Any Actors Out There? by TheSentinel

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Any Actors Out There?

POSTED BY: THESENTINEL
UPDATED: Wednesday, November 16, 2005 19:28
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VIEWED: 3032
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Saturday, November 12, 2005 6:12 AM

Every damned time I watch a making of documentry I wish I would have pursued my dream of becoming an actor. ESPECIALLY the Firefly making of. Being in that cast would have been a riot.

I'm actually pretty good at it, or at least that's what they tell me. I started out my college career with a full-ride acting scholarship. Then drank myself out of school. Later, when I returned to school on my own dime after meeting my wife I was told by a visiting New York director that my audition would DEFINITELY earn me a call back on Broadway. Shortly after that I had my first leading roll in a Vietnam-based play.

After that I just quit... wanted to raise a family and didn't feel I could do so as a struggling actor. Got a degree in sociology...planning on becoming a professor and joining the ranks of acedemia. THAT plan was put on hold just after Sept 11. Now, I'm sitting here in New Mexico as an officer in the United States Air Force. I love my job and love serving my country...and no I'm not a pilot...logistics guy.

Every once in awhile I still think about going for it though...Especially now that I have a bit more real world background and a bit more martial arts talent...and a MUCH better sense of responsibility.

Anyway, probably TMI. Any other actors out in the audience. Anyone who can get me a job? :)

Wishful thinking...

Adam

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Saturday, November 12, 2005 6:24 AM

XEROGRAVITY

I played the role of one or the other nut in John Lennon and Yoko Ono's cinematic masterpiece, "Acorns for Peace".

Later this year, I'm hoping to do some art noir stage-acting that involves me playing inanimate pieces of plastic fruit.

XG

No such thing as gravity. The "Earth-that-was" just sucks.

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Saturday, November 12, 2005 5:55 PM

PURPLEPIRATE

I used to want to act as well... started as a theater major. Now I'm also an officer in the Air Force! So how's New Mexico?

Good luck finding acting work. I don't think I would want to re-enter that world after all the junk I saw and heard about. The amount of misery that most actors have to go through just to get minor roles made me decide it wasn't for me. I hope you are able to stay focused on your dream more than I was!

Stay crunchy, even in milk. -Joss Whedon

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Saturday, November 12, 2005 6:12 PM

PIFFLE101

I am! Taking classes to make the skill better, and bout to track down a agent to sign with! Nice to know there's lots of browncoats with different talents!

-------------------------------------------------
Because Dancers are tough,mean...Chicas!! -Summer Glau

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Sunday, November 13, 2005 12:31 AM

XEROGRAVITY

I was only kidding about the actor thing.

Luckily for me, a group of people who cared about me hired ninjas to kidnap me. They duct-taped me into a lawn chair and lowered me down into a chamber pit where I was forcibly made to watch "Gigli" and "Ishtar" over and over. It was a repeat loop of inhuman suffering. I begged them to spare me and resort to bamboo chutes under the finger nails, battery-powered electrodes to all the nerve centers of the body, but no. They forced these horrors on me ad nauseum.

It went on for 2 minutes and I cracked. All I had to see was the opening credits and theme music for "Gigli" and my will was broken. It was worse than Lawrence Welk music. The film loop was on autopilot. The nightmare went on for days on end. Hour after hour of horrifying cinema tragedy piped into my sensory receptors against my will.

Oh the humanity.

Needless to say, I decided to never be an actor. The trauma lives on.

XG

No such thing as gravity. The "Earth-that-was" just sucks.

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Sunday, November 13, 2005 2:03 AM

SERENITYPUNK

I went to drama school. guildhall to be precise

Did a few bits when i was younger but again gave it up to have a family instead.

I did 2 years of grange hill (a kind of teen show in the UK) a few films including, Interview with a vampire, First Knight and others.

theatre wise I did alot of smalltime theatre, from the age of 8, my first lead role was peter pan followed by annie. My 2 biggest acolades in the west end are Joseph with Donny Osmond and les Miserable where for one night I played Eponine

I do miss it sometimes, and i can see my daughter beginning to show the signs i did of a love of performing. Im not sure I could go back into the industry now.

=================================================
Carol
Hater of men
you think you know....you have no idea
Am I Bovvered!!!!
My second favorite household chore is ironing. My first being, hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint
www.teamrandom.co.uk
*Tescos are launching a support campaign for Little Hearts Matter - a real breakthrough for CHD*

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Sunday, November 13, 2005 4:51 AM

QUINZBROWNCOAT

I didn't get bitten by the acting bug until relatively recently-I'm 36-say 1998 or so, when I was stationed in San Diego as an active duty Marine. I did begin some classes geared strictly for film and TV acting (oh, recall the episode of Lost in which Sayid has a flashback to when he freed a woman from a prison he served at....The officer that caught Sayid letting her go, the one he killed, was one of my acting teachers at this class...), but after my discharge from the Corps, just couldn't float a life in Cali, that money-thing you know. So moved back to Northern Virginia....just now finishing up a run of "Macbeth" with a local theater group.

I do want and plan to do more.....uh, wife willing.

Semper Fidelis

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Sunday, November 13, 2005 5:50 AM

EMBERS

I see no reason why you shouldn't join a regional theater or
look into films that are going to be filming in the area and go in for the local auditions,
maybe start a small troupe on base
(perform for the troops w/your troupe! LOL)
it would fulfill something for you now...
and build your resume for later

because there is no reason why you can't go back to acting when you retire from the military,
Good character actors are always in demand,
no matter how old someone gets....

We did have some Browncoats who managed to be extras in 'Serenity'
I don't know how to find the threads now,
but they reported back with pictures & stories
(nothing spoilerish, just behind the scenes stuff)
Of course 'Serenity' was 100% filmed around the LA area

never give up on your dreams.

**********************************************
watch the R. Tam Session vids: http://www.hittarivertam.nu/
and buy the 'Serenity' comics published by Dark Horse,
and have you joined the Browncoats yet?
http://browncoats.serenitymovie.com/serenity/?fuseaction=tools.invlink
&u=embers&linkID=36

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Sunday, November 13, 2005 5:56 AM

THESENTINEL

Something tells me a Marine doing plays for his troops would result in some a-one ass-kicking on someones part. Hell, that's get you torn up in the Air Force.

I haven't given up...just not sure when I'll jump on the band-wagon again.

Adam

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Wednesday, November 16, 2005 5:16 AM

XEROGRAVITY

Have you ever actually given thought to what an actor's life is really like? Goin out on a limb here and speaking in theory (and no I'm not an actor, just assuming things)...

Assume for a moment that you become "successful". Ya you're rising up in your chosen profession but you also give up your freedom. People know you by sight wherever you go, and they only know you by that carefully managed public personae all your handlers put forward. Obscurity and anonymity = freedom.

Assume you become supersuccessful as an actor/actress. You have an army of paparazzi who invade every personal area of your life. Stalker laws don't apply. The handler entourage (who work for the studios) assume more power (in an effort to protect you) and begin to dictate what you can and cannot do. It's a symbiotic relationship (parasites need love too).

Ya acting is a great way to live if you want to live a life controlled by others. If there ever was a human identity in the actor, it dies out of necessity. They simply learn to do what they are told, in order to survive. Once your privacy is gone, you are at the their mercy. Have to market the rep of the new and future superstar.

If you have the brains and brawn (and physical good looks) to lie like an actor, better make sure you can handle loss of your freedom. Not everyone can be top bill.

XG

No such thing as gravity. The "Earth-that-was" just sucks.

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Wednesday, November 16, 2005 5:55 AM

STANDP

I'm one of the folks that does acting, but not in a major market like New York or LA - though I have friends who are in both places with varying degrees of success. I tried it full time when I lived in Minneapolis, and actually supported myself on commercials and voice-overs (and delivering pizzas!

) but the life is not for me - too much uncertainty. I decided I didn't want to wait around to see if there would be months where I couldn't pay the bills. I also enjoy the health insurance. So I run a small, independent theatre company with my wife and we do theatre on evenings and weekends, along with our dayjobs.

It's not the lifestyle for everyone, but there are also different ways to do it. We didn't want to live in New York or LA, and I didn't want the uncertainty of acting full time, so this is the way we fit artistic expression into our lives. As has been suggested earlier, community theatre or doing your own amateur productions is always an option if you're looking to act (and there are shows the military would enjoy to avoid the afore-mentioned ass-kicking - anything by David Mamet or Sam Shepard would have the required testosterone).

Also, most actors don't have to give up their anonimity. The percentage of celebrities in the field of acting is pretty small when you consider how many actors there are - most working actors, even those who get regular work in film, still don't get recognized that often. There's a big difference between the average working actor and Hollywood celebrities.

Just my two cents - good luck!

Now we're finishing this deal, and then maybe we'll come back for those morons who got themselves caught. You can't change that by getting all... bendy...

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Wednesday, November 16, 2005 7:28 PM

XEROGRAVITY

Shakespeare in the park, standp.

Better than studio slavery.

XG

No such thing as gravity. The "Earth-that-was" just sucks.

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