Just because you really enjoyed acting in school doesn’t necessarily mean that acting is the right career for you, because being in the acting business requires a certain level of mental toughness. Take the quiz to see if you have what it takes to be an actor professionally.
The quiz asks three questions to help you see whether you are mentally prepared to overcome the common big challenges associated with being in the acting business. You can take the quiz as many times as you like.
After the quiz, we provide resources and information (including video recordings of some of our information sessions) about both acting the business and acting the craft so that you can use them regardless of whether you want to make acting a career or keep acting as a hobby.
Acting opportunities regardless of whether it's a career.
Here are some places you can act as a hobby or as practice for your career:
- Acting gyms. An acting gym, at least in our case, is where you come, practice a scene with a partner, perform it, and get feedback from a professional actor. There are multiple acting gyms out there. Here at The Actor’s Place, at our acting gym, we have a mix of both hobby and professional actors coming to hone their skills (because it’s cheaper than an acting class – it’s only $12-22 per session). You can learn more about our virtual acting gym by clicking the button below.
- Community theatre. There is a mix of both veteran actors and beginner actors in community theatre and, therefore, it is a great place to practice. To find a community theatre near you, simply Google the words “community theatre” + the name of your city. For example, you can search community theatre Toronto. You can also go on Google Maps and search for “community theatre near me”.
- Making your own films. Both professional actors and hobby actors create their own films. For professional actors, the allure is that you can take control over your career and can put parts in your demo reel (video portfolio) that showcase you playing parts that you typically don’t get cast to play. Also, even if you’re not a professional actor, you can also submit your short film into a film festival and potentially get an Oscar – that’s how Peter Capaldi got his Oscar. You can see him talking about it in this video:
Resources for professional and hobby actors.
If you’re still interested in a career in acting, you might be interested in the following articles to help prepare you for the business of acting:
- How long does it take to become a professional actor? (As an adult.)
- Can you be an actor part time? The answer to “it depends”.
- Am I too ugly actor to be an actor? Where to find opportunities.
- Where actors studied acting.
- Audition tips for actors by accomplished actors.
Even if you’re no longer interested in a career in acting but you still want to do acting as a hobby, you may enjoy the following articles related to the craft of acting:
- Famous actors on memorizing lines.
- Acting exercises you can do alone.
- Acting hand gestures.
- How actors get in and out of character: quotes and techniques.
- What makes a good actor?
Also, we had some free sessions previously where we talked about getting into acting, doing voice acting, and making short films, so you may be interested in the recordings of those sessions below.
Video 1: How to become a professional actor. In the video below, we go over the steps you can take to get started on your acting career, including information such as where to find classes, tips for headshots, and where to get experience.
Video 2: How to become a voice actor. In the video below, veteran voice actor (and veteran actor) Dan Willmott talks about becoming a voice actor, including information such as where to find clients, what kinds of characters to be able to do for audiobook narration, and how you can make any voice work for voice acting.
Video 3: How to make a short film. There are many actors who want to take greater control over their careers by creating their own short films. In the video below, we have a panel of filmmakers who give tips and answer various questions about creating short films, giving information such as how you can find a team, what equipment you can use on a low budget, and various things to make sure to keep in mind, such as making sure you feed your team during filmmaking.
If filmmaking is something that interests you, you might also be interested in the article about gifts for filmmakers because it describes how various filmmaking equipment is used.
You can also check out our other articles about acting below.
