Where's the Love?!

So I must address something that has been irking me for quite some time now...the emergence of all these "singer/actor...rapper/actor...videogirl/actor" nonsense! It's almost like people think that all actors do is learn lines and dress up and that makes them "actors"...I am sorry just because you have a hit single or a following of a bunch of teenage girls/boys who will go see your movie doesn't mean that you should be called nor call yourself an actor. Every time I see a singer referred to as an actor and they smile and accept the title as if they've actually trained and worked hard to become an actor it makes me want to SCREAM! Do people have any idea how hard it is to be an actor? A good actor? Of course its very easy to be a bad actor...ask Kirsten Dunst or Keanu Reeves...they'll tell you. But if you want to be good...great...iconic...you have to work hard...DAMN hard! I think its such an unfair idea that anyone can be handed a movie script and called an actor...I dont see Denzel, Meryll or Chiwetel walking into Def Jam and getting handed record deals because of their acting skills...why? Because we all respect the hard work and dedication it takes to be a good musician...we recognize that you (well hypothetically) actually have to have singing/rapping/producing talent to get into the music industry so why cant we actors get the same type of respect? Every time I turn around some random rapper/singer/music producer is calling him/herself an actor...huh? 

Let me tell you the schedule of a training actor at a conservatory program like the one I went to:

8am: Wake up and get ready for your lib ed classes

11am: you may be all done with your lib ed classes but if you had a huge courseload like I did you wont be done until just minutes before your acting classes start at...

1pm: you're in an acting class that asks you to bare your soul in a room full of people and after you lay it all out on the line someone is going to pick it apart, tell you what can be more specific and make you do it again or you're dissecting a Shakespeare play down to its very skeleton so that you can be understood speaking this highly intelligent, eloquent, emotional text....then 3 hours later

4pm: Voice/Dialect class: learning dialects from any part of the globe (choose one, I can do it), training your voice to survive 10 show weeks and a lifetime as an actor, learning how to speak basically all over again...breaking down speech/language to basic sounds only to put it back together again so that you can tackle any character's speaking pattern thrown your way...2 1/2 hours later 

6:30 you're getting a break for dinner...only 1 hour (which is really only about 45 mins if you consider the time it takes to warm up for rehearsal) because at...

7:30 pm- you're in rehearsal for the next 3 1/2 hours until finally at..

11 pm: you go home to do all your homework, review notes from rehearsal, try to have a second of breathing room before you're too sleepy to hold your head up...

REPEAT for 4 years...!!

Now dont get me wrong, I wouldnt trade the last 4 years I spent working that hard for anything because it taught me that I was stronger than I thought I was and it really showed me how much passion I had for this thing I love so much...I only laid that out to give you a glimpse into how hard it is to be a trained actor and notice that didnt even include the process of creating a character for a play and having it ready to perform...that process would scare some of you trust me...lol...all I am saying is that we work really hard to earn the title of "actor" and I think we deserve some respect. So stop calling these "good memorizers" and "marquee names" actors...its like slapping us in the face and we all know how disrespectful that is.

Sincerely,

@bestnewactress :)

 

Treat yourself to some good acting- here's a scene from the Godfather