Everything is Easier than Being an Actor

The acting profession is tough. Perhaps the toughest element for many is that it offers very little security. Sir John Gielgud was practically ancient before he reached a level of financial security enough to relax a little. This puts off many and makes many parents put their children off.

Everything is easier than being an actor. Okay, I don’t mean vascular surgery and translating Mandarin into Gaelic. What I mean is this: Being an actor, particularly a jobbing actor or an out of work actor, is hard. It’s hard on the pocket and its hard on the self-esteem.

At many times during your acting career, especially in the first five years, you will be tempted to do other things. Office jobs are a favourite. They look harmless enough, but they offer a stability that’s hard to knock. Teaching is another favourite: school teaching is a firm favourite. Drama teachers are awash with those who were actors, but needed stability for whatever reason.

Know this BEFORE you go into the profession. It’s tough and you will be tempted at every stage. It is much much harder to ignore the well intentioned but ignorant wishes and advice of your family. It’s harder to give up the idea of a big house and a car. It’s harder to buckle down and start putting every possibility in front of yourself. If you’re an actor, you should act. You won’t be happy otherwise. You will sit back in your comfortable lounger by the pool in Malaga or Florida and say to yourself ‘I could have been an actor’. ‘Could have been’ buys you zero credit, with yourself and others. You will regret it if you don’t give it a proper go, and a proper go in acting means fifteen or twenty years.

IT IS NOT A SIGN TO STOP JUST BECAUSE YOU DO NOT MEET SUCCESS EASILY.

Even the most successful actors have periods out of work. Some great jobbing actors that I know in Glasgow still struggle to feed their family.

You are brave. You are courageous. You did not place material concerns over spiritual ones. You are the brave soul that refused to give up because you knew you could do it.

Do the thing that you most want to do. Do it for nothing if you must. Because doing it makes you feel whole.

To You, the Best

Mark Westbrook