Utopia Studios and the Artists Panel with Vincent D'Onofrio 9-25-2011

The Actor's Dialogue Panel with Vincent D'Onofrio began at 10 AM on Sunday, September 25, 2011 at the Utopia Studios on Tinker Street in Bearsville, NY, just outside of Woodstock. I was tired from being up so late after attendng the Maverick Awards ceremony in Kingston the previous night and had to be up early to drive to Bearsville for this event. I could only imagine how tired Vincent must have felt, especially since there was an after-party following the awards ceremony in another town (which I did not attend.) As it turns out, Vincent announced that he had a cold just after he arrived with Mary Frankel to begin the artist's panel event. Despite the fatigue and stuffy head, Vincent was relaxed, charming, well-spoken and fascinating to listen to as he related many great stories about his experiences in becoming a film and television actor, and he showed a talent for mimicking voices of people he has met and worked with, including director Stanley Kubrick and actor Marlon Brando. There was a woman with a newborn baby in the audience who fussed a bit during the nearly 90 minute panel discussion and Q&A, but Vincent didn't seem fazed at all. He even told the new mom, who was obviously a fan, "You don't have to leave with the child." Vincent surprised us all when he answered a question related to his experience with autism and he said "I know that I am not normal.." and went on to explain what he meant. I never knew that he has dyslexia or that he considers himself to be "in the autism spectrum," as he put it. As the older sibling of a man with autism I have also had a lot of personal experience with autism related issues and I was gratified to hear Vincent share such personal information about himself. After the event ended, I spoke to Vincent briefly outside before leaving. I was too emotional to thank him, as I had wanted to, for being so forthright about his autism experience, but I did say hello and shake his hand, and Vincent smiled and said "Hi, it's good to see you again." I also saw the mom and her baby outside and snapped a photo of her snapping a photo of Vincent, while holding her baby. How cute was that? :)