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About the writer:
I started acting at the age of 14 years old and went on to study acting at a famous acting conservatory, from there I found myself working professionally on stage, in commercials and in quirky performance art pieces.

Acting is fun. It really is, but it does take a lot of passion and dedication.

SO YOU WANT TO BE AN ACTOR?

Before you consider a career in acting, take a moment to consider the following:

1. Do you like talking to groups of people? Are you the life of the party or do you prefer hiding by the chip bowl?

Believe it or not, most actors are very dynamic and outgoing. Actors love being the center of attention and the life of the party. If you shrink when people look at you or feel pure anxiety talking in front of crowds, then this is probably not the business you want to be in. Actors are entertainers. So before you decide on a career in acting, try to find out if you are truly up for being an entertainer.

2. Are you curious and sympathetic?
This may seem like a weird question to ask, but part of acting involves taking on a character, understanding the world from that characters point of view and presenting it to the world. While some actors are mean, angry people many have an understanding or a desire to know about the world, where people come from, how people interact with their environments and what motivates them. The deeper this curiosity goes, the stronger the actor.

3. Do you have a good memory?
This is the one people never stop to consider when they dream of being an actor.
While there are many different styles of acting, most require some amount of text memorization. From auditioning for commercials with only ten minutes to learn your lines to remembering where to walk while saying a line, actors are responsible for knowing their text and communicating it with intention. From two minute dialogs to three hour plays good memorization is one of the key skills an actor needs.

4. Do you take direction well?
Well do you? As talented and famous as many actors are, they didn't get there on their own, it takes a great director to put them in their best light. The play or film is the vision of the director, the director has final say on movement, costume, style and speech. Are you ready to have someone else in the director's chair letting you know what you should do?

5. Are you up for the competition?
So maybe one of the reasons that so many people decide not to be an actor is because there are so many people out there trying to be actors! It's a

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