Actor
Actors bring characters to life on stage and screen. While acting usually involves memorising and delivering lines, actors also need strong interpretive skills to understand and bring out new elements in a character, as well as to improvise where necessary. To bring a character to life, actors need to creatively portray emotions through actions, gestures, facial expressions etc.
Actors can choose to specialise in performing live on stage or being recorded on film. They can also specialise in voice acting – providing voices for animated and videogame characters, and narration for audio books, web sites, and documentaries and commercials for TV and radio. Some actors are known for their talent in handling many different types of acting roles.
The ability to sing, play a musical instrument and/or dance well will make actors more versatile performers. Martial arts or gymnastics training will also enable them to take on a wider variety of roles, thus greatly increasing their chances of landing an acting job.
Typical Employers
Actors are typically hired by production companies for the duration of filming a TV series, commercial or movie, or a series of performances in a theatre.
Most actors work on a freelance contract basis - either looking for contracts on their own or hiring an agent to do it for them.
Qualifications
There are no specific qualifications, but formal training will teach the theory and techniques of professional acting.
Many obtain degrees in fine arts, performing arts, drama or theatre to obtain this training.
Key Skills
- excellent communication and social skills
- good memory skills
- articulate
- self-confident
- expressive
- able to think quickly
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