Getting Used to Rejection

As an actor we all know that rejection is part of the game.  Rejection is something we have to face daily and just keep moving forward.

But knowing rejection is common doesn't make it any easier to take.  And the ugly thing is that it doesn't really stop.  No matter how famous or talented you are there will be some role you didn't get or some award that goes to someone else.

I had one of those weeks recently where I could do nothing right.  Every audition, every class, every workshop went wrong and by the end of that week I was certain I was the worst actor in all of Los Angeles. 

I'm not going to lie, I may have quit acting multiple times and cried a bit.  It was a tough week.

You know who got me through this bad week?  Leonardo DiCaprio.

Yep, Leo.

I thought about how not only has he never won an Oscar - he wasn't even nominated this year for his performance in "Django," which was pretty darn good. 

What it made me realize is that with acting, as with any art, everyone has an opinion and many disagree with mine.  You can't create art if you are worried about what other people will think or if you will be rejected.  It will stifle you.

I've been doing this for quite some time and the rejection still hurts.  I wish I could be one of those people who just takes it in stride and moves on to the next thing.  But I'm not, I have a tendency to fixate and worry about what I could have done differently.

In the end, I don't think you could have done anything differently than simply bringing yourself into the room.  Don't try to be anyone else.  Just be prepared and be who you are.  Either they'll want you or they won't. 

And if they don't then you don't need them either.