I was terrified of auditions before I ever went on one. I skipped out on a few at the very last minute - like literally as I was walking in the building. Finally I decided to force myself to go to one and I was stressing about it for days. I put anti-persperant on my palms before going, and was guzzling water in the waiting room to make sure my throat didn’t dry up. Once I got in there, though, I found it to be about the easiest, least stressful thing in the world. Since then I’m like the Iceman about auditions. They do not bother me at all. I think I could audition for Spielberg without getting too worked up about it.
You’re probably wrong, but I can relate to those kind of fears. I have a pretty big Roman nose, and sitting in a packed theatre and seeing a 90-degree shot of it is awful, although everyone I know swears it’s not that big and they would never notice it if I didn’t point it out. I also have a little bit of a southern accent leftover from growing up in NC, which is innappropriate for most work out here and IMO sounds cringeworthy on film.
I can certainly act, and act well (did it in high school and college and a bit after, got awards and stuff), but I could not be an actor. I couldn’t be in a field with a 98% unemployment rate and still feed my kids.
That’s not true. Most people who get paid to act are lightyears beyond the average Joe in acting ability. I mean lightyears. You haven’t seen truly bad acting until you’ve been around novice actors doing local productions. Those people just don’t make it to any level you’re going to see in the theatre or at Blockbuster Video or on Broadway.
Take the worst actor you’ve ever seen in a large scale or national production - in any medium - and I guarantee you I know 10 people who make them look like Sir Lawrence Olivier.
Successful actors are very underrated and underappreciated for their intelligence and abilities.
I agree. I was mostly around kid actors, but they were all very smart. You have to be to handle the disruption and still do ok in school. Sure there were tutors, but it’s not the same thing.
Memorization might be a useful talent for the stage, but it is unimportant for film acting. Unless you are doing Shakespeare, the average scene doesn’t have a lot of lines, and there is plenty of time to look at them when it is being set up.
It was always a bit amusing to see how some parents went “well, my kid can act too, if they just had the time.”
In the theatre it is called “Stage Presence.” Some people you notice when they are in the chorus with a bunch of other actors.
I first saw Audra McDonald when she had a minor part in Carousel way back in 1994. I was so impressed with her I got her autograph and thought “She is going to be a huge Broadway star someday.”
I’ve been acting on stage since I was in first grade. I performed in plays and musicals all through school and college, and have been in numerous theater and choral ensembles ever since.
It is only in the past couple of years, however, that I have come to understand that I will never be more than a passable actor. There is too much of a disconnect between my mind and my body – even the simplest of blocking instructions (turn to stage right and walk to this spot) can cause traffic jams in the motion control center of my brain. I’m concentrating so hard on which foot is supposed to move first or whether I turn clockwise or counterclockwise that my arms, hands, face, etc., become like unsupervised children. Unless I have rehearsed a particular scene into the very ground, my movements are stiff and wooden, and I’m as likely as not to drop a line or forget what bit is coming up next. As the reality of this wedges its way ever further into my skull, any aspirations of pursuing more series acting roles are withering away.
I had changed majors in college because of my interest in theater and acting. I was never able to follow through with it after I graduated, and I’ve sometimes thought about how my life would have been different if I had. My wife had been involved in community theater before I knew her (one of the things we had in common was our interest in theater), and she occasionally talked about parts she would like to see me play (her favorite was Sheridan Whiteside in The Man Who Came to Dinner).
Unfortunately, I don’t think I could get back into acting now. My memory isn’t what it used to be, and I have personal issues that would make it hard to be involved in a stage production.
But I have my memories…and the award I was given my senior year in college…“Most Improved Actor”.
Correct. This is another misconception I had about acting before I did it. I thought actors just sat in their trailers memorizing lines all day. In fact I never memorize my lines for film roles; only the subtext.
John Mahoney started acting at age 37. If you’re really curious just go take a few classes. What could you possibly lose? And if you’re weird looking it could be a plus. A lot of familiar celebrities would seem “weird.” In fact, I’d say the market for people with simply “memorable” faces would be much greater than those with super-chiseled features. Really they are actually only appropriate for soap-operas.
Look at Steve Buschemi! He’s ugly as sin and still does well. Stephen Tobolowsky is another not-attractive guy who is doing well.
I recently acted in a short here as a favor for some friends and it was pretty scary, let me tell you. It’s freaking HARD. I thought it’d be simple, but in reality it’s not nearly as easy as it sounds. I had 4 lines. I’ve always kind of had the acting bug as a kid, and I sort of figured this might push me in that direction but the truth is that I’m much more scared of acting now than ever! I was simply trying to play myself.
Honestly though I think it requires a great deal of self-confidence. I generally have a good deal of it, but to keep it up with SO much scrutiny is difficult. It’s not surprising that so many celebrities are vain and delusional.
I could be and have been. Professional, too (meaning I got paid to do it).
When I was pregnant with my daughter, I had 2 offers that I had to turn down – one was a speaking role in Pet Semetary II the other in a Ernest movie (I forget which one – it had troll in it?). I am a high-risk pregnancy, the hours would have killed me and my baby. I have done minor stuff since, but too busy with the rest of my life to take it back up full-time.
I am conceited about very few things – acting is one of them. I should have followed that path rather than the whole motherhood thing, but hey, shoulda coulda woulda, right? I have considered looking into doing it again once I get my broken tooth fixed. Who knows?
Oh, and memorisation is only a necessary skill for stage acting. Screen acting, not so much. It is nice, though, to be able to recall at least the general gist of the script, ya know?
Funny that you should mention John Mahoney. He and I both attended Quincy University (or Quincy College, as it was known then), but not at the same time. He must have been interested in acting in his college days because I remember hearing about him attending the funeral of the former head of the Theatre department.
When you guys say memorization isn’t required for screen acting, are you being literal? I can understand it’s a different kind of memorization - short term as opposed to long term, perhaps - but surely there’s a moment when you have to put down the script and say stuff that was written on it, right? Or do movies use Teleprompters and a lot of improvising these days?
It would be the biggest nightmare job for me literally. My mother is a celebrated theater major turned teacher turned professor turned author and then international motivational speaker. I got pushed into a few small scale theatrical productions as a child and I hated every single second of it all. The only thing worse than being a crappy actor for me would involve me being a good one and constantly talked to by people I have no relationship with. I am happy for those that believe acting is their calling and are extremely good at it but none of that describes me and I would never want any part of it.
God, I was young.
