Acting advice. What now?

On the wall of a dorm stairwell of an acting school in Atlanta:

Actors: are you acting now?

Do you ever stop?

Does anyone?

The average annual income a professional actor is less than $5000 a year. Don’t quit your day job.

Practice, Practice, Practice, Practice, Practice, Practice, Practice, Practice, Practice, Practice, Practice, Practice, Practice, Practice, Practice, Repeat.

If theatre/acting makes your blood pump faster, do it. If you’re following someone else’s suggestion and you’re unsure, maybe it’s not your ball of twine.
There are really only two kinds of people in the acting world: actors and the people who make them look good. I get excited by lighting and sound design, so my theatre passion is back stage/behind the scenes. My hetero-lifemate is an actor. She’s up front.
If you get up there and freeze or vomit morte often than you can act, that might be another indicator.
If you left out the part where you tell us that acting is your life, then I understand why you’re asking. Otherwise, to me, it’s just something you know.

Plunge right in. Get into the scene; take workshops; audition, act on stage.
You’ll want to gather some experience. If you are professional as well as talented people will ask you to do other things.
Gradually you’ll get a sense of where you want to gravitate towards: the type of ensemble, directors are theatre style you want to work with.
And as Pandora Box says, keep a steady source of income in place until you hit the pot of gold.

Enjoy! It’s tough if you want to make a living out of it, but it’s very fulfilling.

If you’re interested in acting as a side thing and have the extra time and money to invest in getting it going, I say why not? But full time is a whole other story. You should only do it if YOU feel called to it. And it is like a calling. It’s a life of constant hustle and rejection to do it full time. The rewards are huge when it does work out, but they tend to be emotional rather than financial. So I’d really think about it before plunging in.

(I speak as a designer with many actor friends, not an actor myself)

I would never wish this fate on anyone unless they really, really feel passionate about it. A few things struck me while reading your question. The first is “it’s not something I really ever imagined doing”. Being a professional actor is a tough job. I think you have your head on straight, as you know not to fall for the “pay me” tricks, however, I’m a little concerned about your hesitation.
If this is something you feel passionate about and really want to persue, by all means go for it! If it’s something that you just thought of in a fleeting moment because your freind, trusted as she may be, has suggested it, you may want to think twice. Even if you are very talented, as you may as well be, if your head and heart is not 100% in it, it’s a huge challenge and not one to take lightly.

If you decide, yes, you are in it 110%, then by all means, take classes, do community plays, independant shorts, student films (check out local colleges/universities – students always need actors) and do the work. Getting an agent isn’t as easy as it sounds. Depending on the demand for agents in your city, getting a “good” one can be quite difficult. (And remember, you never have to pay an agent upfront. They only get paid when you get paid – 15%). Get a friend to take some photos of you. You don’t need professional shots, because you’re right, a new agent will likely want you to get new photos anyway. And honestly, at most auditions these days, they don’t even need to see your headshot as they either have one on file (online) and/or they’ll take a snapshot on the day.

Think long and hard about it. Do some community shows and see how you feel about it. If you have found your calling, good luck, break a leg and never give up.

And definitely read David Mamet’s “True and False”. That book really helped me.

Good answers all. This is coming up for me after maybe 10 years of doing tech work as a hobby, and the lever is sort of a new interest (and relatively recent ability/understanding) to play to a wider range of emotion. The “finding the character/intention” process is new and interesting to me. I do have the bug, but this all being new, I don’t have much awareness of how (compellingly) I come across to an audience.

Audition audition audition. That is the only way to make it. You will see what they are looking for and get more comfortable in their world.

You’re screwed, Kevbo. You knew that before you even posted this.

Yes. Take classes, absolutely. And take classes from good teachers.

You may want to hold up on the headshots—I never had to retake mine—and in fact, I got a lot of compliments when I was shopping agents. I also paid a pretty penny for them.

Is it likely you’ll be a star? No—especially in NM. There is a lot of extra and day player work, and I’d imagine a pretty good theater scene there.

If I were you, I’d dive into classes, see how much I loved it, keep trying to be involved in productions, and then make the leap, get good headshots, and get an agent.

You’ll most likely still need another job, but you’ll be an actor. And if you have any questions about the biz, PM me.

True and False is really good, as well.