Money
If you want to be a performer because of the money think again. The fact is you will probably make more per year flipping hamburgers. We do hear of actors hitting the big time and commanding huge fees for their services, but they are the exception not the rule. You may go to a lot of unpaid auditions before you are hired, the average is approximately 15 auditions for each job you land. If you are one of the lucky ones that finds themselves hired for a principle role in a movie that pays you 5 figures or you land a recurring role in a TV series; when its over you may not work again for months. You may not work again for years and yes, you may never work again.

When starting out, if you have an on-camera role in a union production you can expect to make on average for an 8 hour day-

Principal actor - $500.00

Actor - $338.00

Extra - $144.00

(Small town rates and non-union are lower)

You may consider that not bad for a day's pay, but not if you only work one or two day's a month, or that's the only role you receive in a year.

Glamour
So you're not in it for the money, just the excitement and the glamour.

Try going to dozens of auditions and constantly being rejected. Try going to an audition and being called back, time and time again only to find out someone else got it. Try studying your sides, learning your lines, preparing for that audition, and perhaps traveling approximately one hour to get there, only to find yourself in and out of the door having barely spent five minutes in front of the camera.

Try getting up at 5am to be on the set for 6am. Work a 10-hour day, come home learn your lines for tomorrow's shoot and be up again at 5am. Try being called for a 7am call to find you are hanging around most of the day to be finally on set at 2pm to say 3 lines. Try studying and rehearsing for a role only to find your bit ending up on the cutting room floor. Try doing a scene 10 - 15 times, ensuring that with each take your performance does not change. Try doing an emotional scene with an actor who is 10 inches away from your face and has bad breath. Try working with an arrogant director who screams at you.

Still think it is exciting and glamorous, if so then you just might make it. The truth is most beginner actors don't last in the business for more than five years. It takes talent, hard work, discipline, tenacity, self-confidence, drive, and ambition. You are more likely to survive, if you go into it for the right reasons. A love and respect for the art. A feeling so strong that you know your life would be meaningless without an opportunity to perform, however seldom that opportunity comes along.