How To Become An Actor Or An Actress
High School Plays Help you to Lay the Groundwork
If you realized your dream of becoming an actor/actress in high school itself, you are one lucky individual. Participate in every play that the school has to offer. It doesn’t matter if your role is big or small. In fact, if you bag a relatively insignificant character, you will learn the importance of humility at an early age. High school plays will help you hone your craft and aid in getting rid of your weaknesses without having to pay a dime. So listen to your instructor, work on your flaws, and practice for the part as much as you can. Regardless of the gravity of your character, if you are able to portray it well enough, then the audience and your instructor are bound to realize your potential, thus granting you a major role the following year. It’s an ideal way to build up your portfolio which will eventually help you land admission in an esteemed drama school.
Go to drama school
Once you are out of high school, you will be at the mercy of the stringent protocols prevalent at acting institutes. If you are serious about pursuing a career in entertainment, then an arts/drama school should be your prime choice. And it isn’t as easy as it may seem to get admitted into arts. The critical part of arts admissions is to crack the acceptance interview and the monologue performance forms the crux of it.
Don’t go around mastering the hardest monologue there is. Simply pick one that best complements your strengths. If you are good at portraying an old-world accent coupled with a bit of humor, choose the one-way conversations of Shakespeare, and PRACTICE! You can’t hope to get it right at the very first attempt. Need to be at your best during the drama school audition, you should. Once you are in, the professors at the drama school will help you work on your weaknesses and show you how to glean more juice out of your strengths.
Take up an Acting Class or a Workshop
Drama schools usually leave time for extra-curricular activities. And if your extra-curricular activities comprise of acting itself, then you would be better off spending your leisure hours at an acting workshop. Without comparing your school teachers with those at the workshop, we would say that you get to expose your talent to a wider audience, one beyond your regular student crowd, with an acting class. Also, there are quite a few unique tidbits to be found in a workshop, which are hard to come by in a drama school. By the end of the year, you want to stay a step ahead of your peers after all, and a private course does just that!
Create a Portfolio and Get the Word out on Social Media
Your portfolio is a critical part of your repertoire. It doesn’t just comprise of your still images, but also of your acting videos and references. If you’re exceptionally good at acting, your professors are bound to provide a positive reference proactively. If not, then don’t hesitate to ask for one. The hard-workers always get a good recommendation from their instructors, and if you were able to follow the directions down to a T in your college years, then you can easily expect a sparkling endorsement from your seniors.
Social media is an entirely different ball game altogether. Humility counts for crap in this area. Promote your talents as much as you can over Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and other forms of online social platforms. Get as many friends and connections to share and like your videos and pictures over the respective podiums. The students that you had gotten acquainted with at the drama school will prove to be highly beneficial here. Who knows, one of them might even be networked with a popular producer!
Hire an Agent. It’s Time to Try out for Auditions!
So, you’ve finally learned the tricks of the trade. It’s only a matter of showcasing those tricks to a casting director. You don’t want to go fishin’ on your own now, do you? It is tough to hook a director long enough to appreciate your acting talent, much less throw a line and sink the guy into the recesses of your proficiency!
An agent comes in handy when you head out into the ever-fluctuating world of entertainment. A reputable agent has unraveled every mystery of the trade, reeling in the ideal casting director who meets all your requirements. Don’t hesitate to state your strengths and weaknesses to the agent, since behind all that authentic guise, lies an accomplished salesman who will highlight your pros to any and every potential director/producer in the market.
It’s not easy to grab a good agent, however. Your association with a good drama school will definitely help you bag the right one. Sometimes, you may find quite a few agents and/or casting directors parked right outside the gates of the school near the end of the year. It all comes down to the credibility of the acting institute which you attended, so make sure that you pick an illustrious one.
That’s it from our end! Keep auditioning and winning contracts till you are able to acquire a strong foothold in the industry. Success is only a matter of time and commitment here; the more the time and energy you invest in a contract, the greater will the fruits of your dedication be. Heed the advice of your drama school professors or tread the unbeaten path, it’s all up to you!