My Child Wants to Become an actor/actress?

Hi look Cogito isn't necessarily right, though that is the path that a lot of actors take but it is primarily why they cap off at TV commercials. I'm 19 years old and decided to make acting my career about a year and a half ago. I'm also broke, and I'm doing this without parents my Mum passed away and my Dad was never around so I'm actually REALLY broke! But I told myself I wasn't going to let that stop me or get in the way of what I know my Mum would have wanted me to do. So it is possible with a low budget.

I also only have about a month of formal training, which to be honest I learned nothing from, because I had already knew what they were teaching. This is why Cogito can be wrong and your daughter can make it.

I'm extremely self motivated and I didn't have the money to pay for acting classes so I decided to teach myself how to act. That's when the local libraries came in handy. I picked up every acting book I could get my hands on and read read read, learning as many techniques as possible. I only had three short films auditions my first year but landed everyone because I was so dedicated to my craft that at 18 I was far beyond many of the actors my age. I worked unbelievably hard and at 19 I told myself it was time to get really serious and about four months ago(when I turned 19) I decided I wanted to get on TV within the year(big ambitions I know). I decided to get an agent, and did so within two weeks, they were so impressed with how much I had taught myself and said that I was much better than some of the "big" talent they saw come into their office from LA. I finally felt like my hard work was starting to pay off. However after a few months I realized my agent wasn't aggressive enough and decided I needed a new agent. I went with the Wilson Michiels Group which is a brand new agency in Denver, CO that literally started about a month ago. It was a scary choice but I trusted my gut and went with what felt right. In the three weeks I've been with Wilson Michiels Group they have gotten me two commercial auditions, a feature film audition, and a audition for an NBC sitcom pilot. I'm now getting decent auditions for TV and Film and all within the first few months of me deciding that for me failure would not be an option. And this is while still living in Denver.

I've gotten a couple agents without serious acting lessons, and landed every audition I've had so far. If your child wants to one day be an A-List actor then commercials are small time gigs. You can do it! Here is my advice to you two!

Read, read, read, and study. Form or join a free actors group. Work unbelievably hard, get used to rejection and use it to fuel you. After your child learns some basic techniques and methods begin practicing them by doing a new monologue a month with scene work and character work used and polished behind it and film it. Learn filming techniques and writing techniques so you both know other views of how characters are formed. Practice acting daily like you'd practice an instrument. As soon as possible get your kid in some acting classes, he/she might already be ready for advanced classes after the hard work(I do plan on getting some more acting classes once I can afford the coaches I want). Use your six degrees of seperation to your advantage! You might not know an acting agent but you might know someone who knows someone who might know an agent, or someone in a major film mecca. Do student films. Keep learning, and always make sure passion is present in the work. Do duet scenes with your child, both of you do the scene work and polish it just like with the monologues and practice. Get your child doing improv as soon as possible I think it's crucial to any actor. And never give up! I've seen so many actors quit because of how hard things can be right before they make a major break through or right before they progress in their career another step! The key to success is hard work and persistence!

If you need anything else feel free to email me @ [email protected] I can help you find connections where you live, and suggest some books, movies, and give some more advice and tips and tricks if you need it! I hope I could help! I wish you both the best of luck! Remember BELIEVE you can do it no matter what people tell you!

you need to make sure this is really what she wants to do. this will be extremely time consuming
and expensive to do. it will have to come first. her and your schedule will revolve around acting. you
won't be able to work acting around your schedules. first you need to get where there are acting opportunities, if your not there now, that's just a given. she can start with school drama classes and plays if available. she will need some initial acting classes to learn how to go about this. she does not need a specific or special school for this. you do not have to commit to a bunch of classes or pay up
front for them. she can take small blocks of classes and you can pay as you go. when she knows how to audition for things, you can look for community theaters, their in the phone book, and student and ind. film auditions. their open calls you can get her on. a good instructor will let you know when she is ready to start going out on things. some instructors are agents or will know agents they can send you to when they think she's ready for one. she will need to have pictures made when she is ready to start going on auditions. they will run around 2 to 4 hundred. classes will run from around 20 to 80 a class depending on how long they are,what's covered and who is giving them. if you stay off the internet, you will avoid most of the scams. anyone who wants money up front for anything is not legit. agents only get paid if she works,not before. agents get 10%. you
can find legit agents on SAG'S web site. SAG is the union for film actors. you and your agent will need to be located in the same city and where the auditions are held. agents only send you on calls local to them. she will need to audition in person to get an agent. she will need an agent to get on any professional auditions. they aren't normally open calls. real auditions will be for specific parts in specific films. it won't be vague as to what the film is and you will have a description of the character she is trying for. any auditions that don't really say what their for and no specifics are mentioned are usually scams for expensive acting schools. don't sign any contracts with agents for longer than six months and don't sign anything that doesn't give you a way out. agents have no control over what or when things come up for casting. they can only send her out when something comes up for casting she can fit. no one can guarantee her any jobs or auditions. all jobs will be gotten through her auditions,if she doesn't audition well, she will get no jobs.

Amber is right.
My daughter is a professional actor, so I've been through it myself!
To become an actor, your child will definitely have to attend acting classes for several years and get a lot of experience in school productions before they could do anything else.
There's no point looking for casting calls or agents until they've really learned all the basics.
There would be no point.

Every role going gets hundreds, if not thousands, of kids applying for auditions, and most of those will have been studying acting for years. To compete with them, your child will need to be better trained, have more experience, and obviously have more talent.

TV commercials are NOT starting small. For many, that's as good as it will ever get. The majority of actors never get a good role in anything at all, and most are lucky to get more than two or three weeks' paid work a year. They all work ordinary jobs the rest of the time.
Make sure your kid has enough skills to earn a good living at something else - ideally a job they can work free-lance or part-time to allow time off for auditions and the occasional acting job.

Make sure your child gets a really great education at school. They can join in lots of acting stuff at most schools, and that's usually free. They really have to get great grades at all subjects - it's all going to come in useful at some time, and actors have to be very intelligent and well-educated.

Try to afford a weekly class at a local theatre group - they usually let you pay monthly or each semester. But forget about auditions for a long time yet.
Good luck!

Well it's great that you realize that you have to make your child's dream come true before they're 18.

I know you said you haven't the money to pay for them, but your child needs acting classes. From there you can apply for an agent and then they can get paid work. Any agent who wants money from you BEFORE finding your child work is going to scam you.

I watched the countdown of 100 best child actors and the number one answer was the Simpson kids. In my opinion, they are the best because they have been acting for like ten years and they are still the same age! That is what I call acting!

better then working at mcdonald's.