How to Start an Acting Career Outside of Hollywood

So you want to act, but you don't live in Hollywood? So what? Starting outside of Hollywood or New York is a different experience than starting within. Some would say the experience of acting, in local areas or even in larger regional areas such as Dallas (Big D) and Chicago (City of the Big Shoulders), is much more satisfying in some ways than acting in Hollywood. Why is that?

There are tremendous benefits to staying local while you start your acting career. Because of the smaller pool of competition, you have the potential of playing in more projects and having a wider variety of acting roles open to you. There are exciting opportunities to be involved in regional theatre or college theatre.

Some of these local acting opportunities will be closed to you once you gain union status. From that point on, you're limited to Equity, SAG or AFTRA productions, and you've lost the more grassroots acting opportunities that give you strength and power as a performer.

This extra experience is important to honing your art and becoming a much more interesting and well-rounded performer. It is also a key component of building an impressive acting resume and gaining the experience and skills you will need to tackle Hollywood with confidence, should you choose to do so later. Acting isn't all about Hollywood anyway - it's a part of life. Any skills you learn to be a better actor can also enrich your life in general. You can do that anywhere you live.

How to Find Acting Parts

Go very local in the beginning. Community theater groups thrive everywhere, and are very open to acting newcomers or old-timers. There's no pay involved in these groups, but they are vibrant, and the credit still counts towards your resume. You'll need that black-and-white 8X10 and a resume with lots of credits before you approach an agent.

Don't overlook college theatre, which is a good place to network with other professionals and to find more resources for auditioning. Colleges often sponsor more experimental pieces of theatre for educational purposes, and you don't have to be a student of a college in order to audition or be in a show.

Regional theatre is professional theatre, where actors are paid at least a stipend for their work if the theater is funded by grants. In the Dallas area where I live, there are extensive local repertory groups such as Dallas Theater Center, Kitchen Dog Theater, Dallas Children's Theatre, and many more.

Once you begin auditioning in a certain area, keep your eyes and ears open. Ask your cast mates about how to find out about local auditions, a good agent, etc.

Another Word about College

It is absolutely not necessary to be a college graduate to be a successful actor. Notwithstanding, being a college graduate can be very helpful to an acting career, in stretching your knowledge and life experience, creating a circle of local contacts that know your work, and giving you the ability to develop your survival skills to earn money between acting jobs. While you're pursuing your career, it would be highly beneficial to also continue your college work concurrently and at least earn your bachelor's degree. Earn it in the performing arts if you choose. You could teach arts or literature with a bachelor's degree and a teaching certificate.

Recommended Skills to Develop

The more skills and abilities you are able to bring to the audition table as an actor, the more jobs you will qualify for. Choose from among the following and decide how you will develop them. Don't obsess and feel that you must develop them all. Only choose skills that you find interesting and suitable to your talents and abilities; don't feel you have to learn them all. My grandmother used to say, "If you don't like milking cows, don't learn how." The same wisdom applies here.

*Physical movement - It's always good for an actor to be at their physical best, whatever that may be. Also, movement on stage and screen is more stylized than real life, no matter how natural it may seem. Studying disciplines such as Alexander technique, fencing, dancing, or circus skills such as juggling or tumbling are particularly suited to the career needs of an actor.

*Vocal training - Just because you can speak doesn't mean you have the skills to be a good actor on the stage or screen. Learning proper breathing, phonation, phrasing, articulation, pronunciation for removing or acquiring dialects, and projection will protect your instrument that is your voice, and increase your ability to be heard and understood on stage or on camera.

*Mental concentration - Mental health is critical for an actor, especially considering the grueling requirements of audition. Learning creative visualization can be helpful in auditions as well as in developing characters once the acting job has been landed. Discipline to practice regularly and faithfully will increase an actor's worth and potential career power in Hollywood.

*Emotional skills - This is also a mental skill, and there are two schools of thought you should investigate to decide which one works best for you. One is the Stanislavski school of thought, which is more of an "outward-in" approach to acting. The other is the Method school of acting made popular in the '50s by actors such as Marlon Brando and James Dean, and is primarily an acting method that begins inward and erupts out into a performance. There are pros and cons to each school of thought, and studying both will give an actor the option of choosing which will work better for the actor or even the particular character being created.

*Business skills - Some basic skills of money management should be studied. Can you balance a checkbook? Live within a budget? Do you know how to file taxes for actors? Business skills are also good to have in order to find survival jobs, such as temp jobs in an office. Other useful skills for an actor in this area include customer service skills, sales, teaching, or writing skills.

*People skills - As an actor, you're in the sales business. You're selling your look and what you can do. That means dealing with all kinds of people. Networking skills are essential for the "schmoozing" you'll be doing in promoting your work to agents, producers, and whoever else will sit still long enough to listen.

Networking is actually your best indicator of when you're ready for Hollywood. When you know people who know lots more people in Hollywood or New York or wherever you want your career to go, it's only then that your career is ready for the next level. If you don't know anyone in Hollywood yet, stay where you are and keep networking.

*Improvisational skills - You should be prepared to not be prepared. What if a fellow cast member forgets an important line during a show? What if a producer gives you a situation with a fellow actor and tells you to "wing it"? Fainting is not an option if you're serious about moving on to Hollywood.

Improvisation is a learned skill, and one that comes in very handy during tight moments. Improvisation is sometimes an entire actor's job description, depending on the job. Classes in improvisation will give you lots of opportunity to hone your skills in this area.

*Auditioning tools - Build up your 8X10 glossy photos and your resume no matter where you are in your career. Have a couple of songs you can sing that will show off your voice nicely (keep the sheet music with you at an audition to pull out when necessary). Make sure the songs are not ones that are commonly known and that sound good when you sing them. One comic and one dramatic monologue should be ready to go at all times to quickly show off your emotional range.

Other useful skills are improvisation, basic dance skills, and mental toughness, since getting through the audition process can be mentally taxing for anyone.

Acting is no easy path to take. If acting is your path in life, and you plan to head to Hollywood, don't hop that bus until you've built a solid career foundation beneath your castles in the sky. Begin your career locally, and you might be surprised at the many resources that surround you.