Jobbing Actor

actor

noun 1. A person whose profession is acting. 2. A participant in an action or process.

The first is quite rudimentary but the second is more interesting and I think still applies to the first.




Someone once asked me "If you're not acting right now can you still call yourself an actor?"




To be an "actor" do you have to be in "the action or process" of acting? If that is the case then hardly any of us are. I read today in a job description of professions that an actor is unemployed or "resting" (God I hate that phrase) 80% of the time. That is so depressing but that's the truth isn't it? What about the rest of us poor bastards who aren't Hollywood stars? Are we just pretending then? Or perhaps, it's more of a state of mind. Sounds a bit up your own arse to me.




I want to lift the lid on what it is like for the rest of us. The 80%. How you become an actor, get into drama school, get an agent. Having auditions. Trying to get auditions in the first place. Being rejected and actually working! The bizarre, funny, breathtaking people you meet. The numb expanse of nothingness between work where you wonder what to actually do with your life, because lets face it this isn't a real job. The joy of getting your first role, then every role thereafter and living half your life in another persona. In my other shoes I guess. The shoes where I'm not a wife or a mother a daughter or a friend. Where most of the time I'm not even me but a persona or a range of characters I carry round with me like accessories in a handbag to pull out and put on at any given moment.
So for anyone who is considering this as a career option, I want to give you the advice no-one ever gave me and for those who are just curious, the chance to see what it's like in someone else's shoes.