The worst thing about an acting career is that you just never know what’s going to happen.
After being rejected twice by Yale School of Drama, I was finally accepted and have been blessed with a 30-year career as an actor. If there’s one lesson that I always share with people who are hoping to be professional actors, it’s that this business is, simply put, arbitrary. I know this from personal experience, having gone back and forth between being a sought-after actress and not getting work. I’ve had times where I wouldn’t have been able to get arrested if I wanted to.
Unlike other pursuits, neither hard work nor innate talent will necessarily be rewarded in this career path. Superb, committed actors may get nowhere, while someone with little drive or talent might become the “next big thing.” If this sounds depressing or discouraging, you should probably shift gears to another path. Acting is not for the thin-skinned.
Moreover, even if lightning strikes and you do “make” it, the career itself is unpredictable and unstable. Work comes, then doesn’t; it complicates your personal life; it requires that you leave your home and family at a moment’s notice; it makes it
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