Don't Focus on the Endgame
Theatre is hugely important. Sometimes it can be tricky to get into a theatre production. It isn't quite the same as getting your foot in the door in film. My path brought me to musical theatre, as ensemble. If you have a good voice and can manage a dance routing reasonably well, I would say try to get your foot in the door that way - as ensemble for a community theatre musical. You have to train a totally different set of skills for auditions. It's nerve-wracking and intense, and for me personally, theatre auditions always scare me much more than film auditions do.
Choosing the path of an actor (or rather having that passion choose you) will many times be very lonely. Find your inner strength. Find faith in yourself and cultivate it. Even if you feel like you have been knocked to the ground and can't possibly get up - crawl if you must. Just keep moving forward. Keep auditioning, keep working on your craft in your own time. Just keep going.
There will be moments of unfairness. There will be moments of doubt. A LOT of them. End them with faith in yourself.
I have found that journaling helps. Blogging has helped tremendously, it gives me an outlet for these thoughts and makes me feel less alone- that maybe somehow through writing this, in some small way I can connect to someone who feels the same way I have and maybe even be inspired to keep going. Don't focus on the bad. Take it, learn from it. Flubbed a line? Good. Work harder learning your lines next time, or maybe work on your improv. Alarm didn't go off in time? Show up anyway. Follow through, and learn from your mistakes for next time (and maybe buy an old fashioned alarm clock as a back up, just in case). Take every misstep as a lesson and let it make you a better artist.
Do not compare your journey to anyone else's. Ever. It will never be the same. You could follow the exact same steps and still have a totally different outcome. The pursuit of an actor is fluid and highly individualistic. You will need to develop yourself, find joy in yourself, find your own personal story, journey, and uniqueness.
Find happiness in the every-day work. My coach told me this a couple weeks ago when I was feeling really down because I felt stagnant in my career goals. This is a great bit of advice that is often overlooked.
Don't focus on the endgame. Don't focus on getting that part, or being that big famous actor. Don't worry about any of what is outside of your control. It will drag you down. You can want those things, you can have them in the back of your mind, but the focus in your art needs to be here and now. How can you enjoy what you are doing every single day? How can you feel artistically fulfilled every day and go home feeling accomplished in your work? The answer is different for everyone. Find it, cultivate it. Live it every day.
Don't focus on the endgame. Focus on becoming an unstoppable force.
Choosing the path of an actor (or rather having that passion choose you) will many times be very lonely. Find your inner strength. Find faith in yourself and cultivate it. Even if you feel like you have been knocked to the ground and can't possibly get up - crawl if you must. Just keep moving forward. Keep auditioning, keep working on your craft in your own time. Just keep going.
There will be moments of unfairness. There will be moments of doubt. A LOT of them. End them with faith in yourself.
I have found that journaling helps. Blogging has helped tremendously, it gives me an outlet for these thoughts and makes me feel less alone- that maybe somehow through writing this, in some small way I can connect to someone who feels the same way I have and maybe even be inspired to keep going. Don't focus on the bad. Take it, learn from it. Flubbed a line? Good. Work harder learning your lines next time, or maybe work on your improv. Alarm didn't go off in time? Show up anyway. Follow through, and learn from your mistakes for next time (and maybe buy an old fashioned alarm clock as a back up, just in case). Take every misstep as a lesson and let it make you a better artist.
Do not compare your journey to anyone else's. Ever. It will never be the same. You could follow the exact same steps and still have a totally different outcome. The pursuit of an actor is fluid and highly individualistic. You will need to develop yourself, find joy in yourself, find your own personal story, journey, and uniqueness.
Find happiness in the every-day work. My coach told me this a couple weeks ago when I was feeling really down because I felt stagnant in my career goals. This is a great bit of advice that is often overlooked.
Don't focus on the endgame. Don't focus on getting that part, or being that big famous actor. Don't worry about any of what is outside of your control. It will drag you down. You can want those things, you can have them in the back of your mind, but the focus in your art needs to be here and now. How can you enjoy what you are doing every single day? How can you feel artistically fulfilled every day and go home feeling accomplished in your work? The answer is different for everyone. Find it, cultivate it. Live it every day.
Don't focus on the endgame. Focus on becoming an unstoppable force.
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