More actresses accuse Hollywood director of luring them into sexually charged auditions
More actresses accuse Hollywood director of luring them into sexually charged auditions
The I-Team talked to seven actresses who studied with Troy Rowland. They all say he urged them to try out for the role of a stripper named Keisha in a spin-off of the well-known TV series "Power." He told them to record a provocative, partially nude audition tape.
ATLANTA - The FOX 5 I-Team previously told you seven actresses from across the country accused an Atlanta-based Hollywood director and acting coach Troy Rowland of luring them into videoing sexually provocative auditions for a role that didn't exist.
Now, five more actresses have reached out to the FOX 5 I-Team after seeing our report, saying the same thing happened to them.
"I'll never forget it. I had brought like lingerie, very revealing underwear clothes," said Houston actress Mohini Sane.
Four years ago, Sane traveled to a hotel to audition for her acting coach, Troy Rowland. She said he instructed her to wear revealing lingerie.
"Looking back on it now, this (hotel) is definitely not somewhere you would have an audition," said Sane.
She put it behind her until last week when she saw our I-Team investigation of the very same Troy Rowland.
The I-Team talked to seven actresses who studied with Troy Rowland. They all say he urged them to try out for the role of a stripper named Keisha in a spin-off of the well-known TV series "Power." He told them to record a provocative, partially nude audition tape.
"He saw me as vulnerable and an easy target," said Kaitlin Bryant.
But the "Power" casting director Rori Bergman told the actresses and later the I-Team there was no role for a stripper named Keisha in the spin-off. Plus, she had no working relationship with Troy Rowland.
Rori Bergman told the I-Team the auditions were "reprehensible" and that "I want this guy to never be able to do this to anyone else again."
"No one had a clue that behind closed doors he's preying on women like this," said Los Angeles actress Erika Davis.
In a complaint to the FTC, one actress said Rowland was guilty of "impersonation, coercion, fraud and revenge porn."
Mohini Sane suddenly felt she may have been one of Troy Rowland's first victims.
"Seeing those girls and hearing their story of what they went through. It was too close to home. And just the shock that went over my body, this is what I went through as well. And to hear their story. That was me. That was me," said Sane.
Mohini Sane is one of five other women who saw our investigation and told the I-Team they too were lured by Troy Rowland into sexually provocative auditions. And they wanted people to understand how they were betrayed by a man they trusted.
"He told me I'm going to have an audition to a show. An HBO show.," said Sane.
Mohini Sane was an actress in Houston in 2017 when she began taking classes with Troy Rowland. She says he told her about a new role on HBO: A woman who was having an affair with a married man.
Even though Rowland is not a casting director, he set up an audition in this hotel. Her texts from 2017 show she was planning to attend his acting class that November weekend.
Mohini says she arrived at the hotel and changed into revealing lingerie and Rowland told her to get on the bed. He pulled out a video camera.
"He said let me get a shot of you on your stomach in my underwear. Let me, I want you to sit up, stick your backside out as much as you can. Look at the camera, as if that's how you would look if you were seducing someone,"
So, how did this happen? Each one of them has told me basically the same story of how they fell into Troy Rowland's trap.
Rowland was a successful Hollywood director, with legitimate industry connections they told me. A teacher who talked openly about God. A coach and mentor who ran a loving family acting business with his wife and at times his daughter by his side.
One woman said:
"He reels you in. He was God-fearing, and he loved and adored her (his wife). We wouldn't expect anything like that from him. It was easy to trust (him)."
"Upsetting, terrifying, and scary, because you are putting your trust into someone's hands to coach you and mentor you when really they have other motives in the back of their heads," said Sane
We tried to reach Troy Rowland about the latest allegations. As he did when we first tried to talk to him, he didn't respond.
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