I know these people make good money but I don't think I would want to sacrifice my privacy like they have to.

Would be my dream job. Only if I had the connections lol.

Cool but narcissitic at times.

I can act!

All the people who think they can act that I know are arrogant pretty-boys/girls lodged firmly up their own arses, encouraged by each other and their fawning groups of pathetic 'fans'... Get a real job.

Thats one of my dream jobs I have two dream jobs

dream job right there.

COME ON PEOPLE!

Society has been trying to model themselves after actors for too long. These people are, for the most part, good at acting because they have trouble living in reality. Is it any wonder when these people are discovered to be messed up in the head? Time and time again actors get exposed as weirdo's like Tom Cruise and yet everyone seems to act surprised.

cool

You need to learn three things to become an actor/actress.  First you have to learn to toughen your ego to handle the constant barrage of criticism and rejection from casting directors.  Second you need to learn to channel your emotions and experiences into a performance that brings honesty to your performance.  And finally you need to learn to mix cocktails or wait tables because you will be spending a lot of time between gigs in the food service/hospitality sector.

Yeah I think I could give this a try...if my family didn't have to eat or I had to pay the bills.

I can do drama

For me it would be nice. It would be great to be another one for a while.

not for me

cool

I dont think I would want to be super famous

Only if you can really act.

i would love to an actress!!!

Keanu Reeves is the all time greatest.

I would love to be in a drama movie!

i love to act

Probably be a nice thing to do.

Hate Acting

So few really make it then you have the pressures of always doing so well and being hounded by the media/puplic

Sounds good on the surface, but when you see how screwed up most of them are, or worse, their chidren, it doesn't seem to be something I would want for myself. I'm generalizing, I know but many of them just don't seem happy. So how great can it be?

Something I could deffinately do. I was growing up in the environment where everyone I met encouraged me to become an actor - they said I was natural. Who knows?!

A profession I aboslutely love and loathe at the same time. I love performing, its so much fun and a high. It's almost like being with an unsteady lover who pays attention to you once in a while - jobs coming by infrequently - and then leaves you out in the cold again. You have no choice, but to stay positive if this is the profession of your choice and like most professions you have to really love what your doing as stated by other reviewers it's one of the most unsteady professions. Concerning boyfriends/girlfriends you really need someone who is understanding of what you do and a good support system whether it be from family or friends as not everyone makes it and not everyone can be supportive and understading of what you do. The positive side is that you get more interviews than any other job. For myself personally I wouldn't recommend this profession to someone who wants to be a "star" you have more chances of doing that on a reality TV show.

I dont understand why this profession attracts so many wannabees, particularly film and TV acting. I've watched several shoots and frankly it looks as boring as watching paint dry, what with endless takes and hanging around on set, waiting for your turn or pretending to do something with a bluescreen for a background. And then there's having to get nekkid with or snog someone you may even find repulsive. So, where exactly is the glamour?

Something else I would love to do since I've acted on stage numerous times. It does take a lot of hard work and dedication but the finished product is amazing. I was in Arsenic and Old Lace and had never had a lead role in my life and I definitely came a long way from the start of it to the end. It made me a stronger actress.

I have the ability. All I need is a call from you and I'll be on the set tommorrow.

It's hard to rate acting as an occupation because it isn't really. The vast majority of an actor's time will be spent waiting tables, stacking shelves or whatever else they can do to make a few bucks. Most actors can expect to exist on a paltry income and very few make it into the big time without the right connections. I watched an exceedingly good production of Bertolt Brecht's Arturo Ui recently and I got the chance to talk to one of the actors afterwards. He was brilliantly talented but lived in the back of a van, subsisting on pot noodles. He was very good looking and quite charming but hadn't had a girlfriend in several years because he was always traveling. A lot of the comments below show some anger towards actors because of the glitzy and decadent Hollywood fantasy they see but the reality is far different. I can only give this item five stars as a symbolic round of applause for actors all over the world.

If you have the dream, talent and drive then by all means go for it. Life is to short not to.

i live in NYC. i work around so-called actors and actresses all day. they are probably the most mainstream, idiotic people around. they have no commonsense and cant conceptualize anything. they all want to be Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts. at their regular jobs, they are lapdogs for the boss, little joe and joanne workers.

I only give it five stars if you have a constant secure acting job...which most actors dont! I love acting if I can find work...when I can't, I curse the stars above for such a cruel fate. To be an actor one must first have talent...then skill...and TRAINING...and guts....and most of all "luck"...which most of us don't have but hope to stumble upon. I went to University and got my BFA now I have to pay off my student loan....which means I have to work....and acting doesn't cut it! I was better off before University! But if you love it as an art then STICK WITH IT! Oh yeh...acting is not a one way ticket to stardom, fame and fortune...its the opposite! GOOD LUCK TO ALL YOU ACTORS OUT THERE...WE ALL NEED IT!

Get a real job

Definately a career that takes a lot of skill and dedication, not to mention patience. You are forced to go through audition after audition, rejection after rejection, wondering if you are ever going to make it. I agree with Castlebee, this is definately not a career for everyone, and those who make it: please don't turn in to a bunch of self-centered morons.

Many of them do great work and think about how much movies or TV has meant in your life. They help us to be entertained when we need that distraction from reality. It takes a lot of talent to make it big and then a lot of humility to keep sane and have normalcy.

It makes me sad to see actors and actesses getting so much attention, money, and respect when people who actually do good for society, like teachers, police officers, firefighters, doctors, and nurses, are often ignored and struggle from paycheck to paycheck.

I don't know if I could do it all of my life because it can be strenuous on a marriage, but I would like to do a couple of projects.

Acting! The most glamorous and sought career in the whole world! Behind every executive, secretary, engineer, architect and so many others, there’s a frustrated actor/actress. The main pressure on this career happens before, and not after your big break. Not many parents will support their kids on this career, or any other that has to do with Hollywood. Although I understand the preoccupation about money and well being, a much greater aspect is virtually always forgotten by these parents. And that aspect is the passion. Passion for something you love to do. No profession should be about money. The whole world should leave his or her ambition behind, and no one should be afraid of doing what one truly loves to do. Following your dreams is what it’s all about… the rest is just a small part of life….

Acting is an art. It is my art and my favorite form of expression. Itis a means to finding who you are and digging through every layer of who you are investigating every bit to find the character you are portraying inside yourself. I love being in the shoes of another person ficticious or not, and seeing the world from that perspective. I enjoy the charge and rush I get whenever I preform infron of an audience and I feed on their input and their eyes. Their laughter, their shock, their sadness, their emotions kind of funnel into you when you are on stage. To forget your world and your woes for the time you are onstage to tackle someone elses is an amazing and beautiful experience. My worst time on stage is just about better than any time I have ever had sex. Acting is my life and my love. It runs throgh me like blood and drips from me like sweat. This is my passion. If I could do this artform for a living, I would be in complete Utopia. My life would be complete and the dream would be a reality.

Being an actor/actress would be very strange. I've noticed that the actors/actresses I've met (three, to be exact) seem as if they are acting all the time, leading me to wonder if it would be difficult to separate yourself from the characters you play. I think it would be tedious to keep up your appearance the way most actors/actresses do, not to mention expensive. I bet it's nerve-wracking in many ways, too, like when you're waiting for your next role or reading the critics' reviews. On the plus side, there's lots of glamour, money, and attention surrounding actors/actresses (assuming you like those things), and you probably get to travel to interesting places and meet lots of different kinds of people. I'd never want to be an actress, but I can see how the job appeals to some people.

Acting is an art, just like music or painting. It takes practice, talent, and perseverence. Not every actor has to struggle for privacy; when people think of actors, they automatically think of famous ones. But what about the wonderful theater actors who work at theater companies for years and years? This is an incredible job; I've dabbled in acting for a while now, and been rejected at a very heartbreaking audition, but it's not the end of the world. Acting is not only fun, but it's also difficult, complicated, and exhausting. But the rush an actor gets when they stand in front of a crowd of people who are genuinely having fun, it makes it all worth while.

well privacy issues depend on what kind of actor you want to be. most of the finer and vastly underappreciated actors in this country are theatre actors. but when it comes to screen acting, you can tell some of the famous actors are so passionate about their craft that they become very adept and understanding with public relations, for the sake of being able to keep up their devotion to acting. it shows most of all with famous actors who have withstood the test of time.

Thrilling, exciting, heartbreaking, and self-absorbing. A very short career span for men and even shorter for women. You would have to have skin so tough that you could take rejection after rejection and, unless you hit it big early on, the tenacity of a crazed terrier to keep trying. If you have the talent and are willing to develop it - it could be exactly right for you. But based on the long list of wrecked lives, I would venture to say it isn't for everyone.

I have a different perspective on actors/actresses than Wiggum. I could never stand up in front of so many people and pretend to be some character and say the stupid lines that are written on a script. There is so much pressure involved. So many people watching. Then after all that, you have to dress up nice everytime you walk out of the house. People are constantly talking about you. You never have privacy. The pay is nice, but I would rather be left alone than have that kind of invasion.

Possibly the best job in the free world. You can be a complete idiot, work once or twice a year, and still end up rich, powerful, and idolized by millions. The only other occupation that can compete is "Professional Athlete."