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To Tony,
I have to say this is the best acting site i have EVER been to. I'm sure you have helped many people begin their dream! I've helped in advertising your site to over 38 of my aspiring actor friends. You are doing an amazing thing by helping these people. I wish you the best in your acting career so that you may be a role model for all those who look up to your sucess.

-Rachael W., actress, Canada

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Anthony,
Happy New year to you. I really enjoy your e-mails and your website. As someone who has just started the journey of becoming an actor I enjoy your site which is full of wonderful insights and answers to questions I have had, and it's funny but it seems as though every time you update your site, it answers a question I have been struggling with at that point.

Thank you for your website, you have helped me a lot as I know you have helped numerous others.

Have a wonderful 2008 and may you break a leg in everything you do this year as an actor.

Sam T Kelly, actor, Los Angeles, CA

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Tony,
I did what you said and…I got two interviews with two agents! Thank you! Sorry but can I ask you…how do I prepare to go meet the agent? What do I have to do?
Marsha P., New York, NY, USA

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Tony,
I just wanted to let you know that I copied a quote of your's and I'm putting it on my refrigerator when I move to L.A. this next week. Thanks for the continued encouragement to all of us trying to achieve our goals. Keep up the good work.

Best,
Kyle S., actor

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This site has taught me a lot that I needed to know without dragging me all over the place.
Lauren, actress, Atlanta, GA

Students

How To Start Acting

How to start acting? Aspiring actors want to know what some concrete steps they can take if they are at the very beginning of their acting careers.

I discussed this the other day with best-selling author Brian O’Neil (Acting As A Business: Strategies For Success) and this is his list of 5 things you can easily do to start your acting career.

1. Get some training in acting technique as well as specialty training, i.e. on-camera commercial training, acting for film, etc.

2. Put together some monologues for your auditions. It will do you little justice if you get a meeting with an agent or get an audition and you don’t have anything prepared.

3. Contact your local (reputable ones!) theatres in your area to attend staged readings of plays, participate as a reader, read stage directions or usher. This will put you in close proximity to the people you want to meet (people who cast the plays, directors, artistic directors, other actors: all sources of contact and information for you.

Participating as a reader in staged readings with reputable theatres, extra work and soap work along with your training, training, training are great ways to start to build a résumé, especially if you have nothing to put on it.

4. Contact agencies that cast for background work. Extra or background work provides a great education to see how actors really work on set. You get to see it all up close. It’s great experience at the beginning of your career.

5. Find out who the people are who cast for soap operas (especially if you are in New York or Los Angeles). Getting work on soaps is very accessible even if you don’t have an agent. It’s relatively easy to get cast in small roles for these programs and there are a lot of opportunities every day as soaps are shot 5 days per week, 52 weeks per year.

With regard to this point, Brian told me about a client of his who was able to book 12 days on a soap in New York and he did it without an agent. He told of another who booked three days, all speaking roles; once again without an agent.

6. One more tip with regard to how to start acting: Finding an agent for on-camera commercials and commercial print and/or voice over work, are other opportunities you could pursue in the meantime. You must take into consideration, however, that those areas also require certain skill sets. For example, there are specialized classes for on-camera commercials and also improvisation is a great help to prepare for that kind of work as well.

You must realize, however, that if you want to not only ensure that you will be able to start acting as soon as possible, but also create a long and successful career, you will need certain characteristics that working actors have.

Best-Selling Author Brian O'Neil

Brian O'Neil is the author of the best-selling book for actors Acting As A Business: Strategies For Success, a must read for anyone who is serious about pursuing an acting career. Brian has more than twenty years experience in the industry as an actor, manager and agent. It is possible to contact Brian directly at www.actingasabusiness.com for personal consutations as well as for his speaking and seminar schedule.

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