My Brother is in a Movie!

By Jada Parrish

Posted: 02/10/17

Category: Personal

You guys! My baby brother - Austin Zajur - who many of you may know as your wedding videographer, IS IN A MOVIE!!

The movie is called Fist Fight and it stars Ice Cube and Charlie Day along with Tracy Morgan (“30 Rock”), Jillian Bell (“22 Jump Street”), Dean Norris (“Breaking Bad”), Christina Hendricks (“Mad Men”), Dennis Haysbert (“The Unit”), JoAnna Garcia Swisher (“The Astronaut Wives Club”) and Kumail Nanjiani (“Silicon Valley”). What a killer cast!!

Austin plays a troublemaker kid named Neil (the kid wearing the Metallica shirt) who torments his teachers and causes all kind of trouble. He filmed the movie in Atlanta last fall and had the time of this life. 

Austin has wanted to be an actor for as long as I can remember. He has always loved the spotlight and wanted to make and act in his own videos. As a kid he had a youtube channel where him and his friends would make some absolutely ridiculous videos.

I think he first started nagging my mom about about becoming an actor when he was 10. He wouldn't shut up about it, so my mom had no choice but to figure out how to get him an agent. We made a lot of trips up to New York meeting with various managers and agents, and eventually he got signed with a great agency in NYC. All of that annoying persistence paid off. 

So all through middle school and high school Austin missed way too many days of school going back and forth to New York for auditions. He did a bunch of print ads, commercials, crime tv shows, and voiceovers all through those years. He also got told "NO" a lot. He never let it get him down for too long though. 

Finally in August of 2015 he decided to just go for it, and he moved to NYC. Right before he left for New York, he asked me to film an audition tape with him for some movie about a high school where the teachers get into a fight. 

The main scene we read for is one where Austin blackmails his teacher (Charlie Day) and then tries to sell him drugs. I have filmed a lot of audition tapes him over the years, and this one was SO GOOD. We laughed so much, did a bunch of takes, and really felt like we nailed it.

A few weeks after he moved to New York, he got a call from his agent saying that he got the part! We were all so excited because this was by far the biggest role he had ever landed.

Fist Fight comes out on Friday, February 17th, so go check it out! And if you're in Richmond and want to join us at the theater, take a look at this link!