Entertainment Career Advice

GETTING STARTED  

Should I Be an Actor?

If you have to ask, the answer is no.

Choosing to become an actor is not a rational decision; it's an emotional decision. If you have your heart set on an entertainment career, no amount of logic or reasoning will dissuade you. And that's the way it should be.

Because an acting career will take more commitment, hard work, perseverance, and single-mindedness than anything you will ever choose to do. And even if you're talented and you do everything right, your odds of success are infinitely small. No reasonable person who weighs the pros and cons would ever choose to become an actor.

But every year, thousands decide to do it anyway. Why? Because it's not about reason; it's about passion - blind, irrational, and life-sustaining.

You act not because you want to, not because you've weighed your various career options and decided this is the best job for you. You act because you have no choice. Because you couldn't live without it. Because to not act would leave a gaping hole inside of you that nothing else in the world could fill.

So if you've come to this page asking the question "Should I be an actor?," then go away. Right now. Seriously. Stop reading. Acting is not for you.

But if you're here looking for actors' resources and information, possibly an audition, then you know that the real question at the top of this page should be, "I'm going to be an actor and nothing you can say will stop me - what should I expect?" Now we're getting somewhere.

LINKS

A Primer for Parents
Expert advice on launching your kid's entertainment career.

Pursuing the Dream
As readers share their stories of moving to L.A., they also share optimism.

Coming Out
How to break the news of your career plans to your family, make the move, and find support in L.A.

Welcome to New York
For the seasonal influx of performing artists to New York City, Back Stage provides a smorgasbord of helpful information.

The A to Z of Getting Started as a Performer in the Big Apple
Once you've found a place to live in New York, you'll want to handle your career in a professional and competitive manner.

BACKSTAGE BULLETINS
Actors: Have You Started a Business?
August 19, 2008
Back Stage would like to speak to actors who have started their own businesses that enable them to keep acting.


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