Free Sample
The Complete Guide to Becoming An Actor
What actors really do all day, what they actually earn, and how to know if this career is right for you before you spend a dime on training
by Alumigogo Books
Chapter 1: What Does a Actor Actually Do?
Let's clear the air immediately: being an actor is not mostly glamorous premieres, red carpets, and rooftop interviews. That's the 0.1% of the occupation that the media photographs. The other 99.9% is a grind of preparation, waiting, rejection, and - on a good day - 45 seconds of intense, focused creative work that makes the whole thing feel worth it. If you're standing at the door deciding whether to walk in, you deserve to know what's actually on the other side before you buy the ticket.
At the most basic level, an actor's job is to convincingly portray a character in a scripted performance, for a live audience or for a camera. That is the output. But that simple output is supported by a surprisingly heavy infrastructure of tasks that have nothing to do with "feeling" the part and everything to do with professionalism, preparation, and logistics.
The Audition Grind (The Job Before The Job)
Before you ever set foot on a professional set or stage, you have to get the part. This means you are, first and foremost, a small business owner who sells a product - your face, your voice, and your interpretative ability. The core activity for a non-celebrity professional actor is the audition. Let's break down what that involves on any given week.
You'll wake up to an email or a notification on a casting platform, usually Actors Access or Casting Networks in the US, or Spotlight in