My belief is that all actors are fucking idiots and should be working at fast food instead*.
*[sub]this is especially true of anyone who is reading this from the Kansas City area who may be better than me at acting and is thinking of trying out for the movie audition I’m going to next week. Don’t. I want that role. Go serve fast food and don’t come to the audition because if you beat me out I’m going to have to beat you in. Fair warning.[/sub]
I think… no, I hope what the OP was getting at is this:
That some performers out there consider themselves a triple threat, whether they have any acting talent at all (I’m thinking of J.Lo specifically). I think the N’Sync boys are coming out with a film later this winter. The Spice Girls. Madonna. Shit, even Randy Travis! Need I go on? This is the type of actor, the one who believes acting is the natural progression in their career, who the OP was thinking of (I’m blindly assuming here).
And while my personal thoughts on the subject are clearly represented throughout this thread, one has to at least question the ability of said “performers” who dabble here and there in acting, just because they’d like to.
This may lead mere mortals (like ourselves) to question the toughness of acting under the pretense of: “If friggin’ J.Lo can do it (poorly), then so can I!”.
Unless, of course I’m completely talking out my ass and J.Lo is a very talented triple threat sensation, more than worthy of the celebrity worship she receives.
Commence flaming. I just thought I’d stick a marshmallow in the fire…
Ok… I just read the OP again, I’m obviously mistaken.
J.Lo, as far as I’m concerned, IS a very good actress. And I thought Madonna did a great job in A League of Their Own.
zuma was trolling, I can say with confidence, seeing as he/she hasn’t returned to answer any of our questions.
Still, I’d like him to go get fucked by a rusty dodge dart tailpipe and act like he likes it.
then get back to me.
jarbaby
This really strikes me as a troll, because zuma hasn’t responded to back up his point at all.
Acco, what you say is correct, but you’re right in saying that Zuma was not saying that.
But rather than repeat what everyone’s said about how acting is more of a job than Zuma will ever get, I’ve decided(how fun) to mock him. Here goes.
“cooking” is not a career, and reuires no talent
putting food in pots and pans is not a career. there is no “talent” there, cooks of the world. it’s something 90% of society can do, but have better things to do with their time. i am sick and tired of “cooks” parading their meals and their oh-so-difficult-life.
“writing” is not a career, and reuires no talent
putting words on paper is not a career. there is no “talent” there, writers of the world. it’s something 90% of society can do, but have better things to do with their times. i am sick and tired of “writers” parading their books and their oh-so-difficult-life.
“programming” is not a career, and reuires no talent
putting code on the screen is not a career. there is no “talent” there, programmers of the world. it’s something 90% of society can do, but have better things to do with their times. i am sick and tired of “programmers” parading their software and their oh-so-difficult-life.
“medicine” is not a career, and reuires no talent
putting knives in people is not a career. there is no “talent” there, doctors of the world. it’s something 90% of society can do, but have better things to do with their times. i am sick and tired of “doctors” parading their life-saving surgeries and their oh-so-difficult-life.
“basketball” is not a career, and reuires no talent
putting balls in hoops is not a career. there is no “talent” there, basketball players of the world. it’s something 90% of society can do, but have better things to do with their times. i am sick and tired of “basketball players” parading their victories and their oh-so-difficult-life.
“zuma” has no career, and brings no talent
putting trolls on the SDMB is not a career. there is no “talent” there, idiots like me of the world. it’s something 90% of society can do, but have better things to do with their times, unlike me. i am sick and tired of “me” parading their useless posts and their oh-so-bitching-life.
Wasn’t Jennifer Lopez an actor who became a singer, rather than the other way around?
Is THAT what’s passing for theater these days? Give me the classics any time…
Yup. IIRC, some of her first roles were in ‘Money Train’ and ‘Out of Sight’, WAAAAAAAAY before she released that dreck she calls music.
Welllllllllll… J-Lo’s first Big Role was as Selena, playing a singer, and when she was young her performance bug was bitten doing musical theater. (They had a brief parents-camcorder clip of her in high school as a “bumper” on VH1 this one time.) So it’s kinda simultaneous, I guess.
As far as the OP, I can only repeat what others have said. Try it once. Anybody can memorize lines and repeat them out loud. It’s the rare performer who can do this with the authority, emotional realism, and charisma that makes an audience laugh, cry, become sexually aroused, experience an elevated heartbeat, whatever.
On reading the OP, a mental checklist popped up:
Guess which one I chose.
this may be off the mark, but speaking of carreers requiring no talent-- what is up with an orchestra conductor?
to me, this is an asshole who cant play an instrument, so he puts on a tux and waives a stick around, snagging all the glory! what is his function? the players all have sheet music and are masters of thier insturment. (spelling is shit!) seems to me, this guy is worthless and the music would be just about the same. cant they do without him? i dont get it.
i will shut up now! you can all go back to actor-slagging!
Even if you have damn fine bricks, you need mortar to hold them together. The conductor shows everyone when to start. He sets the tempo and cues parts of the orchestra. He (or she) helps everyone put on a show, kind of like what a director does in a movie. Conductors who are good make even mediocre orchestras good. Bad conductors couldn’t pull out stellar violinists and make them shine even if they had years of training and Stradavariuses.
Hey, it WAS bloodlust, now it’s indifference. I am obviously not above someone throwing ignorant barbs at my chosen profession, however I AM above trolling. Usually. 
Regardless, apologies to UB for my “inappropriate behaviour.” I try to be a good girl here. I really do.
thanks, red dragon! your “brick and mortar” analogy hit home.
for penance, i will attend the symphony, watch and learn. (and try to do so with an open mind. it is hard for me, as i am an asshole, but i get a little better every day)
CHECK OUT THE COMMENTS TO CECIL’S COLUMN THIS WEEK! THAT WAS MY QUESTION!! I HAVE WOOD!!
Also, a good conductor can tell when part of the orchestra is out of tune, which is handy during practice. A REALLY good conductor can pick the offending player out.
Captain Obvious sez: Just because something LOOKS easy, that doesn’t mean it is.
And that is exactly what acting is NOT. If you think it’s just “parroting lines”, you are an idiot and know absolutely zilch about acting. In all the acting classes I’ve been in, they’ve alwways stressed that “memorizing” is secondary to making a character.
Absolute bullshit. Have YOU ever tried recalling an emotion and showing it in front of several hundred - or, for the really big stars, several million - people? Have you been able to over come your insecurities in such a manner? Have you been able to perform in public things that you normally kept private? I take it by your Ignorant comments in the OP that you have not.
This is total rubbish. Take any acting class in any community college, and you will quickly see the difference between a good actor and a lousy one.
Or maybe most of them just can’t do it.
How many actors do this, exactly? One? Two? Perhaps three?
You are speaking from Ignorance, dear Zuma.
Yep. I mean, even pretending that the juicy Burger King Whopper™ sandwich you are biting into is the best sandwich you ever ate isn’t easy.
And here’s the proof. Ever see a commercial where the boss hires his kids to pitch the product? And they read the lines like deer in the headlights? Or check out the difference between national commericals and local commercials.
Sorry. No. Art requires a 2 major things things: skill and self-expession.
Acting requires some degree of skill, but I’m sorry, unless you’re performing your own script, or are doing improv, you are NOT expressing yourself. You are the tool of the author’s self-expression.
In fact, if your expressing yourself in someone else’s script, then you’re a very bad actor. So, in order to have one, you must forfeit the other. Thus, scripted acting is not an art.
Qwertyasdfg, nope. That’s horse-puckey.
Two different actors will portray the same scene differently. Even if they are conveying to the viewer the same emotions, they would very much be “expressing themselves” uniquely, i.e. self-expression.
And acting doesn’t require self-expression? Bullshit. It’s the most expressive art form in the world. Sure, someone else wrote the script, but the emotions you show are yours.
Having witnessed many terrible performances (and worse auditions) in community theater, school plays, and Melanie Griffith movies, I have come to the conclusion that there are people who are “acting deaf” in the same way that people are tone deaf. Such people not only act poorly, but they seem unable to perceive the difference between good acting and bad. It is possible that the OP suffers from this affliction. Here’s a test: Rent “Much Ado About Nothing.” If after watching this, you still feel that anyone can act, you are “acting deaf.” If not, then the OP was wrong.