The Great Ones: The Life of an Actor

I remember once, a few years ago, watching an autobiographical documentary on TV about Kate Hepburn.  Among other great quips about the business, what stands out for me is when she spoke about having to appreciate a solitary life in order to be an actor. Her words have sort of always stayed with me.  And, recently I read an article about Javier Bardem that got me to thinking about the journey of an actor.

Bardem said, "I only know how to do one thing in my life and that is to get obsessed about acting. It is the only thing I know how to do and if they don't hire me as an actor, I don't know what I would do."  [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2536483.stm]

So it is indeed a solitary profession filled with rejection.  The cliché is that the beauty of a rejection is that you learn from it right?  But is it really beautiful?  It's interesting that in the acting world your falters are paramount, in other words, projected onto a giant screen for everyone to see and judge.  Or they are personally paramount, like little rotten teeth that fester if you don't remove them, mental baggage that threatens to ruin that next audition.

So I wondered how do you shake it off, the layers of negativity that can often build when you are a constant receptacle for rejection?  I think, and I am still not sure, but the answer is, go after more work, keep going.  Because work begets work and pretty soon the positive starts to out-balance the negative.  But as I said, I don't know, I think.

In most jobs, you have a boss who tells you what is working and what isn't.  In the acting profession, not so much, it doesn't work that way.  Often the first and most irreversible mistake is not landing the job in the first place.  And then, it's a bit lonely on your own island waiting for the next opportunity.  You watch your friends book co-stars or that scene-stealer opposite Nicholson in his next film.  And you wait.

So how have others handled it, I wondered.  I thought I would do some research to find out what successful actors thought about the life of an actor.

This is some of what the greats have been quoted as saying about this crazy profession of the actor.

"Acting is the expression of a neurotic impulse. It's a bum's life. The principal benefit acting has afforded me is the money to pay for my psychoanalysis." Marlon Brando [http://www.porthalcyon.com/features/200410/brando.shtml]

"One must be a god to be able to tell successes from failures without making a mistake." Anton Checkhov [http://www.answers.com/topic/anton-chekhov#Quotes_By]

"More than in any otherperforming arts the lack of respect for acting seems to spring from the fact that every layman considers himself a valid critic." Uta Hagen [http://www.answers.com/topic/uta-hagen]

"Acting provides the fulfillment of never being fulfilled. You're never as good as you'd like to be. So there's always something to hope for."Glenda Jackson [http://www.answers.com/topic/glenda-jackson]

"Hollywood's a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss, and fifty cents for your soul. I know, because I turned down the first offer often enough and held out for the fifty cents." Marilyn Monroe [http://www.answers.com/topic/marilyn-monroe#Quotes_By]

"The actor becomes an emotional athlete. The process is painful -- my personal life suffers."  Al Pacino [http://www.alpacino.ws/]

So what have I learned? After all of this soul searching, I am not sure I found an answer, a conclusion.  I think I just realized that in a solitary profession, the only answer that can change one's circumstance is the one that actually applies to your individual experience. 

There has never been a formula for success in acting like one could maybe apply to the legal profession. Take the LSAT.  Do well.  Work at a top law firm.  Make partner.  While certainly difficult, it is a formula, achievable. 

Actors take the road less traveled and it can be bumpy and lonely for long stretches.  Maybe the answer is that the prize goes to the last one standing. 

No, no, not so much, that's not it either.  I'll work on it.

-- Heather Langone