Should I pursue a career in acting?

Question

I've always been obsessed with acting but have a bit of stage fright. I'm planning on going to college next year to take as many acting classes as possible. Aside from all that... I have a few talents that would help in acting, such as voice impersonations, accents, good memory, and line delivery.

Voices I do well:
1. Stitch from "Lilo and Stitch" (I'm 29 and I believe I do this perfectly.)
2. Kermit the Frog
3. Beavis and Butt-head (confirmed by everyone I know as the best they've heard)
4. Ludo from "Labyrinth"
5. Taco Bell Dog
6. Scottish accent

...and many more. I've been trying to get noticed since I was about 10 but have been too busy with life itself. I don't have much of an income and I don't want to see my talents go to waste and never be seen or heard.

Answer 1

Have you ever thought of being a 'voice' in a cartoon instead? That's a good start towards entertainment and media field. Stage fright will only occur if you take on theatrical acting. You sound like a talented person, why don't you practise acting in front of the camera often while you are pursuing your degree. You can send demo tapes of yourself to film companies to get a headstart.

Answer 2

The honest answer? If you have to ask if you should be an actor, then the answer is no. All the actors I know have never thought twice about whether what they were doing was the right thing or not. And for the most part, they never gave a second thought about the money.

I was going to be actor. But I realized there were plenty of people who could do it better than I could. And I can sew, and not that many people in theatre are good at that. So I'm studying to be a costume designer now.

Take your talents, use them to the best of your abiliaties. If that means, becoming a voice actor instead of getting on stage/screen, then go for it. But You have to want to do it. Because becoming a full time professional voice actor is just as hard as being a full time professional actor.

Take those college classes, see if you really enjoy it. IF it doesn't make you happy, then find something that does.

Break a leg.

Answer 3

(A little about me, so you know where this advice is coming from: I'm an actor living in Los Angeles. I don't make my living at it -- I focus on sketch comedy and improv, and there aren't a lot of paying gigs there -- but I'm almost always working on a show. My partner-in-crime and I are currently in preproduction on a tv pilot.)

Is acting the only thing you can imagine yourself happily doing for a living? Is something you feel like you absolutely have to do to feel fulfilled? Are you willing to make it your top priority in life? Are you willing to invest the time and money you would invest if you were going into any other line of work? If the answers to all of the above aren't an unconditional "yes," then a career in acting might not be for you. Which isn't an attempt to discourage you right off the bat; the word "might" is in there for a reason. It's just that the reality is that the "business" side of "show business" is a huge part of it, and I've seen too many talented actors give up because they couldn't quite wrap their minds around it.

All that said: Give it a shot! Take those classes and develop those talents! You'll love the work, and you'll feel great stretching your brain. With your natural talent for impersonations, you could be an impressionist -- and having been doing sketch comedy and improv for a while, lemme tell ya, a good impressionist is always in demand. Make sure to take plenty of improv classes, by the way; there is no area of life in which they will not help you. (And that goes for everyone else reading, this, too!)

A book that I absolutely recommend is Bonnie Gillespie's "Self-Management for Actors: Getting Down to (Show) Business," second edition. This may be a required book at some point in your college career -- but consider picking up a copy now. You can read about it at www.cricketfeet.com/smfa (there are some great online resources there, too!) or pick up a copy at just about any bookstore. It's a wonderful guide to all that stuff no one wants to think about, written in a way that will make you realize that it's truly attainable -- if, at the end of the day, that's still what you want to do with your life.

Now, get out there and give 'em hell! Take those classes, build those relationships, and have FUN!!

Answer 4

The best actors have years of training (and are almost always nervous before they perform). College theater is great training and good networking. The "voices" thing is no big deal, a lot of people have a few voices. My friend (who is a producer and professional VO actor) can do over 100. And yet he still has a day job at a radio station because VO work is so hard to break into. (I've done a bit myself, non-union. It pays between $75-250 a spot, no residuals) Union is about $250 + residuals.
If you want to be a stage actor, prepare to dedicate yourself to a career that is the most reward emotionally and least rewarding financially.
If you want to be a tv/film actor, well, so does everyone else. I started late (30). I have done almost 100 commercials and been in 2 tv pilots that didn't get picked up. And yet I've never made more that 20k in one year. Which is typical. 5% of the actors make 95% of the money.
Ultimately (and I've talked to a lot of people in the business) the people who succeed in 'the business' do so because they study the craft continuously, they are willing to sacrifice almost anything to make it and, most importantly, they all feel like if they did something else they would be throwing their life away.

Answer 5

There are a couple of issues here and maybe it's a good idea to separate them out and look at each one.
1. Acting- you love it and have some natural gifts
2. Income- one of the fundamentals of life
3. Getting the training you need to follow your dream
Is there a way to balance these imperatives and give each one it's due? Be calm, be orderly, be prepared to work hard. As to the stage fright I believe many famous actors and actresses suffer from it yet succeed. Look for information on how others have dealt with stage fright. To quote The Sound Of Music
'Climb every mountain, ford every stream,
Follow every rainbow, 'til you find your dream!'

Answer 6

Your list is fine for voice-over work & radio seems to be an easy answer to develop even more. The absence of parts played in school productions is disturbing. I would encourage you to use more readily available resources to capitalize on your abilities and refrain from letting life get in the way of your life! You're going to need to 'get busy' as you seem to be about 20 years behind schedule.

Answer 7

Accents aren't everything. If you have a love for people, a love for being on stage, for connecting and spreading a message, and if you have a talent for it, you can be an actor. It's difficult, it's maddening, but if it's the only thing you can do and be happy with yourself, by all means do it.

Answer 8

I say go for it.

acting is about being someone (or thing) else. If YOU have little stage fright. The person you acting as will not.
try comedy. laughter is sometimes a stress releaver even though they are laughing at you. focus on your skills and expand on them to match demand. but just remember "have fun"

Answer 9

for me, i think you should if and only if you have the will to go through all the ordeals you have to face to really get noticed and what's important is that it really makes you satisfied. because when you're tired, those are the reasons that can usually keep you going in what you're persuing. after all, you still have to work on that stage fright.. then hone your talents.. maybe sometimes even get criticised and stuff like that...ü

Answer 10

Acting is much more than doing voices. I cast and act in cartoons and movies and the theatre. I'm 50, but have been acting all my life. If you are really devoted, you will do well.