I’m jealous as hell of Tyler Perry. He’s prolific. He has a license to print money. I don’t know what gave him this incredible work ethic, but I do know he apparently didn't get enough fat suit as a child.And on the subject of working, I received this question: “You posted about survival jobs, so I have to ask – how long did it take for you to go from survival job to being able to live off acting checks alone?”
The very sobering answer is this: only 2% of actors make their living strictly from acting. Chances are you may never fully give up your day job.
A few years ago, an article appeared in the Sunday Los Angeles Times about actor Michael O’Neill, who’s pictured above. You may recognize him from just about everything, including Transformers and recurring roles on “The Unit” and “NCIS.” I thought he was cool as shit as the head of the Secret Service on “The West Wing.”
The article was about Michael’s career as a character actor, and how although he’d been in dozens of TV shows and movies, he was having trouble making ends meet. He had three young daughters and occasionally had to do some construction work on the side to pay the bills. And once in a while, he and his wife had what they called “the talk,” in which they wondered if they’d be better off if Michael quit acting and they moved to Montana, where he’d then do construction work full time. What really bothered him was that he’d proven himself in the business, but still wasn’t seeing the big paychecks.
Three days after I read this, I was sitting in a casting workshop and I almost shit – Michael walked in. He’d stopped by to see a fellow actor do a scene, and I was both thrilled and thrown a bit to get to do my own scene in front of him.
After the workshop ended, I went right up to him and told him I loved his work, to which he looked at me cockeyed. Character actors never hear that. But then I told him I’d read the article in the Times, and he really warmed up, confiding in me that he was worried he’d been portrayed as bitter. I assured him he hadn’t, and he shook my hand and said, “I like your work, too.” (This was based only on one lousy workshop scene, but I’ll take it.)
I bring this story up not to scare you away from pursuing acting as a career, but to let you know what to expect. Actors who are called “overnight successes” laugh at that term, because they all spent years chasing that success. The average time to start making any decent sort of money is ten years. But this is a good thing – if you stay patient and persistent, you’ve got a lot to look forward to.
Just hang in there and I promise you’ll make it. Everyone who wants it bad enough does. I’m here for you until then. Let me be your traveling pants.
