When people think of professional actors, they tend to think of romantic leading types. But I wouldn’t trade being a character actor for anything. I studied acting at Carnegie Mellon, and as graduation approached, I noticed that those of us who fell into the ‘character actor’ category were getting different words of wisdom than those who tended to play lead roles. For the leads, there was a lot of pressure to sign with a big agent and start working right away, because it’s all about youth and beauty. But it was almost the opposite for me. My teachers warned me that it would take some time for me to grow into my type, but once I started looking like someone who could have a career and a family, the work would come.
That’s a blessing and a curse, of course. It means I had several years to learn about the business and build a life for myself in LA before I started working regularly. I did tons of theater, took improv classes, worked day jobs, and found a community of friends who were all doing the same things. The curse is that those years can be really discouraging. A lot of actors give up or find someone or something that takes them in another direction. I …show more content…
I recently got to meet Dale Dickey, who did a small role in Better Things but is character actor royalty, she’s been in everything, and her work is always stellar. Those kinds of actors are my role models. Most people don’t know their names, might not even realize where they’ve seen them before. Sometimes they get to step into a lead role, and I love that that’s happening more and more. But to make a career of doing consistently excellent work across television, film, theater, and beyond in character roles that help make the final product as good as it can possibly be… That’s the
That’s a blessing and a curse, of course. It means I had several years to learn about the business and build a life for myself in LA before I started working regularly. I did tons of theater, took improv classes, worked day jobs, and found a community of friends who were all doing the same things. The curse is that those years can be really discouraging. A lot of actors give up or find someone or something that takes them in another direction. I …show more content…
I recently got to meet Dale Dickey, who did a small role in Better Things but is character actor royalty, she’s been in everything, and her work is always stellar. Those kinds of actors are my role models. Most people don’t know their names, might not even realize where they’ve seen them before. Sometimes they get to step into a lead role, and I love that that’s happening more and more. But to make a career of doing consistently excellent work across television, film, theater, and beyond in character roles that help make the final product as good as it can possibly be… That’s the