Sunday, September 11, 2011

ON TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Probabaly the most asked question that I get is "How do I become a [professional} actor? This is mostly asked by very young people and teens who have done a school play or two and was in a community theatre production and now want to take it on to the next level.

What these kids do not realize is that being a professional actor is not something you just start doing when you feel like it. You don't just suddenly become qualified to be a professional. Being in a few amateur plays doesn't really come close to what you have to do to be an actor.

First you must be an actor. You must be reading everything you can find about acting (at least from the more modern of the books), and reading all the plays you can find, and you have to be doing all the acting you can in amateur theatre, {university} student films and indie films. And these experiences must show that you are one of the few extraordinarily talented and charming people in the world who cab become an actor.

Then someone, your parent if you are under 18, mus devote their life to your becoming an actor, This is harder than it seems. The actor's life is solitary and spartan and it requires someone who is a good self starter. The aspiring actor has to overcome the frustration of rejection and extended periods of not getting any result for their efforts. This sounds like something many people can endure, but few survive it as actors.

Finally, those that you will be competing with professionally for agents, jobs, and success will have had years and years of acting experience and professional training. They are the best actors in the world. You have to be one of them if you are going on to the next level because the next level is heavily populated with them.