Being an actor on TV or in the movies can't be that difficult.

Just take one show, Law and Order, that has been on forever - 12 years or so? Every single episode shows numerous people saying their lines with emotion, timing and precision. These people are never seen again anywhere. They were taped on one show, and never seen again. Most did a great job of keeping the story flowing.

Now, celebrity is a different matter. People become celebrities because others simply want to watch them; good acting or not. They make their fortunes based on their youth and good looks, and hope their celebrity will last into their later years.

What do you think? Are good actors a dime a dozen, and celebrities vastly overpaid for what is essentially a job that millions could do?

n/t

I was just telling my mom the other day how so many people think it's easy.

"Youth and good looks," my expanding ass. That's the dime a dozen commodity. That's what you get in a better class of prostitute.

And I have no idea what you mean by "celebrity." That idiot Paris Hilton? The Bachelor and his money-grubbing whores? Those are the Warhol people. 15 minutes and out.

You don't anchor a 100-million dollar movie on a nobody. It better be someone who can fill seats. Lots and lots and lots of seats. You think just anyone can do that?

You have no idea, NONE, of what it takes to be an actor. No idea how much training is necessary beyond the TALENT. Anyone can have youth and good looks, kiddo. TALENT, that's something else.

So you've eliminated the talentless, and you're there casting from a pool of talented good-looking young things. There are hundreds of them. So now you're looking for that other thing: star quality. The thing you think is so cheap and easy you don't even count it. Finding star quality is discovering gold. Everybody who stakes a claim gets rich, that's how valuable it is.

Yeah, but anyone can do it, right?

Those actors who appear once and you don't see them again? That's because they work maybe once a year and don't quit their day jobs. Look closely at your waiter. There he is. Is it 95 percent of Equity who don't earn more than $5,000 a year at their craft? And it is a craft. Lessons in voice, lessons in scene study, accents, sword-fighting, yoga, horseback riding, Shakespeare, ballet, tap, ballroom dancing, karate, tai chi, kickboxing. Actors are always in school for something. Always. Their bodies are their tools and they have to keep them sharp and toned.

The camera adds ten pounds so they have to be underweight to appear normal.

Then they get the job and it's the endless hurry up and wait and do it again we didn't have the light.

Law and Order is shot in NYC. It hires soap actors, acting company actors, veterans who appear at night in plays in tiny playhouses all over town. They work, they audition, they rehearse, they perform, and they cook supper, shop, and clean.

A friend once told me, and I believe it, that an actor is one of the few willing to work 18 hours a day to avoid working 8. And if it isn't driven by passion, it can't be done.

I really do appreciate what you said.

Take Law and Order:CSI. A week or so back, a cop was played by an actor named Fulvio Cecere. You haven't seen him on L&O before, and I don't know if you will again-but rest assured that isn't his only gig. Like most working actors, Fulvio does a variety of gigs, from movies to commercials to TV series to directing their own independent film. He has various agents and he travels from the NY City to Toronto to Vancouver to LA for different projects. Between parts, he still has to exercise and keep fit.

For a better idea of what a working actor does, check out his official website at http://www.fulviocecere.com

Celebrities? They bore me. Working actors? They're great! Don't let me get started on Sam Waterston, or I'll write you seventeen pages at least!

Hey, I like Sam, but get the feeling he's a deep rooted Republican. Any info?

He campaigned for Gore in 2000. He's a FOB (Friend of Bill-and now Hillary). This guy has more energy than you'd believe. He's on the Board of Directors of Refugees International, the NY SAG, and some other nonprofits too numerous to mention. This guy volunteers his time to host PBS's The Visionaries, and has done that for years. He's on the Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, and recently read Lincoln's entire Cooper Union speech. He was in The Commission, a movie to which he donated his services. To find out more about Sam and what he's doing, and has done, check out my cyber newspaper, The Waterston World:

http://www.geocities.com/ayeshahaqqiqa/WaterstonNews.html

Sam is on our side-he just does a lot of good deeds and does his political work without a lot of fanfare.

Sports star, astronaut
Famous rocker, CEO
Heck, I could do that

Yes, there are lots of good actors.
Yes, only a tiny fraction achieve celebrity.

In between those numbers, though still a small percentage, are WORKING actors.

It is NOT easy. The little snippet you mentioned probably took hours to set up and shoot. Throw someone who is "just" a good actor but little experience on camera into the mix and you can easily add more hours to the whole thing. You aren't just getting acting talent, you are getting someone who can hit the mark, say the lines, do any business within the scene, AND stay in character despite being in the middle of a crew of 20 or more and a truckload of equipment. If they make it look easy, it's more of a tribute to their expertise, than a reflection of the difficulty of the "job."

I do freelance video script writing and some directing for local PBS, school system, and industrials. Shoots are long, hard, tedious work.

I was just reminded me of my good friend, Joe, who makes his living doing voiceovers - commercials, etc. We were having a beer one evening and this young lady who knew me came over and after I introduced them she proceeded to pick his brain over how she could get involved in that because "Hey, I could do that." Joe just said, "Gee, why don't you then?" Besides the considerable talent needed, being a working actor also requires an emotional, financial, and energy investment and commitment.

Behind every successful working actor is years of working for peanuts, sending out resumes, going to auditions, buying headshots, pounding the pavement getting jobs, agents, and auditions.

Being a working actor is a lot of things, one of which is NOT "easy."

eileen from OH