How can I get an acting career started and is it hard?

Question

And how much money do you think I'd make, I'm 15.

Answer 1

The first thing you need is a resume. A resume is pretty much a list of all the acting, modeling, etc. experience you've had. If you haven't had any acting experience, I would highly recommend theater as a place to start. It not only adds to your resume but it also gives you very valuable acting experience.
Once you are satisfied with the amount of work on your resume, you join an agency. Agencies are like middle-men; when a company wants to shoot a film or commercial, they send out notices to all the agencies in the area, who in turn tell their actors and actresses about it. To join one all you have to do is call and schedule a meeting where they talk to you and decide if they want to represent you.
I happen to be 15 too and I've been acting for 5 or 6 years, but the fact is that there aren't very many acting jobs for teens our age. The people in charge always seem to want either children, kids 10-13, or people over 18 to play 15-17 years old (they prefer over 18 yrs old because of insurance and payment reasons.) However, if you can get into a commercial, tv, or modeling job, they do pay very good.
Hope this helped! Good luck with your acting career!

Answer 2

Hi,

this question comes up multiple times daily. If you do a search here on answers you will see other answers to this question. I answer this question a lot and so instead of writing the same or similar answers, I have created a 28-page ebooklet that answers pretty thoroughly your question.
Just go to http://www.actingcareerstartup.com/acs-blog.html , sign in on the right side of the page and you can download it for free. It's called: What It Takes To Become An Actor.

The second resource you might want to have a look at is this page: http://www.actingcareerstartup.com/how_to_get_an_agent.html . It takes you through a process that I used to get two agents and a personal manager in a short period of time.

How much money can you make? Well, the latest data I remember seeing was on the Equity website, that said that the average earnings of an actor was around $6,000 per year on Equity based projects. Now while it is true that many actors piece together their work between projects and jobs between the different unions and non, most actors are not able to make a living just from this craft. It is possible, however, but you need the things you will find in the ebooklet.
Without them it will be difficult.

Hope this helps!

Tony
ceo
http://www.actingcareerstartup.com

Answer 3

Funny how everyone who gave you a truthful answer got a thumbs down. You're not anywhere near ready to think about acting professionally. The first step is NOT a resume. The first step is to BUILD a resume. With professional training and some decent amateur credits. And building a career as an actor is THE hardest thing you could ever do. If you're thinking that you'll be doing this full time and making a great living at it six months from now forget it. If you are willing to devote your life to it and realize that you'll probably need to have another job all of your life then welcome to the profession.

Answer 4

If you're already worried about how hard it would be and how much money you're going to make, you're really not interested in acting as a career. Acting is a profession, a job. It (like any job) has good points and bad points. And like any other job, hard work is rewarded.
You're young enough to reconsider a life in the theatre or motion pictures. Professional directors and casting directors in both venues aren't looking for some young girl who just wants to be famous.

Answer 5

If it wasn't hard, everyone would be doing it. It is EXTREMELY hard to break into the industry. First, I suggest taking classes at school. Also, pick up BackStage or Ross Reports magazine. Get headshots made up, get an agent, and if you are one of the very few lucky ones, you might make it.

As for a salary, you could make anywhere from absolutely nothing to millions of dollars. It all depends upon how lucky you are.

Answer 6

You get an acting career started by doing community theatre, school plays, local commercials and print work.

Then you develop it by delving into SAG or Equity work, and getting an agent (look here: http://www.sag.org/sagWebApp/application?event=bea.portal.framework.internal.refresh&pageid=AgentInformation ).

As for how much you'd make, probably not much, you are considered a professional actor by Equity and SAG standards if you can make $8000 acting...and since you're only 15, probably a LOT less than that.

Hope that helps.

Answer 7

I'm 15 too and I have been studying the techniques of Film and acting styles in class and on the internet for a year now and I have to say yes, its pretty hard. I want to be an actor / director and I know its hard but i'm gonna try. The pay ranges from $ 00.00 to $ 1,000,000 and thats just a rough estimate. Try http://www.actorsaccess.com or http://www.backstage.com or http://www.exploretalent.com
for auditions and info.

Answer 8

Actors perform because they enjoy it. Don't let money be the reason you want to act.

Answer 9

For Acting, I would recommend

http://www.hollywoodnorth.com