How to Start an Acting Career

Video Transcript

"Over the years, lots of people have asked me, How can I start an acting career? I'm Professor John Conlon here, with a few words about how to do that. A little bit of advice. First of all, know what's involved. An acting career can mean so many things, to so many people. Acting on stage is very different from acting in front of the camera, or, and certainly very different from acting on film, so find out which kind of actor you want to be first. The thing that would really help, is to start at the beginning. Find an acting school, but interview the acting school, don't just sign up because it's the one next door, or in the next town. Find out what they can offer you, what their graduates have done, where their graduates are now. That's a first step. Read lots of plays is the second step. Read lots of scripts, scripts of plays, televisions scripts if you can get hold of them, movie scripts. Those are all things that will help you to understand various characters, and building character is really what acting is all about, communicating the truth of that character to an audience. The next step, is to try to figure out how you can begin to act, not only through your acting school, but also through community theater, or other local organizations. The best way to learn about acting is to do acting, and to do it repeatedly. One of the most common pitfalls, is to have one year of experience, spread over the next twenty years of your life. Learning is one of the things that is absolutely necessary to an actor. Read all you can read, know all you can know. That will help you. Finally, get yourself some experience, and put it on paper, in the form of an acting resume. Get yourself a good photograph of yourself, done by a professional photographer. There are many non-professional ways to do this. I would say to avoid them. Find a good photographer, and get what's called a head shot, which is essentially just you, from your shoulders to the top of your head, and have it done in black and white. Attach your resume to the head shot, and go to an audition. The best thing about auditions, is if you go prepared, you are likely to get a good shot at a role. Once that has happened, you're on your way. These are a few words about how to start an acting career. I'm Professor John Conlon."