Importance of Intelligence

People who know me, know that I have a very low tolerance for idiots.  I say this because actors get a bad rap and many people assume actors are stupid. 

Why do people assume this? 

I think a big reason is that actors are forced to take day jobs allowing us flexibility to pursue this dream.  Since, these jobs, like waiting tables, don't normally have a career path, people assume they must be easy.  However, most of you cubicle-dwelling-corporate-ladder-climbers would be surprised to find waiting tables is actually pretty difficult.  Not only does it require brains, but it also requires a lot more patience than most of you probably have.  I've waited a lot of tables and I can tell you many of the people I have worked with in Los Angeles hold advanced degrees and are doing this job because they are busy following the career they came to LA for in the first place.  Not because they are lazy or too stupid to get another job.  Seriously, I have a friend who holds a degree in Neuroscience and works at a bar.

Alright, so that was a bit of a tangent about restaurant servers, but the fact is that being a good actor requires intelligence.  As an actor, you have to have a deep understanding of what makes people tick and most importantly you have to have a deep understanding of yourself. 

How do you achieve this sort of understanding?  Well, for one thing, read a whole lot.  Most of the best actors I know are avid readers and many have a deep desire to learn as much about everything as they can.  Look at James Franco, he seems to constantly be pursuing different degrees and college courses.  If it is our job as an actor to provide a window into different aspects of the world around us, we have to understand how the world works.

The fact is that being a good actor like being good at almost anything - it takes intelligence.  Feel free to question our mental stability in choosing to pursue this crazy dream, but don't assume just because we are actors that we are stupid.  Thanks.

Stop Comparing Yourself to Others

As an actor it is easy to feel you are in constant competition with every other actor remotely in your category.  For me, as someone who plays a mid(late)-twenties Caucasian female, that means that most of the city of Los Angeles is my competition.

Since we all feel that we are constantly competing with others it is very easy to want to compare ourselves with others' achievements.  You see the postings on social networks of "the competition" booking jobs, on set, working with cool people and it's easy to start feeling down on yourself.  You say things like: why are they getting all this work, while I am stuck sitting at home looking at Facebook?

All this competition and comparing yourself to others is pointless in this business.  A casting director once told me that there is really only one person that is perfect for a role and it's their job to find that person.  Yes, you can put yourself in a large group of actors that you'd call "your type" but everyone in that group is an individual with their own quirks and understandings of the world.  There are examples of talented actors who get a role that isn't right for them, maybe because they are famous, but then the movie fails because of it. 

When a role comes along that you are really perfect for, you won't have any competition.

Next time you freak out because everyone on Facebook seems to be doing more than you, remember people generally post the good and exciting events that happen.  Most of the time people don't post about the days when they bomb an audition and don't get that call back. 

Facebook tends to just be the highlights.  I bet if you look at your own Facebook wall you'll see your life isn't as bad as you think it is.