So, you want to be Rich and Famous?

If you chose to become an actor because you want to be rich and famous, I should tell you there are easier ways with a much better return to achieve both of those goals.  Your average work-a-day actor may never be able to quit the day job.

I spend many weekends working one of my survival jobs, sampling stuff at Costco.  It's not a bad job: short day, good money, and sometimes I get to take samples home.  This weekend a couple aisles down from my moisturizer demo, a guy had a fancy demo of those super cool blenders that can blend anything.  I call it fancy because they gave him a microphone and he was standing on a small stage with lots of equipment, all I had a small table with a black tablecloth.

The most interesting thing about the blender demo is that the guy running it is a well-known character actor.  He has a large recurring role on a series that has already gotten picked up for the fall.  This actor has a career that spans two decades and has included other large recurring roles, guest stars, movies, and a long running commercial campaign.  By all accounts a very successful career and one most of us actors are striving for.

And here I am working basically the same survival job as him.  Now, I am not pretending to know him or why he was there.  Maybe he has large gambling debts or he was doing it as a favor to a friend, but I suspect he was doing it because if you aren't working an acting job, doing promotions is a respectable way to get some extra income.

This is why you have to truly have a passion for acting, because if it's money you want there are more tried and true ways to get it like going to med school or becoming a stripper.


And if it's fame you're after, well I had an acting teacher once tell me that if I wanted to be a famous I chose my parents poorly.  Navigating Hollywood certainly would be easier with a name like Coppola or Arquette.

But, if you really want to be famous may I suggest reality television.