One of the biggest challenges most actors face when starting their career is "knowing their type"
(i.e. the kind of roles for which they would be called in to read).
One of the biggest mistakes I made while I was pursuing my acting career was not having a clear picture of who I was, or what my "type" was. Like everyone else who comes to Hollywood, I wanted to be a star. Or, more specifically, I wanted to be Julia Roberts! She had the career and the stardom that I wanted.
Unfortunately, the one thing I didn’t have was her leading-lady looks. I was a character actor – or as everyone else kept telling me – a "young Kathy Bates." There was only one problem with that … I didn’t want to be Kathy Bates. I wanted to be Julia Roberts, but no one was listening!
There’s a big difference between being typecast and knowing your type,
(i.e. leading man, character woman, ingénue). Being typecast means always being called in for the same "type" of roles, i.e. law enforcement, blue collar, southern belle, gang member, and so on.
Knowing your type means knowing whether you’re a character actor (Kathy Bates, Philip Seymour Hoffman), a leading man or woman (Denzel Washington, Reese Witherspoon), ingénue (Keira Knightley, Scarlett Johansson) or younger leading man (Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger).
Once you know your type, it will make it much, much easier for you to decide which roles to go out for – especially in the early stages of your career.
In trying to figure out your "type," it is important that you be honest with yourself, because the truth of the matter is this: there is more work in Hollywood for character actors and actresses than for leading men and women.
There is more work in Hollywood for character actors and actresses than for leading men and women, so take some time to figure out
exactly what your "type" is!
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www.101TipsForActors.com Copyright © Sharon Moist. All Rights Reserved.
Sharon, President and Founder of the Actors Resource Center® works with actors to help them develop strategies for pursuing their acting career … with or without an agent or manager.
Sharon, President and Founder of the Actors Resource Center® works with actors to help them develop strategies for pursuing their acting career … with or without an agent or manager.
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