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Actors express ideas and create images in theater, film, radio, television and other performing arts media. They interpret a writer’s script to entertain, inform or instruct an audience.
Actors may work in the traditional cities of New York and Los Angeles, but many also work in local or regional television studios, theaters or film production companies.
Actors work in a number of venues:
- stage
- radio
- television
- video
- motion pictures
- cabarets
- nightclubs
- theme parks
Actors portray characters, and, for more complex roles, they research their character’s traits and circumstances so that they can better understand a script. Most actors struggle to find steady work and only a few achieve recognition as stars. Some well-known, experienced performers may be cast in supporting roles or make brief, cameo appearances, speaking only one or two lines. Others work as “extras,” with no lines to deliver. Some actors do voiceover and narration work for advertisements, animated features, books on tape, and other electronic media. They also teach in high school or university drama departments, acting conservatories, or public programs.
How long will it take?
People who become actors follow many paths to employment. Formal dramatic training is generally necessary for these jobs, but some people successfully enter the field without it. Many stage actors continue their academic training and receive a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree. Most aspiring actors participate in high school and college plays, work in college radio or television stations, and perform with local community theater groups. Local and regional theater experience and work in summer stock, on cruise lines, or in theme parks helps many young actors hone their skills.
How much will you earn?
The most successful actors make extraordinarily high salaries, but most actors have more erratic paychecks and supplement their income by holding jobs in other fields. Median hourly earnings of actors were $11.61 in May 2006. Also be prepared to work just one day or a few days at a time; few acting jobs are steady.
NOTE: Minimum salaries, hours of work and other conditions of employment are often covered in collective bargaining agreements between the producers and the unions representing workers. The Actors’ Equity Association (AEA) represents stage actors; the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) covers actors in motion pictures, including television, commercials, and film; and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) represents television and radio studio performers.
Where can you work?
In television and film, actors and directors typically start in smaller television markets or with independent movie production companies and then work their way up to larger media markets and major studio productions. Employment in the theater is cyclical—higher in the fall and spring seasons—and concentrated in New York and other major cities with large commercial houses for musicals and touring productions.
AC can help you get there!
