I am realistic and do not expect to make a living on the silver screen, but now, at 34, as a much less overweight, confident, dare I say ballsy woman, I am pursuing acting. I am realistic in my goals and I am starting in community theatre and taking classes…but I can’t give up on something I have wanted to do since I was about 5 years old. If the farthest I ever get is community theatre, I am okay with that. I have given up on a lot of things, a lot of dreams in my life, this is not one I am ready to give up on before I even start.
So many people are told not to pursue acting because they are not traditionally gorgeous. “There are thousands of talented people,” I keep being told. If I am one of them, why shouldn’t I try? There is no harm in trying and there is little cost. I go to a wonderful school, the NJ School of Dramatic Arts in Bloomfield where the classes are reasonable and the teachers are wonderful. As a non-profit school, I do not feel like people are “blowing smoke up my ass” by telling me I have some degree of talent because they have nothing to gain by lying to me.
For my whole life I have listened to the opinions of others. I didn’t try acting in high school, nor in college. I got my reasonable degrees (3 of them) and none of them made me happy, or I should say none of them made me as happy as acting does. After hearing, once again, how slim my chances are of becoming an actress, I realized that maybe I should give up. But I don’t give up in my scenes, or my studies, so why should I give up on this? I have a LOT of regrets in my life, but spending a few hundred bucks to try and live out a dream is not one of them.
If you are told, like me, that you are just one of thousands who want to be an actress and to let go of your dreams, I suggest you kindly tell others that rather than giving up on a dream, a passion…why not try it and see what happens? The worst that happens is you take classes, love them and do nothing more than some unpaid, community work. The best is that you can realize your dreams…you never know until you try.
Finding the "Method" in My Madness 