All of the performers we fall in love with on stage or screen have a way of making acting look effortless, compelling, even breathtaking. And the magazine covers, red carpets, and awards associated with celebrities are certainly glamorous. But becoming an actor has its unique set of challenges. It requires a certain temperament, a lot of flexibility, fierce determination, and loads of inner strength. Here, five industry professionals share their ideas on the personal qualities best suited to pursuing a career in acting.
You could imagine yourself teaching the craft of acting to others later down the line.
The Good Lord Bird’s Ethan Hawke told CNN, “If you would be comfortable being 58 [years old] and teaching [acting]—if that’s what you mean when you say you want to be an actor, then I’m really excited for you. And if what you mean is you want to be at a party or be celebrated, then I would say that you should think twice. If you really love telling stories or being a part of an artistic community, and you would imagine yourself wanting to learn it so you could teach it to others, then I would be really excited for you.”
You love to roll up your sleeves and do the actual work of an actor.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier star Don Cheadle said in an Off Camera interview,
“People come up to me and say, ‘Hey, man, I want to be an actor. How can I be an actor?’ And I go, ‘Do you want to be an actor or do you want to be a star or celebrity? Are you acting right now? Are you in anything? Are you in plays? Are you auditioning for plays? Do you read plays? Are you reading scripts? Do you go to Sam French and grab stuff and see what you can work on? That’s all working, that’s all doing acting work.
And well now maybe you’re not on a TV show, or somebody hasn’t put you in a film, but if you think that’s the only way acting happens, probably one of two things is going to happen: You’re never going to get that shot or you’re going to get that shot and very quickly they’re going to see that you’re (not) deep, and you have nothing to bring to the game.”
You’re realistic about the business side of being an actor.
Los Angeles-based talent manager Wendy Alane Wright insists,
“Acting for a living—to make money at it, to pay your bills on a regular basis—is very, very difficult. That’s why actors, no matter how successful they are—I’m not talking about stars but working actors that are part of the union, who work ten days a year on television or films—they have to have other forms of income to pay bills. So they often have an online business, they might buy some real estate, they might teach yoga, tutor. Do you want to spend your time day-in and day-out acting, practicing lines, practicing feelings and emotions, auditioning, being rejected nine thousand times and getting one role; showing up on set and being able to work and then being unemployed for months; not ever knowing where your next job is coming from?
You have to love the actual acting part of acting. You have to want to do it whether you get paid or not, whether you get famous or not. You have to want to act more than you want to do anything else. And those are the people that actually work in TV and film.” It’s this passion that will drive an actor to be disciplined enough to “make it happen” and work to become a great actor, she says.
You’re pursuing it for yourself.
Ford v. Ferrari actor Matt Damon recalls starting out in the business, struggling alongside his buddy Ben Affleck. “Ben and I would go to auditions where kids would be there with their parents. Like their mom was making them go because their mom had some unrealized fantasy about doing it and was trying to live it through the kid, right? Like, I’m going to beat that guy. I want it way more than him.”
It’s not a choice. You know you must be an actor.
Hollywood acting coach Bernard Hiller states, “Acting, I believe, is not something you choose; it chooses you. And you really have no choice but to be an actor to fulfill your destiny and to be happy. If you don’t become an actor, you’re going to be very unhappy. Because who in their right mind would choose acting? It’s difficult, it’s hard, you don’t make so much money—I mean, the whole thing around acting isn’t like it’s a great situation. The reason people have to do it is because they have no choice. And so if you are wondering, ‘Is acting right for me?’ then you’re not in that world. And I’ve been in this world for 35 years, and the people that I’ve been working with here and New York—well-known people and not well-known people—they had no choice. They realize, ‘I have to be an actor. It’s not a choice.’”
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