Being an Acting is exciting; extremely rewarding, filled with glamor and lots of fun. Acting is also tough career choice; so it is not for everybody.

One of the fun things about being an actor is stepping outside yourself and outside of your own experience. It’s challenging yourself to totally commit to something that in your core is so wrong.

Jason Priestley

Is being an actor fun?

Most people believe that the acting scene is only made up of glamorous experiences and smiles when, in the real sense, this is far from it. It is easy to be misled by the red carpet appearances into believing that acting is all rosy. Let’s look at some of the things that you should expect when you join the acting scene to help you understand both.

  1. You may have to leave your family and friends behind in pursuit of your dreams
    This is one thing that most actors won tell you. The truth is, you might be forced to leave your family, home, and friends behind as you pursue and advance in your career. The sad part is parting with all these in search of a profession with unpredictable results. The acting scene is quite competitive, and most actors live and die without achieving most of their dreams. Even getting and audition is a task, and once you get it, the audition process is even more stringent.
  2. You have to grow a thick skin
    You must understand that you will not make everybody happy as an actor. People have different expectations and you’ll continuously get judged, ridiculed, and harshly criticized, which might give you a hard time if you take everything to heart. Acting requires a lot of self-observation. You should always be open to criticism, but don’t take in everything, including those that might harm your career. You’ll have fun shooting a movie and acting your heart out, but whatever follows after may be different from your expectations.
  3. Paparazzi
    Being a celebrity comes with its fair share of disadvantages. You should always be prepared to have people snooping around looking for personal details as they photograph everything happening in your life. You may also have a problem with keeping your personal life away from the cameras. Therefore, you are mistaken if you still believe that you can walk down the street freely as you did in your teen years. You will always be under scrutiny, be it your normal life or social media platform posts.
  4. You lose control of your career at some point
    Do not get this the wrong way. Being an actor does not mean that you won’t be able to plan your career and track your achievements. However, you should always be prepared for several disappointments once you have done your part. You lose control over what happens when you sign up for a project, and it does not matter whether you put your best foot forward or not. You will give your all to a project and make it perfect, but once the director takes it up, he or she can easily change it to what he deems best. This means that you don’t have any power as an actor in relation to a project. Your primary role is to act and play a particular character. Whatever happens next is up to the director and the editor.
  5. Fame
    Handling fame is one of the most challenging yet necessary things that you have to do as an actor. Sadly, with fame comes several repercussions. You won’t be able to move freely as most people do minus your bodyguards. You will also have to deal with stalkers, who might get creepy and dangerous at times. You can’t also be a good actor if you allow fame to get to you. Remember, acting requires the real you. Once you let fame get into your head, you lose your life. You must have noticed many actors completely changing and giving up on their normal lives. You can learn from them by not being like them.
  6. You have to always prepare well
    The other side of an actor’s life is filled with preparation. Actors spend a lot of their time watching shows and researching before hitting the screen, be it a low or high budget movie. All the red-carpet appearances only come after you have done your part and made a powerful delivery. You have to be prepared to thrive, which entails doing a lot of homework and being well-equipped when duty calls. You will also experience the pressure to succeed and better your previous performances, which makes it worse. The fun that acting guarantees only comes when you are prepared for the roles you are performing. You only enjoy doing something when you know how to go about it.
  7. Conflicting personalities
    Acting at times requires that you take up roles that are totally different from your personality. Acting as a villain doesn’t mean that you are a sell-out or inwardly terrible. The only problem that this generates is that you have to convince people that you can be different and act various roles. It would be challenging to take up the role of a saint if you’ve always acted as a villain. Studios and producers will ever want you to take up characters that most people identify you with. You will also have a hard time pushing yourself to perform better each time you hit the screens.
  8. Devotion
    Acting is not as easy as it looks. It’s not all about smiling at the camera and moving your body or making a face that connects with your emotions. Acting requires commitment and preparedness. The fun part usually comes afterward. You, therefore, have to be devoted due to the nature of the work involved. You have to be diverse, willing to take up different roles at different times. This field also requires adapting- accepting and getting used to things you can’t change. You still have to speak up and get your voice heard, which may also land you in trouble. Making or acting a movie is not, therefore, a smooth experience. You have to feel it, be in it, act it. You will even be expected to cry in some scenes, which is not a smooth experience.
  9. Curiosity
    An actor must be curious about people and events. You must always be on the know, which might inconvenience you hate watching the news or keeping up with incidents. Being interested in a number of things also means that you have to learn more about them and go even deeper.
  10. There is no turning back
    Once you decide to be an actor or even hit the international scene, you won’t have the liberty of turning back. Projects will always be calling, which requires you to be up and about. You will also experience the world change despite everything being just as they used to be. People will view you differently. You will also have to get used to seeing reporters and cameras around you. In short, being an actor is giving up your life for another.

I hope that these ten expectations can help you decide whether acting is fun or not. Let’s take a look at some of the things you will enjoy as an actor:

  • Meeting worlds famous actors
    You will get a chance to meet veterans and your acting idols once you join Hollywood. Can you imagine sharing a table with Morgan Freeman or Banshee’s Kurt Banker? Seems impossible, right? Well, acting gives you a chance. You will also work with and meet different people. Your castmates will be people of different races and origins, which is one of the fun things about acting.
  • Traveling
    Who doesn’t love traveling? Scenes are usually shot in different places, which might mean switching continents. Imagine being in Asia for a few months and flying to Australia afterward to shoot a different scene. You will also experience different cultures and worlds as you travel, which expands your thinking and diversify your outlook on life.
  • The parties and awards
    Acting is fun, especially when you are continually winning awards and attending parties. Being a celebrity has its perks, which include VIP treatment. You’ll participate in high-end parties and drink the best wines from different parts of the world. Most of the awards actors win come with several benefits. Imagine dining and vacationing in some of the high-end resorts in the world. Acting may be tough and hectic, but it also has its fair share of advantages and a level of fun.

Lastly, every role you undertake and the emotions you feel while acting leads you somewhere. You will get immersed in your roles and experience yourself grow.

Actors Takeaway:
is being an actor fun

It is easy to be misled by the flashy life actors lead to believe that acting is only made of fun and success. You will only experience what happens in an actor’s life once you join the field. We have looked at some of the things that actors go through in their careers. You can, therefore, deduce whether acting is fun or not.

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