Acting is the art of becoming a character to entertain an audience
Acting is the art of becoming a character to entertain an audience. Since I have been in high school, I got into drama and I have learned so much. I have become part of the International Thespian society. I also job shadowed my drama teacher and I learned a lot. my I find so much joy out of acting. I feel like the stage or behind the camera is my second home. I like how when I become a character, I can put myself away for a while. Fine arts is my high school pathway and this is why I want to study this career. Becoming an actor and actress seems fun but it takes a lot or hard work and dedication.
It would be best to start with the history of Theatre. It started in Greece, in the 6th century BC. Its been found that the earliest origins of drama were in the Athens. Aged hymns, that were called dithyramos, they were sung in honor of the great Dionysius. They would dress up in costume and mask, Eventually people of the chorus would be put or take special roles. Later in the 6th Century BC,when pisistratus ruled the city, he established a series of festivals, they were called the festivals of entertainment. They were held in honor of the god, Dionysius. It had singing, dancing, and poetry. The one they said to be the best was said to be called Thespis. Now in the 534 or 535 BC, Thespis recited poetry in the way the character who wrote it, would have said it and in doing so he became the founder of acting. That’s where the word Thespian come from and that’s where acting started. The first play that were performed was in the Theatre of Dionysus. There are a few aged Greek plays by Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Euripides, that are still being performed today.
Actors or Actress most of the time work indoors in theatres or T.V. studios, now sometimes they work outdoors also like street theatre. You also have to be able you get along with others. You have to work closely with other actor or actress. The hard parts of doing this career though, is they have to be able to Memorize lines and movements from a script. They have be able to act, to become the character, to do facial expressions and move the way their supposed too. Sometimes they have to sing and dance too. They have to be able to do research on their character, to just to be able to get what they need to be ready to become this character. Most people get into acting because, they want the fame and a fortune. They don’t understand the work and dedication you have to put in it. Working hours may be long and unsocial. That’s why some people move on out of this career. Actors lifestyle are usually time spent away from home. You seem to have no time for family or for yourself. They go on tour, and they maybe traveling and setting up a set during the day and going and performing at night. T.V. and film work starts very early and ends very late. As Johnny Depp once said,” When you add up the amount of dialogue that you say per year and you realize that you’ve said written words more than you’ve had a chance to say your own words, you start thinking about that as a insane option for a human being.” ( Barnes)
Them long hours you will work, well the outcome of that is the earnings you make. Think about this, if you want to be part of a musical and you want to take singing lessons or you just want to just plainly work on your enunciating etc, then it would be about $150 per lesson. That would probably be about weekly for a professional. If your learning to dance it would be $250 for dance shoes and don’t forget about paying for the dance lessons. You would also probably pay $800 for a 6-week acting class. Now how about taking your headshots, they would be about 1,000. Your salary, Hourly, you would make between $9.32 and $99.60 and hourly tips would be about $8.33. Now Yearly you salary would be between $18,493 and $244,726. If you get a bonus it would be between $30.30 and $98,986 yearly. For Commission it would be about $54,000 and for Profit Sharing would be about $1,000. So for all the hours you work for a year, and the bonuses you get, you will make about a total of $252K.
A estimates of the employment in this career would be about 43,470. Also it looks like acting trends are looking good for the this decade. This generation has the internet, mobile devices and satellite television, so we spend a lot more time looking at videos. This helps actors or actresses get the opportunity to earn more parts on a T.V. shows and in movies. Now and days, it’s easy to find a acting job. Even though the biggest acting businesses are in Los Angeles, Hollywood, and New York City you can be involved in many local productions in the world. Also, many cities and town are getting more interested in this career, which it increases the number of acting jobs.
The qualifications to be actor or actress are not that hard to qualify for. You don’t have to be a certain gender, they can be male or female. Age doesn’t matter either, they can start when their a baby. Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, they started acting in 1987, at nine months old they both played the part of Michelle Tanner, the youngest daughter of the sitcom Full house. You have to have a personality that people can get along with it you have to be able to get along with other actors or actresses, no mean or rude personality. The education you may need is a bachelor’s degree in the theater. A theater course would help cover topics such as voice and body improvisation and acting for the camera. If u plan on being a stage actor or actress you might want to get a advanced degree. You can get all the education you want, but experience on stage or behind camera it’s what helps the most. Some examples are performing in a high school or in a local theater productions. A portfolio would help show proof of what you can do to directors, producers, and casting agents.
For becoming a actress I would start by going to go to South Georgia State College. I’m try to major in Theatre. I am going to go about 4 years and then during the time I am going to move to a higher school for acting like Valdosta, Savannah or Columbus. I have already got Drama as my high school pathway.
There are careers that are related to Acting. A Singer relates to acting because in acting you might have to sing, like in a Musical. When you’re a singer you can sing solo or in a group. You also can sing A cappella or with instruments, also have to learn how to sing in your key and learn music selections and routines. You have to show how to have, harmony, melody, rhythm to keep the audience entertained. Other career related to Acting is Costume Attendants. They keep up with the costume and make sure it is clean and ready for the performance. They make some costumes and make sure that the costume fits the person, if not they fix them or sent them to a tailor. Especially if they are in need of some very major repair or alterations. They keep up with make up and the wigs for the costumes too. They are also involved in keeping up with some props.
To me there would be more benefits to acting then just the money, this job would be a fun job to have. You would learn how to sing and dance, because if you would like to be in broadway musical you have to know that. If you enjoy acting, then you get to spend your time doing what you love. If you move up in this career, you get chance to meet new people and get to work with them. I love to meet new people and make friends so that would be a benefit for me. Now bad things can happen, I could get injured by doing a stunt. You would probably never, get the right amount of sleep again, especially, if you start working on a T.V. show or a movie.
There are a like a 50% chance of advancement in acting.You can start off in acting in a play and you could end up in a commercial or have a small part in a movie. Then you get a big role in a T.V. show or a movie. You could get and be out there and everybody will know who you are. Advancement would probably need extra education. You would need extra knowledge on acting because all Actors or Actress are expected to learn new things all through their job. There could possibly be extra jobs, if you advance up into the acting career. Acting is not the only job that you can be involved with onstage or behind the camera. There’s working with the lights, costumes, or props etc. You could possibly become stage manager, or even be a director. To move up to these duties, you still need to be taking classes and learning more. You need all the education you can get.
There are some educated Actors and actresses that inspire me. Zendaya is a very good actress, she went to school for this career. She started acting in 1996, she was productions at the California Shakespeare Theater and other Theaters around her hometown. She when to Oakland School for the Arts and American Conservatory Theater. In 2010, She became the character Rocky on a Disney Channel show “Shake it up. In 2012, she signed a record deal with Hollywood records. Other one would have to be Emma Watson. She went to the Stagecoach Theatre Arts school, She took class there to learn how to sing, dance and act. Her first time noticing liked acting was when she won a poetry competition, when she was 7. She auditioned eight times for the role of Hermione Granger from “Harry Potter,” the author J.K. Rowling wanted her for it. Hugh Jackman would be other one, he was an amazing dancer, singer and actor. He was considered the best known for his musicals and action movies. When he was only 5 years old he made his first acting debut as King Arthur in Camelot. He graduate in 1991 from the University of Technology. He got a Degree in communications. He got many temporary jobs to be able to pay for he’s classes at the Actors Centre Australia. He played the Wolverine in X-Men. He went to the University of Technology Sydney, Knox Grammar School, and Western Australian Academy of Performing arts.
There are different types of performing art programs, and in them are different acting class topics. Concentration it one of these topics, to be an actor or actress you must have the ability to stay focused. In an acting class there will be prob many games you will play and activities you will do to build your ability and help you concentrate. Costume and Props are an important part of an acting and a perform. Costume and props help create a believable scene, now you can do a performs with costumes and props, it’s called miming. Improvisation is my favorite, there are many fun games that you will play and most of them will include improv. Improvisation is when you are have to react and act in a scene that has been unrehearsed, or have no script. A monologue is a short speech made by one person. It allows a person to have the experience of memorizing lines and help them create a character physically and emotionally. Movement is important, acting requires a lot of moving. It helps people dig down deep in their imagination and become all types of characters. Sense Memory is an acting skill that helps the performer to be able to remember personal feelings that the can apply to a creation of a character. It helps them make a believable character. Speech helps them be able to speak loud and enunciate their words. Makes them comfortable speaking in front of people. Speech helps them even outside of theatre. Stage Terminology, this is the words used in stage directions, some words would be upstage, downstage, center stage etc. The main point of these are that the actor or actress will know where to stand when the director tells them to move.
Becoming an Actor or Actress is a lot of work and the work don’t stop either after you do. What I have a learned about becoming an actress, it’s a lot of dedication and a lot of my time too. While learning about this, I started to think is this really the career I want to go in to. I have so much in life I want to do and becoming an actress takes a lot of time. I was planning on going to college and try to major in theatre. Now I still want to be into theatre, I enjoy acting .I think I am going to minor in theatre. I would enjoy to become an actress still, cause it something I enjoy and I want to do something that I won’t be miserable doing it.. I am just going to have a backup plan for when becoming an actress does not work out for me.
