Johnson in “Let’s Be Cops.” Other credits are MTV’s “Teen Wolf,” BET’s “The Game,” WGN’s “Underground” and GMC’s “The Way Home.”

In terms of professional training, Rosenberg studied at Nick Conti’s Professional Actor’s Studio in Atlanta and under coach Tim Donner.

Let’s talk about rejection. “Typically, you’ll get one out of every 100 auditions. Talent is only one portion of the recipe. There are many other factors beyond the actor’s control (like who you know). … Still, after 11 years, I don’t deal well with rejection. … Ha, ha.”

Rosenberg filled us in on what a typical day is like being on set:

Rise at 6:15.

Hair and makeup.

Personal assistant sent to get breakfast.

Go to my trailer and sit for one to three hours waiting for my scene.

Put on costume.

Hang out in video village to get comfortable.

The first team goes out to rehearse.

It can take ANOTHER three to four hours to get all the shots: close ups, different angles, turn around from the back, then inserts.

It’s a 10- to 14-hour day. The camaraderie is a plus.

For an example of a really wild set, Rosenberg said, laughing, “When I shot ‘Let’s Be Cops,’ we had to do the scene in two versions starting with alcohol then switching out to ‘weed’ [fake]. Then that scene was cut from one minute to 12 seconds.” Interestingly, in “The Founder” and “The 15:17 to Paris,” all of his scenes were kept uncut, he said.

When asked why he doesn’t head to LA or NYC, Rosenberg said, “Right now, Atlanta is No. 1 for filming and production. I believe it’s only a matter of time before someone [an actor] here slips through the cracks and becomes well-established, and I’m hoping it’s me!”

Rosenberg filled us in on what a typical day is like being on set:

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