What You Need to Be an Actor

We have been over this before, but I keep getting email from people who don't seem to understand what it takes to be successful as a professional actor.

Part of the problem is misunderstanding.  Among things that aspiring actors believe that are not true are:

1. Getting a good agent will get your career going.
2. Going to a good acting school with famous alumni will get  your career going.
3. Getting a break will get your career going.

The thing is that agents do not make actors.  Agents make money from people who are already actors. Secondly, just going to school will not help. You have to complete the entire program. And you have to use your time at school as a time of networking so that the people you work with and meet there will want to help you.  Tens of thousands of 'actors' graduate university and professional acting schools every year.  Only a small number of them get professional roles.  Certainly fewer than 1 in 10.   Third,  what is a break anyway?  Some beginners with overly evaluated ability think if they can just get an audition, they will be hired and their career will be on the way.  Sorry, not true.  Often it takes many auditions before an actor gets a role. My alumni newsletter had an item in it about a graduate of the theatre program who "after ten years" got a big role on Broadway.  Ten years is a relatively short while.  I know an actor who has been in NYC for 35 years and has yet to earn a living as an actor. Agents do not make actors. A break is when someone who can really help your career sees you and decides to help you.  But you still have to get the roles, they don't just hand them to you.

Underlying all the misunderstanding of these three ideas is lack of knowledge about the acting industry in general.  Even if you have been in a few plays, it doesn't mean you are marketable as an actor.  Even if you have successfully completed the two or three year course of study at a well-known acting conservatory doesn't mean you are a marketable actor .  And just getting an audition doesn't mean you are going to get a part.  The number of hurdles you have to leap over is infinite.

To be an actor you  need much more than experience, training and a break.  First of all you need Charisma.  This is a special kind of charm that allows you to command the attention of a group of people and develop a following.  It comes from many things including your look and your personality.  All casting is done first by look. If you don't look like the part you most likely won't even get a reading for it.  You don't have to be drop-dead gorgeous either.  You just need to have an interesting look that draws people's attention to you.  Many famous actors and actresses were quite homely, but they  caught people's attention.  Here look is connected to personality.  An actor has to be outgoing and friendly and courageous.  He has to be able to meet strangers and fit right in.  An actor has to be able to make others like him.  If you do not have an interesting look, you can work on that by experimenting with hair styles and colors and use the gym to reshape your body.  And there are Charm schools where people can learn to be relaxed and comfortable in all occasions.

If you want to be an actor, then there is much  you need to do besides getting an agent, going to acting school and getting a break.  You have to be what the industry is looking for and be able to get the roles.

That Point of No Return

It must be the election results or the coming of winter, but a few of these recent topics are less cheerful than most.  Lately I have received news from aspiring actors that they have given up on becoming a professional actor or that they have become so frustrated that they were thinking of giving up on it.

The first said, "Just to let you know that after two years I have given up on the acting phase.  I suppose I was not dedicated after all."  Well, yeah.  Two years?  You hardly gave it a chance.  Twenty years?  Well, OK.  If you tried your best for two decades and decided to quit. You at least gave it a chance. 

Acting is not a goal. It is a way of life.  The talented actor may never earn a living at it, but once in a while he will have the opportunity to ply his craft. And that is what dedicated actors live for--the opportunity to ply their craft.

Another aspirant of three years wrote that he was suffering actor's depression and was very fed up.   Well, now, which of us has a daily life so perfect that we do not sometimes become a bit depressed with the lack of progress and have begun to think that all this work we are doing is of no use at all? 

If acting makes you happy. Then act.  It doesn't have to be professional work.  Some amateur theatre or a semipro dinner theatre production can keep your hand in and keep you from being depressed.  If you are going to be an actor, then be an actor. Act all you can. Amateur and semi-pro theatre do not keep you from advancing in the TV and film world. 

Being an actor may not mean that you will be a star earning millions of dollars.  What it does mean is that you have committed yourself to live a life style that allows you to act as much as possible.. Maybe it is two or three plays or films a year, but because you are an actor, you have chosen to live this way.

Tens of thousands of students graduate acting schools and college theatre schools every year.  After five years maybe a few hundred are still actors.  Most will have given up.  Most have the wrong dream.  They dream they are movie stars with adoring fans.  But most are not qualified to become movie stars in the first place.  Fame and fortune are the wrong dreams for an actor. Happiness in applying his craft as he is able is SUCCESS.

Acting After the Unthinkable Happens

Our lives as private persons and as actors are often, sadly, interrupted by the unthinkable, the loss of a loved one.  On of my young proteges just came face to face with that situation and he wrote me to ask what he should do.  Should he continue in the show he is rehearsing or drop out?  How can he possibly continue, he asks, when he has lost his greatest love? 

The mysteries of life and death are impossible for us to understand. Why were we born?  Why do people have to die? Why do the good die young? How can we go on without our loved ones?  Some pastors are very good at answering such questions and I always recommend that an actor suffering a loss talk to his or her pastor.

As an actor, we have taken on an awesome responsibility when we accept a role in a play or film.  We are promising we will be there when and as needed and that literally nothing is more important to us.  I am quite sure, at the same time, that there are no producers or directors so unfeeling that they would not excuse an actor from a rehearsal or two so long as it does not weaken the show. Missing final dress rehearsal, for example, would be taking a great risk with the shows success.

Thankfully, there is often some time between the death of a loved one and the production date for one's show.  Arrangements can be made to allow the actor to attend services.  But the actor must be able to work through his grief.

One way of compensating for an actor's grief is for the actor to devote his performance to the lost loved one.  This s a way of showing honor and respect.  The general public does not need to know this. It is a bond between the actor and his lost loved one.  The actor's determination to do this can actually strengthen his performance.

Without seeming callous, I hope that in all such instances, the producer, the director, the actor and the actor's family will remember that "The show must go on."  

God bless, Doc

What It Really Takes to Become an Actor

I'd say that a large majority of email that I read from aspiring actors states that if they only could (a) get an agent, (b) get an audition, or (c) get a break, they would become a success as an actor.

Of course such beliefs are on the level of urban legend.  They are just rumors that are repeated by the hopeful.  I will explain why these three beliefs are not only untrue, but antithetical to becoming a success as an actor.

Belief #1.  An agent will make you a success as an actor.  Actually, sometimes an agent who is really enthusiastic about one of his talent may help that actor get auditions and roles that lead to the actor's success when the actor has what it takes to be successful.  But it is not an agent's job to make people into actors.  Agents make money from people who already are actors, people who can get roles when they are sent to auditions.  Until you are an actor whose experience and training and personal qualities are such that you can get roles when you audition, an agent cannot help you. Then, another thing often happens to aspiring actors once they get an agent: they sit around waiting for the agent to call.  An actor who is going to be successful can never do that. He always has to be acting and networking. There is much to do besides waiting for the agent to call.  This also leads to the idea that many in the industry have and that is that an agent is the last thing and actor needs, not the first thing.

Belief #2.  If I got an audition, I would become a success as an actor.  Professional actors know that one audition is unlikely to get you a role.  In most cases it takes a great many auditions to get a role.  A great many actors are vying for every role.  To get a role, you have to be what the casting director is looking for from the actor- you look the part, you act the part well, you have the background that indicates you can be trusted to do the part well.  Besides, there are darned few open auditions for speaking roles.  Most people who audition for a role get the audition through their agent.  Those people are actors with considerable experience and training and who have the qualities needed for being an success.

Belief #3.  If I got a break, I would become a success as an actor.  Much is made of actors getting 'breaks' that make them successful.  Such 'breaks' are being cast in roles that get them noticed by their fine work.  Except there is more to it than that.  Besides the actor's fine work, is his look, and charisma.  These things have been important in getting the actor his agent and the agent sending him on the audition for this role. Then they are important in getting the role.
Most actors who are "suddenly discovered" from a "breakout" performance have been actors for many years. 

You see.  There is no shortcut to success as an actor.  It takes years to develop into the sort of person who can be a successful actor. It takes outstanding qualities. Outstanding talent, experience, look, charisma, personality, training, etc, are all needed to be a successful actor.

Acting & Playwriting

If frequently occurs to me that many people, beginners and old hands alike often have no idea what a play actually is and how what it is relates to acting. Let's start with some basic concepts of what a play is and what it is not. In the main, when I write "play" in this article, I mean both a stage play and a cinema script.

Aristotle in The Poetics says "a tragedy [the most prevalent kind of play of his time] is an imitation of an action." This simply means that it is a story about something that happens, and that the story is told my acting (imitation).  Drama, then, differs from narration in that it is acted out (imitated).  Aristotle also mentions that a drama "is a thing done."  A narration is something that is told. The narration can tell about things that happened and that are done, but these things are only told by the narrator. A play is acted out by actors. Indeed, some theorists say that a play is not a complete work of art until it is fully produced in a theatre before an audience.

A play is not discourse {the examination of an idea through discussion}.  George Bernard Shaw may disagree with this, but the fact remains that in plays, the story and how it is enacted by the characters is far more important than the philosophies or ideas presented in them.  When I say how the characters enact the story, I am referring to what the characters do as emotional responses to their situations.  It is these responses that cause things to happen and the things that happen ARE the story.  It is also true in the vast majority of our theatre and cinema that the emotional impact of the story is more important than the intellectual understanding of the message the story may embody.

Thus, what the playwright writes is not conversation as we ordinarily understand that word.
A conversation is discourse--a discussion of an idea or ideas.  But what a playwright writes --what we call the dialog of the play is not discourse; rather he makes a story told though the emotional and physical reactions of the characters to their situations.  Everything a character "says" in a play, his lines, are his emotional and physical reactions to that moment in the story.

Now we add the actor.  If all of the above is true, what the actor does is to represent the characters' emotional and physical responses.  Oh.  Had I indicated that these are one in the same? Any response by the character is both emotional and physical simultaneously. The actor, then, must both say the line so it represents the emotional reaction of the character; AND, at the same time, the actor must do what the line represents the character is doing.

If you have been reading carefully, I hope that you have understood how I have kept the character and the actor separated in this discussion.  This is very hard to do in any discussion of acting, but there are things about the character and the actor that all who work on plays or enjoy them as audience members must understand.

First, the actor and the character are not the same thing.  The actor is a person who represents or 'plays' the character in a play.  The actor is a real person who has a life outside of the play. The character is an imaginary creation of the playwright who exists only in the play or film.  Even in the representation of historical or actual personages in a play requires some fictional creation to make them more interesting than just their factual existences may be or may have been.

Second, in most cares the character is entirely fictional and has no existence (unless indicated by the playwright in the stage directions or dialog) before or after his or her experiences in the play. Because of this fact, I am entirely against the foolish practices of actors creating an imaginary biography of the character prior to the story that the play tells (of course in the case of actual personages there is a real biography of the character prior to the story that the play tells and this information is of great value to the actor.) It also is not of much use to the actor to make up something that the character was doing prior to each of his entrances in the play.  A good playwright will make it clear what such things are when it is necessary to do so. 

Finally, I implore all theater artists and playgoers everywhere to learn to differentiate between the character and what he does in the play and the actor and what he does when representing the character in the play.  It takes a bit of practice, but it will be worth it in the clarity with which you express your experiences with the play. I remember once reading a review of a play in which the reviewer wrote  as he explained the story of the play to his readers (I, of course, paraphrase after all these years): "John Smith [the name of the actor] is having an affair with Mary Jones [the name of the actress]."  I am sure Mr. Smith's wife and Mrs. Jones' husband were dismayed to read this in the newspaper.  Of course this critic should have written "Peter, played by John Smith, is having an affair with Polly, played by Mary Jones."  At least it separates the innocent from the guilty and shows the critic knows something about play writing and acting.

Ego Is Not Confidence

I see it has been a month since my last post.  Nothing much has prompted me to share my reactions with you until just the last couple of days during which I have been made aware of the overblown egos of some aspiring actors. 

The thing is that ego is not talent, nor charm, nor confidence.  Actors need talent and charm and confidence.  But they do not need ego.  When an aspiring actor contacts me and starts by telling me how he or she is so talented, good looking, and charming, a red  flag goes up.  I immediately become suspicious. Most always these Egos also say that they want to be a star or want to be famous.  And those are the wrong reasons to want to be an actor.

The problem with ego is that it usually masks inadequacies.  Psychologically, those overly filled with self-praise are usually covering up their fears.  Talented, charming and confident actors do not need to tell you they are those things because their actions and accomplishments demonstrate that they indeed have them.  Only the inadequate needs to tell you he or she has one of those things because otherwise you would never know it.  The story about Bernard arguing a case before the Supreme Court in "Death of a Salesman" makes the point. Willy says that it is strange that he never mentioned it, and Charlie says that he doesn't have to mention it, because he is going to do it.  

Very young aspiring actors are always telling me how their families and friends are putting down their aspirations.  They need to read "Death of a Salesman."  Don't talk about it, do it. And related to this is how can they convince their parents to support their aspirations to be actors?  Simple.  Be such an outstanding actor now that they will be proud to have you be an actor.

Then young people say to me, "Well, I need self confidence to be able to audition and to put myself forward  if I am going to be a success.  Therefore, I need to know I am good."   You need to know you can do it, and therefore you do it.   But you needn't act as though you are superior in any way.  There are many who can do it.  When you have the courage and confidence to meet strangers, you need to focus on them rather than on yourself.  The last thing a person who has just met you wants to hear coming out of your mouth is how good you are.  

Actors have resumes and head shots to demonstrate their talent, attractiveness, and charm.  Agents and casting directors can see those things in your documents and in your demo reels.   It is quite charming to meet someone who has true confidence, and a lack of ego is always refreshing.

How to be a Success

I have been criticised for being negative about becoming a success as a professional actor, so today I am going to be positive and let everyone in on the secret of success.  I am deeply indebted to the Reverend Les Brown for the motivation for this post.

Okay, let's assume you have the talent, the look, and the personality to be an actor, or is that even possible to assume?  Because this is all about personality.   We will assume you have scads of experience and maybe even some professional training.  Those are basic.  What I am going to tell you now is how to parlay those into becoming a professional actor.

1. You have to have a fire in your belly.  You have to be so hungry to be an actor that nothing else has priority over it.  You have to want it BAD.  And you have to be willing to give up almost everything else to get it.  Please read Career, a play by Lawrence and Lee.

2. You have to do the most difficult things connected with being an actor.  If you have to move to another city or state, you do that.  If you have to work horrible jobs to support yourself, you do that.  If you have to study long hours, you do that.

3, I have said this in other posts, I believe, but you have to hang out with only quality people.  If your pals are losers, negative, do-nothing people, lose them.  If you are the most successful person in your group, you are in the wrong group.  Only hang with people who are doing professional acting.

4. You MUST develop communication skills.  You have to be able to walk  up to strangers and introduce yourself. You have to meet agents, producers, casting directors and directors, as well as other actors, and be able to present yourself in an educated, clear, and forceful manner. The power of excellence in speaking to others so they know how able you are is everything.  When you open your mouth, you tell people who you are. You MUST develop proper English skills, lose your dialect or speech impediment, and have a great vocabulary and literary knowledge. You have to be an educated person.  In almost all cases this means going to college, but it is possible to read at least several of the Great Books (see Wikipedia for clarification).  And it is possible for you to read plays and writings on theatre and acting.

5. Make  yourself a special individual.  We are all unique, but to make it in acting, you need something very special.  Watch the films of  the greatest actors, Bogart, Gable, Guiness, Olivier, Wayne, Eastwood, Widmark, Palance, etc. (sorry I am male and i thought of men first. There are as many women of note.)  Find your big difference and learn to show it and use it.  You can't be a success if you just go around saying, "I'm just me."  NO, you are not just you. You are SPECIAL and you have to be special to be a professional actor.

6. Finally, as I have said many times before, you have to network. Network, network, network. That is how doors are opened.  (See "Networking for Success" on my web site, The Tao of Acting.

So some of these  have been neglected in my other writings, and some even said they weren't needed. But they are needed, all of them, and you have to do them.