Hi-diddle-dee-dee...

I get this a lot:


person: So, what do you do?

me: Oh, I'm an actor.

person: Oh, cool, like in the movies? like what have you been in?

me: Well, I'm just starting out, but most of my experience has been on stage.

person: Oh, I see. So you want to do Broadway?

Me: Ha...well, eventually, maybe, I'm not sure, I hope...heh....



Then the conversation usually comes to a dead end.

It's a difficult profession to talk about, though it seems it would be easy, right? It's exciting, fairly interesting and fun. Most people come into contact with some form of actor every day, but the intricacies of the business are difficult to explain, vague and often times obscured (on purpose).

I thought about writing out the hows and whys of acting in New York, but to be honest, there's just too much. It would either overwhelm or bore you. I'll explain it to you over a cup of coffee one day, if you are still interested.

So, until then, I'll give you my take on acting in New York City from a BEGINNER'S perspective. Let me stress beginner, please.

A Beginner's take on Acting in New York City


I arrived in New York ahead of the game with almost 8 years in training, gathering experience as a performer, now with two degrees to my name. I've been in more than 20 plays, several short films a few commercials and some radio. But one thing that you learn, or you just know, is that when it comes to being an actor, there's New York, L.A...and then everything else.

So, in some ways I am very experienced, but in other ways I am as new as new can be. And that can be good, a lot of times fresh faces are the ones who get the most attention in the city, but there's also the pernicious question "Well, what have you done?"

And where am I headed? What do I want out of this? Do I want to be on TV/Film? Do I want to do theatre? commercials? Broadway? Hollywood? what's the ultimate goal? a Tony? an Oscar? These are fantastic questions.

I think it's important to have goals in this business, as difficult as that can be. They really seem so far away, as far as the moon, but all you have to do is look up to see them and they keep you going; tell you where your next step is.

A dream situation would be...(and I hesitate to write this because of fear of none of it coming true)

Get cast in something in the city, something small, probably no pay, maybe just a reading, but exposure none the less and some decent performance challenges. Once I'm actually performing, I can submit to agents, do an interview and let them know that I'm performing in something in town. Then, hopefully get signed, start doing paying work, TV, commercial, film, off-broadway theatre. Then my career could take several different paths, commercials, TV and Film would draw me to California, where most of the work is. This could happen if I were cast in a  TV show that was filming in LA and I had to go out there to do it. Or, I could stay in New York and do as much stage work as I can, get my Equity card, do off-broadway, regional theatre and eventually...The Great White Way itself.

Now, a lot of this path of success depends on when I "go Equity" or, when I am unionized according to the Actors Equity Association. Equity used to be the only real way to go to get a job as an actor on stage, but in recent years it's become a double-edged sword, because the fact is that when you go Equity, you can't go back. The benefits are: standardized pay, rules for rehearsal/performance, health insurance, in general preference, its the mark of a professional actor. The negative side is that once I go Equity I am no longer eligible for non-equity work (which tends to be more frequent, but much less consistent). If you ask me, non-equity work is something I will not be pained to part with. But I see why people hesitate to join the union. Once you're in the union, the jobs are fewer and the competition greater, the opposite is true when you are not.

Another VERY important aspect of this business is who you know. That makes careers. Just about everyone you see on TV and in the movies got to where they are because they knew someone who could get them there. Not from birth, I'm sure they met them along the way, but it highlights a key component in the climb to success as an actor and that's making connections socially. Oh, you knew so-and-so? He was my D.P in blah blah blah...let me get him on the phone...and then you've got a job. And on and on. Everything is so interconnected, you HAVE to be willing to talk to people. Meet them. Find out who they are/what they like....and on the opposite end...this is CRUCIAL....You cannot burn bridges. No matter how infernally irritating or rude or just plain stupid people are, you have to be patient with them, let them go. They will eventually aggravate the wrong person and their career will be through, but if you instigate it or if you give them reason to think of YOU poorly, then you can get blacklisted so fast it will make your head spin. You never know who you might be working for either, so it's always important to be exceptionally nice to interns and assistants.

So what am I doing RIGHT NOW?

I'm going to auditions. As many as I can scrape up. I'm sending headshot/resumes to every theatre holding auditions for a part that's even near my type. You gotta get yourself out there, you have to wade through it. For now, the skills I need to master are those of the audition. Because once I get a job, I can handle it. It's the getting that I need to have gotten.

But one of the most important things I'm wishing to communicate with this post, happens to be the toughest part of this whole thing.

It will take time. 


Now, I'm obviously very young and relieved about having a lot of time, but it's not easy for my generation to comprehend the concept of waiting. As my good friend R. Wilkerson said: "It feels like running a marathon, but you're running in place." And it will feel like that for quite some time, I'm sure. Most people say 3-5 years before you get your footing in a city like New York.

So sit back, relax? No. Of course not. It's work, work, work, and work. If I have the immense pleasure of winning an award for my craft, bestowed by peers or audiences, or whoever...or I simply look back on a career that I can be proud of, I hope I owe it to the hard work I'm doing at this very important, foundation laying period.

Every day I'm hustling. Every day I'm looking. Every day I'm smiling. No matter what, I'm living the dream.