WHAT IT TAKES TO BE AN ACTOR FOR LIFE
Actors, writers and artists are currently at the forefront of a seismic shift in the creative industries. The arrival of AI, the effect of cross-territory streaming platforms, the challenge to union power, the growth of the influencer, Covid, culture wars and funding systems that support theatre administrators more than artists, to name a few. And yet never has there been a greater need for a community of actors to pull human connection out of the hands of social media giants and their divisive algorithms. Seismic shifts in acting as a profession are not entirely new and have challenged acting communities throughout history. Shakespeare’s players faced plagues and the equivalent of an X year lockdown. I don’t know what any of the actors did in that period. In two world wars a generation of actors died, and those that served returned having experienced a global and personal trauma most of us can’t fathom.
What is an actor to do, then, to not just survive this current period of change, but transcend it and thrive as an individual and artist, and still have a meaningful role in society?
What follows is a list of principles and axioms I have learned over the years, and a few I am still working on now, which I hope you find useful. Many of these have been solidified by my work with Luke Chao - who is the closest thing to a practical philosopher I have ever met.
Although equally useful to experienced and newbies alike, this is the letter to me that I wish I had received when I first started out as an actor.
Self Love is a process that must be curated
We all have our reasons for wanting to pretend to be somebody else and the primary motivation can change over the years. For me, it was something like this - a combination of the joy of not being me and wanting to be the person feeling things that made other people feel things in a shared story. To some degree there may even have been the desire to succeed in a very public way as a kind of revenge. Today the motivation is because I see acting as an almost spiritual endeavor. (Read my blog about that HERE). However, low self worth has followed me for years, and I suspect that this resonates with many of the people reading this - whether actors or not. A simple test is to ask yourself the following questions:
How do you take a well intended complement?
Do you find it easy to tell someone honestly that you are awesome? (Or does even reading that sentence make you laugh at the idea?)
Do you find it hard to quickly name your good qualities, or if not, do you still downplay them?
Self love is an ongoing process. Moreover it has nothing to do with what you do for a living, nothing to do with anyone else’s opinion or behavior, nothing to do with your success as an actor or creator. You have a 1 in 400 trillion chance of being born you! You are alive and you know it, and unlike other living creatures you have an unique ability to adapt almost any circumstances and environments and imagine goals and the steps to achieve them. Moreover through tools, you are largely unrestricted by genetic or physical limitations. In terms of the universe, your insignificant size and short mortal time is balanced by these exceptional abilities. You, lying down in bed at night doing nothing is a miracle.
At the very least you should aspire to treat yourself as you might a valued plant in your care. On most occasions all an ailing plant needs is the right amount of water, good soil and sunlight. If you have a dog you feed it properly and take it for walks. The least you can do is the same for yourself. Attend to your needs - health, exercise, social connection.
Sadly our familial, social and industry experience can challenge our belief that that is possible or even that we have a right to it. Rejection is literally everywhere! Instead we seek external validation and as an actor that can mean believing that hole will be filled by success, social media, fame and the admiration of friends, strangers and family. Self care as a process becomes an easy thing to forget and instead just another one day goal.
I would suggest that whether or not you are an actor, this single attitude to yourself as a being of intrinsic value worth ongoing care of and respect is the foundation on which the following principles rest.
Self love is a process that must be curated.
Don’t be in thrall to the industry
Thrall means being under the significant control and influence of someone or something. I used to believe that just because I was ambivalent about fame, that I was mostly sanguine about getting jobs or not getting jobs, that I was not in thrall to the industry. But sneakily I believed that things would go pretty much as they had been for the past 50 years - there would always be theatre, voice, and being more dedicated and single minded than the competition would mean it would decrease over time. Drum roll - Covid, cultural shifts, age and AI. I was never entitled to the next job.
It is much more emotional and noteable to watch your peers succeed around you than notice actors disappear. You can believe there is an accrual of reward for sticking with it. You can believe that over time producers and directors will think of you and appreciate your growing expertise. You can believe that there is a ladder that you can climb up one better job at a time - even if no single job propels you to Hollywood fame. Belief and faith feel good. But it’s a faith. If you want a predictable progression through a career look to academia, law or medicine. For an actor, this is magical thinking at best, and downright delusional thinking at worst. The industry is a legion of people, constantly shifting and changing, in a constantly shifting and changing cultural context. It is not driven by an honor system, and doesn’t care about the people that work in it (as current strikes prove).
Hope? Yes. Dream? Sure, but bet your life on it? Bet your relationships, your time, your happiness on it? Don’t do that.
There is no ladder, no guaranteed path - often it is not a meritocracy. But there is your path, and remember this also means there is always opportunity. But…
Don’t be in thrall to the industry.
Think like a long term investor.
Even if you luck out like a 3 times lottery winner, your life will be a series of successes and failures, surprising tragedies and blessings, storms and doldrums. If you think like a long term investor you will be increasingly able to withstand dry periods, sickness or injury, marriage, kids, divorce - all while maintaining choice over what and how you earn money, rather than being forced into whatever keeps the wolf from the door. When you are young you can live on a shoestring budget and perhaps you can console yourself this is the “before” story. I once stayed in a squat in Brixton while I was doing a play, looked after a hairless cat, slept on a couch with newspaper taped to the windows to keep the sun out. Lived out of a suitcase. Make no mistake, I loved it. Some of the best days of my life. Scooch forward a couple of decades (+) and I have family and financial responsibilities that mean my choices now affect others.
The ideal is to be able to remain an actor and artist, with a flexible schedule, able to take class, cover overheads, and work at short notice. This will become more difficult as you grow older.
So how is it possible?
Each generation differs in its detail but the general rule remains true.
Find a part time or flexible job that you find tolerable
Save enough so you can afford to not work for at least 6 months
Invest whatever you can as early as you can in something that grows with compound interest
Find ways to make passive income - ideally so it covers your monthly expenses.
Some actors get an easier start - parents who help with rent, parents who are in the industry, parents who leave an inheritance.
I would still advise these lucky people to follow these steps. Life can be really surprising.
Think like a long term investor.
Be part of a community
I used to really enjoy walking through Soho in London, going to castings and meeting and catching up with actors I had worked with, been to drama school with or who I just met regularly as part of the same casting bracket. I had a kid, moved to Canada, and socially disappeared. I didn’t socialize outside of work and failed to build a new network of friends outside of the mocap studio or the film set. Besides, all the local actors already had friends from their previous work, and their schools. I dropped the ball and barely noticed. I had another kid. When covid struck, I was already in the beginning of a divorce and I had about five people with whom I had a deep enough relationship to call. Two of them were actors.
However I was lucky enough to be part of the Mocap Vaults Community. John Dower, (one of the five) asked me to co-write “Performing for Motion Capture” with him which required I honor and expand in writing on my life’s calling as an actor. It also meant I felt I could serve the community by offering online courses in Laban and Psychophysical acting techniques. In turn this led to my founding of a subscribers community of actors - The Society of Embodied Actors. Our subscriptions paid for monthly tutors in 4 tentpole themes related to embodied acting. It closed naturally after 14 months - but the friendships and connections we made across multiple countries was the strongest medicine against the Covid world I could have asked for. I served a community. The community supported me. We had a purpose - to become better actors and storytellers - whatever was going on outside. We are still friends and I hope to meet all of them in person eventually.
At that time you may remember that Facebook and IG was filled with hucksters (and underemployed actors) promising courses that would increase your job winning rate, said you could make $100k as a voice actor, and allow you to ditch the day job. In contrast our Society was putting craft, curiosity, and acting back in the heart of the endeavor. It helped us keep our self respect as artists, kept us growing and supported regardless of the industry’s contortions and contractions.
Be part of a community
Keep Working in the Woodshed
In jazz lingo, woodshedding is often shortened to 'shed or 'shedding. According to Paul Klemperer, a Texas-based jazz educator, woodshedding is more than just practicing— it is "the place where you work out the techniques that form the foundation of your improvisational ability".[2] (Wikipedia)
Work on your acting and all its associated crafts out of view. Not shared on social media. Not intended to be shared on social media. A painter paints. A writer writes. An actor Acts. You don’t need permission or a casting or a job to act. You don’t need to focus on the roles or the demographic that the industry wants from you. You don’t need to stick to social rules.
Copy famous performances and try and backwards engineer how the actor got there - Writers copy other writers until they find their voice so why not an actor?! Perform a Shakespeare speech stark naked - I don’t know - whatever rocks your boat and keeps you exploring. You can be shit. You can play! Keep curious about different ways to approach a character, keep curious about what it is you could do. Practice your voice and movement warm ups. Animal work… There really is no end to what can be done in a woodshed. I know an actor who for animal studies slept in a tree. I take my hat off to you sir!
This actually has a long heritage and more recent behavioral science behind it. There are naturally periods where you explore (woodshedding) and periods where you exploit the skills you have honed and the knowledge you have gained - this would be the point where you work on something in public. The trick is not to mistake one for the other, to accept when you are exploring and know when to move into the “public” cycle.
To this end there may also be a certain value in testing out what you have learned in private in a careful manner, by working on things you want to share only with those close to you. An audio book for someone’s christmas. A short story told to kids. A photo album of interesting details in your parents house.
Keep working in the woodshed
Consider Acting as an act of Service
There are many motives to acting and I won’t pretend that being famous isn’t one of them. Fame appears to me to be more like winning the lottery than any real endorsement of your value as an actor and a human being. There are rare exceptions. A focus on fame, it being both fickle and unlikely, is more likely to make you envious and needy. That doesn’t get jobs either by the way, and can actually make you vulnerable to the worst aspects of the industry. I suggest that seeing acting as a service to others, to storytelling, to human connection, to understanding, to joy… That is something that you will be able to hold on to - when the world, or your own critical inner voice, is loudly questioning your choices.
Consider acting as a service
Update your perspectives and ideas
These principles are easy to write, but many of the habits and perspectives they require will not come naturally. We have all experienced failing our New Year's resolutions. You might find it hard to be kind to yourself, especially when you are tired or overwhelmed. You might find it hard to stick to drinking less alcohol and more water and exercising - it just doesn’t seem to stick. That’s when it’s important to identify those parts of your behavior or personality that don’t seem to be able to change even if you know about them. Get help. CBT, Therapy, group therapy, and yes, Hypnotherapy*. Whatever it takes to update old and damaging perspectives and ideas with better and more useful perspectives and ideas.
I suggest that to be able to live and survive as an actor requires even more practical philosophical approaches, than to be in a safe 9-5 job. Be a self improver and life learner. Get good at living life as an actor and you will get good at life itself.
*This Blog was inspired by conversations with my fellow members of the Society of Embodied Actors consolidated by my positive experience with Hypnotism as a client and then as a student. If you are interested in learning more about how hypnosis can help you update the more stubborn of your ideas and perspectives please schedule a free consultation Morpheus Clinic for Hypnosis where I now offer hypnosis for these and many other challenges.
Update your perspectives and ideas.