Saturday, August 29, 2009

"Acting is my passion....."

Well, whoop de do! I wish I had a nickle for everyone who ever told me that acting was their passion or their life or their undying dream. I'd be very very wealthy. I have taught acting and been in and around the acting business for over 50 years, and I can honestly say that not one of those people who told me any of those things ever became a professional actor or actress. The reason for that is that loving acting, being passionate about it or any of those kinds of comments have absolutely nothing to do with becoming an successful actor.
What it takes is knowing how the business of acting works and having the drive and ability to do what works, while at the same time being an outstanding talent. Well, even the talent thing plays second fiddle to the operating the business thing. I see people advising young aspiring actors to go to college or to attend a good drama school (most of the examples they give are the old standard schools that teach worn out and out of date approaches to acting such as The Method). I happen to believe that experience trumps training because you cannot taught to be talented. You have to be born an actor. And even if you do all the right things and have all the right qualities and quanties of abilities and talent, you still might not become an actor. So luck trumps everything! The best an aspiring actor can do is to have prepared properly so if luck comes calling you can answer. I am holding back on a story about a young lady in NYC whom I have advised and how she got her agent through a chance encounter on the elevator at work! Stay tuned.

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