Do I Have What It Takes To Be An Actor?

This question frequently appears in my inbox from all over the world from wanna-be actors.

 These are passionate, artistic individuals that want reassurance before they commit themselves to a precarious profession full of hit and miss.

 I turn the question around and ask it back to them. DO YOU have what it takes to be an actor?

This usually confuses, but it is the commitment to your goal that is the biggest indicator of your success.

 What they want me to do is look at their YouTube clip and decide for them if they are ‘talented’.

I couldn’t help you on that. Talent is a confusing term that seems to represent skill and ability, and often denotes a gift that is God given.

I tell them the same thing I’m going to tell you, the power to decide if you have what it takes is within you. Most people like the idea of being an actor, but most don’t actually believe they will make it.  Sooner or later they give up because they decide that they can’t do it, or it isn’t all that important to them and they go off and do something else. 

But over and over, I’ve experienced a magical transformation, someone with little discernible ‘talent’ making a decision that they have what it takes and supercharging themselves with self-belief. They then start taking the steps to make it happen.

Dream it. Dream the steps. Take the steps. Simple.

Oh but Mark, it’s not that simple. Bullshit. Stop making excuses. If you want it, take it. Stop waiting for permission from someone who doesn’t exist, they aren’t going to call, if you are going to be a success in any field – you are going to have to EARN IT FOR YOURSELF.

We’re mired in the Talent Myth, and it stops thousands achieving their dreams. But that’s okay, because those with the commitment CAN achieve their dreams. We lose many along the way, but they didn’t have what it takes, they didn’t have staying power, or they wanted the result before they earned it, but we live in a culture that loves instant success – usually from those that worked 10 years to achieve an overnight success.

In the end, ‘having what it takes’ usually comes down to having the guts and commitment to see it through to the end.

And if you don’t have that, no – you don’t have what it takes.

As I think through the students I have in my classes, I think of those that are starting to understand the technique and put it into practice, and I wonder – which of you have what it takes? My experience tells me it will be the ones that want it the most, the ones that obsess about it, that make it a part of their lives, the ones that don’t need instant gratification, the ones that are committed to getting better, one step at a time.

 Do you have what it takes to be an actor? – That is entirely down to you.