Acting and the Many Hats You Can Wear

In your acting dreams, you probably picture yourself in a blockbuster or a Broadway show. You might be seeing little clouds filled with dollar signs, sports cars and mansions. While the ultimate dream might be to earn millions while doing something you love, there are many working actors out there who make a decent living working their way up through smaller movies, extra roles, TV shows, commercials, local theater and voice acting.

TV and Lower Budget Movies

Before you break into blockbusters, you could audition for smaller roles or larger roles in independent movies. Beyond extra roles and small roles, you may be able to get more leading roles which looks great on your resume and can help you get into bigger movies later. We’ll go into more detail later about this area.

TV Commercials

You can get residual checks for years after a TV commercial airs. When you see interviews with many of today’s big stars, they show early footage of their TV commercials. Many actors not only got their start this way but earned very good money and built their resume with TV commercials.

Theater

Being in a play can provide a great learning experience, great resume content and can provide a full-time income. Theater actors are also honored as prestigious and professional.

Voice

Have you got a great voice? There’s a huge market of voice over acting. Have you ever heard the old term, “I have a face for radio.”? Voice jobs can be excellent. Some actors work in this area exclusively because you are measured on your voice alone. Age, nationality, gender and even appearance don’t matter for animated roles or radio commercials. It can be quite lucrative and resume building as well.

Extra Roles

Being an movie extra might not be the pinnacle of your career goals but it can pay some bills and help you learn the inner workings of the industry. You can also meet a lot of people who can help you with your career this way.

Child Actors

There are great roles for kids. If your child has the personality for it, you can earn money for their college fund and help them get TV and movie roles as well as theater and extra jobs. Child acting is a large market that’s very competitive but with talent and the right approach you can be successful.