I recently had a lady contact me asking for advice about becoming an actress.
She was in her 30s, had never acted professionally before and essentially wanted me to assess her and tell her whether she was good enough to become an actor. And, if I thought she was, what steps she should take next.
Straight away I thought: Ooooh... dangerous game.
Because nobody has the right to tell you whether you should or shouldn’t be an actor.
Am I good enough to become an actor?
If you’re asking someone else to give you permission to act, I think you’re starting in the wrong place.
You need to have that desire yourself.
Because if you do pursue acting, I can absolutely guarantee you that at some point someone will make you feel like you’re not good enough.
You won’t get the audition. You’ll get the audition and then hear nothing. You’ll get close to a part and lose it. An agent won’t want to represent you. A casting director might not respond to you. Someone in a class might be told they were brilliant while you get absolutely nothing.
That is the business.
And acting itself is also completely subjective.
Remember: not everybody likes Meryl Streep.
There are actors who can walk in off the street with practically no training and have something incredibly natural.
I remember meeting Barry Keoghan years ago through The Factory in Dublin. Even back then, before the career he has now, you could see it. There was something incredibly natural about him.
On the other hand, I’ve worked with actors who have trained for years and still struggle to really reveal themselves on camera. They’re acting the scene, but I don’t quite believe them yet.
Can that improve? Of course. That’s what training is for.
But I still wouldn’t sit opposite someone after one session and announce whether they have the right to pursue acting.
Who am I to decide that?
The thing that DOES make me wonder if acting is for you...
Admin.
Yeah. Seriously.
Forget crying on cue for a second.
Can you read an email? Can you follow casting instructions? Can you send a self-tape in the correct format? Can you learn your lines? Can you turn up on time? Can you remember your appointment? Can you answer your agent?
Because there is a LOT of admin involved in being a professional actor, and nobody is going to baby you into doing it.
You would be surprised how often actors fall at this hurdle.
If someone repeatedly doesn’t read instructions, turns up late, doesn’t prepare properly, misses deadlines or expects everyone else to organise their career for them, that is when I start thinking:
Hmmm... maybe this isn't for you.
Not because I think you’re a bad actor.
Because being a professional actor involves much more than acting.
Is it too late to become an actor in your 30s?
No.
Actually, I think starting acting in your 30s can have some real advantages.
You’ve lived.
You’ve probably had relationships, heartbreaks, horrible bosses, money problems, friendships, family dramas and experiences that you can bring into your work.
Hopefully, you’re also slightly better at admin. 😂
And you’re not entering the incredibly saturated bracket of women in their early 20s. That is a HARD bracket.
So if you’re sitting there at 30, 35 or 40 thinking you’ve missed your opportunity because you didn’t go to drama school at 18, I personally wouldn’t look at it that way.
But I also wouldn’t rush.
How do you actually start becoming an actor?
This might be controversial, but if someone came to me today and said:
“I want to become a screen actor. What should I do first?”
My advice would NOT necessarily be: Go and spend three years at drama school.
I know. Shock. Horror.
Drama school can be brilliant and absolutely the right route for some actors. But I don’t believe it is the only way to become an actor. And if your goal is specifically to work in TV and film, there are other ways to start building your craft.
The first thing most new actors think they need is:
Headshots → Agent → Auditions.
I would slow the whole thing down. This is not a sprint.
If you’re serious about becoming an actor, treat it like a marathon.
Because believe me... it will be.
Step one: Learn how to act before worrying about getting an agent
I would focus on the craft first. And I would start by being clear about what kind of actor you actually want to become.
Do you want to work primarily in theatre? Film and television? Musical theatre?
They require overlapping skills, of course, but they are also different mediums.
My world is TV and film, so if your ambition is to become a screen actor, I would start looking for good screen acting classes and teachers who genuinely understand acting for camera.
Not someone who is simply going to tell you that you are wonderful every week.
You need someone who will challenge you.
Find a mentor – but be VERY picky
Who guides you at the beginning can have a massive impact on how you develop as an actor. So be picky.
Don't just Google acting classes near me, book the first one you see and decide that this person now holds the secret to acting.
Go and investigate. One of the best things you can do is observe acting classes before joining them.
Some acting studios let you observe for free. Others charge a small fee. Pay it.
You are potentially going to spend hundreds or thousands of pounds training with somebody. Spending a little money to see how they actually teach is worth it.
And don't observe one class. Observe several.
See how different teachers work. Watch how they speak to actors. Look at the actors in the room. Are they actually getting better after direction? Do you like the atmosphere? Does the teacher explain why something isn't working?
Most importantly: Does their way of communicating make sense to YOU?
Don't stay with one acting method forever
This is another thing I feel quite strongly about. I don't believe there is one correct way to act.
I've been acting professionally for over 20 years and I've worked with many different teachers, directors and actors.
Different things work for different people. One teacher might completely unlock something in you. Another actor in exactly the same class might think, What the hell is this person talking about? That's fine. Acting is personal. Your job is to slowly build your own toolbox.
Try different approaches. Different teachers. Different acting methods. Different scenes. Different genres. Take what works. Leave what doesn't. Eventually you stop thinking, How am I supposed to act this?
You start knowing what you need to do to get yourself there.
Practise being on camera
If your goal is screen acting, you need to see yourself on screen. A lot. You need to get over the horror of watching yourself back.
And yes, initially you may spend the entire playback thinking: Why is my mouth doing that?
Welcome to screen acting. But eventually you stop watching yourself as a person and start watching the work.
Was I listening? Did I believe that thought? Could I see myself thinking? Was I anticipating the line? Did I understand the scene?Was I doing too much? Could I do less?
This is why regular screen acting classes and self-tape practice can be so useful. You're not only learning how to act. You're learning how your acting translates through a camera.
That is a skill in itself.
Build footage before you start chasing representation
As you train, start collecting footage of your strongest work. Not everything. Your best work.
If you're attending workshops or screen acting classes where you receive your footage afterwards, keep the scenes that genuinely represent you well.
Over time, you can start understanding your casting too.
What roles do you naturally fit? What happens when people watch you? What kind of characters do you make believable?
Then, when you're ready, you can start thinking about professional headshots, showreel material and eventually approaching agents.
Not the other way around.
When should you start looking for an acting agent?
When you feel reasonably confident that if an agent gets you an audition tomorrow, you know what to do with it.
That doesn't mean you need to be perfect. Nobody is. But imagine this: You've spent months desperately trying to get an agent. Finally, somebody signs you. Two days later, they send you a brilliant television audition with a 48-hour self-tape deadline.
Now what? Do you know how to break down the scene? Do you understand eyelines? Can you make strong choices? Can you learn the lines quickly? Can you produce a professional self-tape? Can you take direction if you get a recall? And, most importantly, if you actually BOOK THE JOB... Can you walk onto a professional set and do it?
That's what I'd be preparing for. Not just getting an agent.
Give yourself a year
If I were starting from scratch today and had the financial freedom to do it properly, I would happily give myself a year before putting pressure on myself to get representation.
Train. Observe. Experiment. Do screen acting classes. Practise self-tapes. Build footage. Get comfortable on camera. Get good headshots when you're ready.
Then start approaching the industry.
You only get to properly launch yourself for the first time once. Make it worth it.
And please don't wait for somebody to officially declare you good enough before you begin.
If you want to act, start acting. Then do the work to become better. That's the bit you can actually control.
If you're at the stage where you want to practise regularly on camera, my weekly Screen Acting Classes in London are built around exactly that: doing the work, getting redirected and watching it back. And if you're further along but don't yet have strong footage that represents you, my Tape REEL for Actors is designed to help you create it.
Sending Big Hugs,
Natalia
Owning It Acting Studio
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