Actor Growth

I was reading a post from the Actors Voice today where the advice for actors who still haven’t made yet is to simply get better. Essentially, it is addressing the issue how people say that they have tried everything to get their break and nothing works. The comment seemed pretty blunt too where if you honestly say that you tried everything then maybe that just means that you aren’t good enough to make it and need to get better. You can read the article at http://more.showfax.com/columns/avoice/ that was posted today.

As an actor still working hard myself it’s kind of interesting as I personally didn’t find it “offensive” in anyway which I’m sure it will for a lot of people. I think the bottom line is that it comes down to your attitude as if you are always negative then most likely you won’t get anywhere. At the same time, I suppose for myself I have that business and entrepreneur attitude when it comes to acting.

Like a business, it is up to you to try different things and be persistent if you are not getting the results that you are looking for. Example, you can blame things like the economy for your woes or simply adapt to the situation in order to achieve your desired results.

At the same time, I always remember the general value of a business offering when it comes to getting customers. If you offer something unique then people have to come to you for those services. If you don’t offer something that is unique then you are competing against price and convenience. I believe this holds true as an actor that is looking for work too.

One thing this article didn’t really address too much is your look and presence. You hear stories all the time about people who got the parts based mostly their looks. Or in the more rare incidents, they get discovered off the streets based solely on appearance. So in that sense, since the article focused mostly on your training as an actor I think things like your image portrayal kind of throws a wrench into the mix where there are so many ways to reach your goal.

With that in mind, that got me thinking too….. Is it more about becoming a better “actor” or becoming a better “talent” that gets you those opportunities? Example, there is a MMA (mixed martial arts) oriented movie coming out where there are actual UFC fighters acting in the movie apparently.

Are they better actors than many of the undiscovered film talent that spend thousands of hours training to act in front of the camera? Highly doubt it. Are they better fighters? Probably. So in that case, would training to be a better actor or a more talented fighter be better for your career path assuming those are the types of roles that you want to do? I personally think this is an overlooked aspect for aspiring actors.

So if you are going to spend 10,000 hours to try and master something for the sole purpose of moving your acting career, I believe we really need to sit down and make sure that what we are learning is truly the most logical way to do it.

I know for myself with the martial arts example, if my goal as an actor was to become the greatest film martial artist in the world I would be spending my 10,000 hours training in the Dojo and not necessarily with an acting coach. Why? Cause odds are if I focus in becoming the greatest martial artist all time the opportunities will naturally come to my door.

In my opinion too, everyone acts everyday and I personally consider living life as training to a certain extent. I know an acting coach once said in a workshop where when we, the acting students, choose a scene it is not a fluke that we chose it. Something about it attracted us to it and enables us to perform the scene great. To me, it’s about being able to relate to it based on real life experiences and observations.

While I am not a household name or authority figure when it comes to becoming an established actor as I have yet to make it there myself yet, I do believe that sometimes we tend to focus too much on spending thousands of dollars to train to become a better “actor” when really working on our unique “talent” should be more of the focus I’d say.