What should I do? Career? Money? Study? Decisions, decisions...?

Question

I’m 19, living in Sydney; Australia. I just finished high school last year, and I’m taking a break year from school. I applied for University and Tafe (Australian professional study to gain skills for employment). Now being nearly November I will start studying in February (If I don’t get accepted into Uni I’ll be going to Tafe which u automatically get accepted when you apply). I want to be a professional Actor but am trying to establish a back up career in case my acting career doesn't work out. But my main passion in life is acting. I've saved $9000 for plastic surgery; rhinoplasty (nose job) that I believe will assist my acting career. I've been told to wait until i'm 20 for safety reasons (apparently your face doesn't stop changing until your 20). So what should I do in the next 3 months? Get the surgery? Start acting? Get a full time summer job and save more money? Or just relax and get ready to study? And what else should I do in the following year? Any advice would help.

Answer 1

forget the nose job for now, you need professional school, not uni. A back up career will be a permanent one. The only way to be an actor is to have to be one because you cant do anything else.

Answer 2

Acting is a skill that takes a great deal more than looks - and more than anything else it takes practice. A nose job isnt going to make any difference at this stage - what is going to make a difference is how well you can step into character, and be the person you are portraying, not 'Australian man playing a buisnessman' or 'Australian man playing a villain' - sorry I dont know your name. You need to be believable, and that takes practice and learning some key skills.

So use the money to assist in your studies, pay for some acting classes, join acting groups to get that practice and experience - and chill and enjoy the next couple of years doing something you love. If you have what it takes, it will swiftly become apparent - and for men a characterful face can be more appealing than a 'pretty' one!