My nephew did this over the summer working as an extra on the remake of The Magnificent Seven. Primarily an extra, he did end up getting a couple of lines (as the “undertaker’s assistant”). Then they killed him off. 
How did I make it sound like a bad thing? It’s part of the job training for actors.
There’s something being missed here. Yes, Hollywood is full of attractive people who don’t make it as actors. That’s because ‘attractive’ has to be measured in Hollywood terms. The place is full of 10s for anywhere else, but in Hollywood they’re only 7s. If you are attractive by Hollywood standards you have a leg up over the competition. And it’s not merely attractive in person, it’s photogenic attractiveness, you have to look great on camera, and not just in stills, it has to be in action. It’s not as common as you would think taking a ride around town.
I think the point is that if you’re in enough commercials, you are making it as an actor. It ain’t training, it’s a career.
Long was a lead movie actor and TV series regular years before the Apple ad campaign, though. I don’t think he had anything to overcome.
My pet theory is that a hundred years or so of hometown beauty queens heading to Hollywood has left a genetic imprint.
That is possible, but how are they hiding the fat and ugly people? My pet theory is that they’re dumping them out on Wisconsin roadsides late at night after getting them smashed on beer and pizza. It would explain a lot.
How does San Diego compare to LA though? In San Diego I saw tons of attractive people, and there is no film industry there as far as I know.
Maybe peer pressure, combined with wanting to be in ‘beach body’ shape plays a role.
It is just regional culture. Dallas and Houston have it as well and they don’t have a significant film industry. What they do have is a lot of well off people that prioritize good appearance. Much of what is commonly thought of as “good looks” isn’t purely genetic although that helps too. A lot of people can look fairly glamorous if they spend time and energy on it. All you have to do is eat reasonably well, work out, wear nice clothes, get a good hair stylist, find a good cosmetic dentist and learn to use makeup. That isn’t nearly as much a priority in many other areas of the country. Every time I get off the plane from Boston to Dallas, the difference in attractiveness is striking and that is only because the predominate style in Boston is rather frumpy while in Dallas it is glamorous and sexy.
I prefer conspiracies involving breeding programs and disposal of the unfit. Gives it all a much more “Hollywood movie” vibe.
Here is a compilation that an artist made of what celebrities would like like as regular people. It appears to be pretty spot on to me because I have seen candid celebrity photos that were taken in casual setting without their makeup and wardrobe people around and the difference is striking.
I can almost promise you that is what Britney Spears would really look like if she stayed in her small Louisiana hometown. I have been there myself and that is what most of the people there really look like.
OMG, TWO Rosie O’Donnell’s walking the earth! Where’s Raymond Burr?
Madonna looks surprisingly like Hillary and Johnny Depp is channeling Ron Jeremy.
That’s being a bit unfair. Porn stars (mostly) aren’t paid to act. They are paid to fuck, then required to stay on afterwards and do the voice-overs and fill-in single-take scenes. The sooner they get through the “acting”, the sooner everyone can go home.
Spears looked a lot like this during her breakdown, though what I took away from it then was how attractive many people who are down in their looks would be with some effort.
Also, a lot of people think they look grotesque, so it doesn’t fit the question.
Whenever I watch a TV show or movie, the most attractive people are usually extras or people with very minor roles. If you are the type of person who really notices or cares about attractiveness, you will probably find yourself thinking/saying “Who was that chick who walked through the frame behind so and so at 11:47?” and you will barely notice or care about the pedestrian looking main cast. Sometimes you can’t find them on IMDB or they have a lot of uncredited, non-speaking roles. Based on this alone, I’m going to say looks are not enough to “make it” and possibly not enough to “get by.” There are a lot of attractive actors waiting tables and hostessing.
Yeah, porn stars usually aren’t that attractive. That’s why there’s a saying “too pretty for porn”- when the rare porn star comes along and people think “Gee, she’s too pretty for porn. She should be a mainstream model/actress (or marry a rich guy, or something)”
I was just thinking of this. Some credit card (Discover?) has an ad about how you can freeze your card with a brunette trekking back to a club to find her card. Her non-speaking blonde friend in the green dress is gorgeous. About all I notice about the ad is her and the guy who hits on the brunette in the club she returns to, who pegs my gaydar to a hundred with only a four word line. 
To use an analogy, is being 7 feet tall enough to make you a starting NBA center?
No, but…
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If you’re NOT 7 feet (or close to it), you will never be a starting NBA center.
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If you ARE over 7 feet tall, and have ANY athletic ability at all, some NBA team will try to find a spot for you (ask Shawn Bradley or Manute Bol) on its roster.
Are you kidding? You must be thinking of those 80s big hair porn stars. Many modern porn stars looks positively wholesome.
For example:
(All of these images, though of porn stars, are head shots (no, not THAT kind of head shot) and hence, safe for work unless your boss knows WAAAY too much about porn stars.)
I think “too pretty for porn” is also based on a misapprehension. There are a lot of porn stars who are girl next door types, though the vast majority of them at least qualify as pretty, and there are some knockouts, just like in the mainstream films. In the prior post, for example, Amber Heard and Jessie Rogers are knockouts, whereas Dillon Harper and Riley Reid are Hollywood girl next door types.