Let''s be honest about an acting career

I get hundreds of emails each month from people who say they want to become actors and actresses. Few, if any, of these people have any idea what acting is about except what they have seen on TV or in the cinema, experienced in a drama or theatre class or from being in some school plays. What they lack is knowledge of what an acting career is all about. They have no idea that an aspiring actor spends most of his time networking and looking for work. They have no idea, although they have heard that it is a difficult career to be successful in, that almost no actors make a living at acting, that most actors have to have a job outside of acting to support themselves. They have no idea what an agent really does and how very very difficult it is to get representation by an agent. They often have little or no acting experience which indicates that they do not really know if they have the extraordinary talent needed to even be a bit player in the professional world. I answer hundreds of questions about becoming an actor on Yahoo Answers every month. Anyone considering an acting career needs to read Acting Professionally by Cohen and The Tao of Acting by Dr. Kenneth Plonkey.