A career in the tinsel town is what many aspire for, but few pursue. If you were to observe those few people closely you may see a striking similarity among everybody in terms of their attitude, hard work and commitment. It is true that an acting career requires more time and effort than is normally needed, but when one is willing to go that extra mile with all their will power and might, there is no stopping the fame and fortune the job brings along with it.


Not all actors are born performers and not everybody was given a red carpet welcome when they arrived to the business. You would find it hard to believe that most of the leading stars of Hollywood got their ticket to success after a lot of tears, toil and turmoil. If I were to tell you that Madonna had to work as a counter girl at Dunkin Donuts (source: careerbuilder.com) and Sharon Stone kicked off working at McDonald's (foxnews.com) you may find your jaw dropping. But this is the reality and the essence of this reality is that everybody needs to start somewhere.

While starting is one thing it is a matter of greater consequence how you proceed toward making your dream of becoming an actor come true. For this, one needs to do a lot of smart work along with a great deal of hard work. When I say smart work, it means a well researched, meticulously planned and tried out route which you can adapt to suit yourself to reach the desired goal. And it is smarter work when somebody has already done such ground work and you simply follow the guidelines and increase the probability of your success by leaps and bounds. I have complied below after carefully considering my several years of experience, a step by step guide of becoming an actor. Read on to know the right formula for becoming a hit in the glitter world sooner than you would have expected.

1. All actors must start small.
If you need to get into acting, first get going. Don't wait for you to be "discovered" by an agent or director for a multi million big buck project. These are just stories that the media writes to make money. In reality no one is actually discovered. If you were to look closer you will notice that those who were discovered had some considerable acting credit to their names earlier. So, the primary step is to just start off with whatever opportunity that comes your way.

2. Every popular actor started off at the bottom and worked up.
Most of the actors you find today would have started small and worked their way up to fame and fortune.

3. Beginning actors don't need talent agents.
Even talent agents have their choice in taking in their clients. As a beginner if you were to go hunting for a talent agent, you would be wasting time. Rather, I suggest you concentrate on getting roles yourself for a beginning. To do this, all it takes is perseverance and networking.

4. Locate quality jobs on your own.
Who can know better about you than yourself? You will know your strengths and weaknesses like nobody else does, so locate quality jobs yourself while at the early stages of your acting career.

5. New actors should start looking for jobs locally.
Don't just hop over to Hollywood the minute it strikes you that you have decided to become an actor. There are hundreds of smaller cities where the industry needs talent and where there are only a fewer people. Start locally and work your way to Hollywood.

6. The best experience is to perform in front of a crowd.
If you want an acid test of your talent, do a performance in front of a crowd. This is the best experience that you can get and if they are impressed and applaud every time you perform, there's no stopping you.

7. Build your resume.
After you have enough acting credits to your name, build a resume that is impressive and informative. Add each new performance to your acting resume and keep it updated and handy. Draft an equally impressive cover letter to go along with this resume and start applying to all good acting jobs that you come across.

8. Get headshots.
Get a good headshot of yours and ensure that it conveys a lot about you with just one look. Add such head shots to your application along with your resume and cover letter.

9. Network.
The other way of getting into good projects is to network, for this all you need to do is play the role of an angel - a person who is amicable, approachable and liked by everybody. You will soon realize that you are being recommended to projects when people you know hear of roles. To network you need to maintain good contacts with actors, directors, casting associates and agents.

10. Find a list of talent agents.
Now that you have grown to be known in the industry, it is time to pick a talent agent. Visit Internet sites that list talent agents and talk to them. Actingland.com is one such site where you will find a list of good and professional talent agents. Talk to the agents and settle down with one who suits you the best.

11. Keep acting.
These are the two words that you must keep chanting all the time. To make it big in the acting industry you need to keep acting and that too incessantly.

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Copyright © Sarah Bennett. All rights reserved. Used with permission of the author. Not to be reproduced or distributed.

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