I Want to be an Actor – What Advice Can you Give me?

You’ll never make it. It takes talent and hard work. It’s a case of being in the right place at the right time. There are so many conflicting and well-intentioned pieces of advice for wannabe actors that we decided to find the best advice. And that meant we turned to the big wide web. We came across gems of advice for anyone looking to expand their creative wings to become an actor.

Acting is a craft

Take your training seriously. You may be talented but without the training and the skills, you won’t be able to push past your comfort zone.

There is no shortcut

There is a saying about an apprentice serving their time and taking the long route to becoming the successful skilled artisan – and the same is true for actors. Everyone started somewhere and those commercials you are doing are all serving a purpose. Don’t look for a shortcut because you’ll be denying yourself valuable experience.

You have to love it

Acting is not about fame, so we’ll burst that bubble right there. It is a craft, a skill, a way of life and work that should be enjoyable. If you want to be famous, you are not driven by the right fuel. Do you really want to be an actor because you love it?

It’s you, not an agent that’s important

Yes, an agent can get you through the door for auditions but if you are not working on your portfolio, getting the right headshots and so on, you are not giving anyone the insight they need to your talent. Acting is not a profession where you sit back and wait for the work to come to you.

It’s not all about looks

We are so used to see ‘the young and the beautiful’ that its easy to assume that unless you are perfect, fit a certain look or mould, acting jobs will be hard to come by. Acting is by its very nature diverse with screenwriters producing varied and diverse characters for stage and screen, being true to yourself and believing in your look is important to your success.

Find opportunities

Acting roles are required across a variety of genres from TV commercials to stage plays to training videos and more. All of these are opportunities. But acting jobs won’t come to find you – you have to go looking for opportunities.

A knockback isn’t personal

So many potential actors are put off by well-meaning advice that they just don’t have ‘it’ (whatever that is) which is confirmed by ‘thanks, we’ll call you’, generally perceived as a ‘no, thank you’. A knockback is not a personal slight but a learning curve – you weren’t what the casting director was looking for but you could be the right person at your next audition.

Prepare as if they are paying you $10,000

We came across this golden gem of advice on Quora from an actor who also produces and directs. He said that no matter how small the role, he gave it everything and prepared for it as if they were paying high stakes money when the reality was it was either a free job for a student film or a low budget movie. In other words, he was committed.

What was the best advice you have been given?

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