What do actors do to pay the rent in between shows?- Page 2

[whatyouown223]

Posted: 9/30/06 at 10:25am

Some have careers...I know Felicia Finley is a real estate agent, haha.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 9/30/06 at 10:37am

"An actor's real job is auditioning. Booking a job is a gift."

Auditioning is not a job. Working is a job. Auditioning is just that - auditioning - it's like going on job interviews. A job pays money.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/30/06 at 10:45am

"Lucky ones do commercials and voiceover work, both of which can pay VERY well (better than a Broadway show in some cases)."

Margo, I'm sure you know how difficult it is to get either one of those gigs. It's far from the norm, and only a handful of people ever land those jobs. And their Broadway credentials do little or nothing to help them get commercial or VO work.

It's practically like saying, "In between Broadway shows, I just win an Oscar to pay the bills."

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 9/30/06 at 10:53am

Some that I know make a good living with audiobooks. But it's crazy difficult to get into the commercial voiceover thing - I once had a management client (who has since done series regular work) who made a veritable fortune doing voiceovers, changing her voice subtly enough that you wouldn't necessarily know it was her from product to product, and everyone used her. That's why it's so hard - once voice type will become "the type" for a while, and one or two people will get all the jobs for that time period.

Another former client was a tv series regular as a teenager, gave it up for college/law school, and then went back out to LA to try acting again. She worked as everything from a substitute teacher to government census taker before breaking into to non-union educational dvd work, and some years later is now the star of two animated series and constantly guesting on others. She is a well-known name, and that's what it took for her to get in.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/30/06 at 11:00am

Yeah, VO work isn't like mowing the lawn or working at Starbucks.

It's a challenging, very exclusive, and competitive career in itself.

And you're right, there are only a handful of people out here who do EVERYTHING. Talk about an exclusive "club!"

[Tsao5]

Posted: 9/30/06 at 11:15am

Some teach English. My ex-girlfriend worked teaching English to foreign students in NYC. She loved it! And the acting skills came in handy. There were at least 5 teachers there, one who had been in 5 B'way shows. The students seemed to like the teachers the most who were actors because they felt very comfortable in front of people and were creative with their lessons. When she got into a show in New Jersey her students came to see her. She said it was one of the best nights of her on stage experience........

[CompletlyNakedStatue]

Posted: 9/30/06 at 12:26pm

I agree that a lot teach/coach acting, singing, dance classes, fitness classes. I earn extra $$ between and during shows teaching yoga and pilates.

I know Broadway actors who've worked a lot of retail... cosmetics, wet seal... a lot do temp work, secretarial work, etc...

[RainbowHigh2]

Posted: 9/30/06 at 12:52pm

I've temped with so many actors. Great money for a day's work, and you get to sit at a computer all day and surf the net.

[actor]

Posted: 9/30/06 at 2:53pm

"Telemarketing"

If Shoshana called my house, I think I might die.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 9/30/06 at 2:58pm

"HI MY NAME IS PATTI AND I'M CALLING ON BEHALF OF THE NATIONAL MAGAZINE NETWORK. WOULDN'T YOU LIKE TO RECEIVE YOUR FAVORITE MAGAZINES RIGHT IN YOUR MAILBOX FOR HALF THE NEWSSTAND PRICE? OF COURSE YOU WOULD!"

[actor]

Posted: 9/30/06 at 3:01pm

"Hi I'm...Kathy...and I'm calling in regards to the National Phone Society. We offer a 60% lower-"

"Is this Idina? Oh my f**king gosh. IDINA???????????????????????!!!!!!!!!"

::phone clicks::

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 9/30/06 at 3:16pm

Some also do opera and opera chorus (also hard to get, but not as hard as broadway).

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 9/30/06 at 3:31pm

I'm sure a lot of stars do concerts.

[kissmetoofiercely]

Posted: 10/1/06 at 6:21pm

dont you know?
theyre not gonna pay, theyre not gonna pay...

[actor]

Posted: 10/1/06 at 6:24pm

hahaha

[AlmostFamous]

Posted: 10/1/06 at 6:40pm

I know that some work on the Sight-Seeing Buses

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 10/1/06 at 7:05pm

While I know it's difficult -- which is why I said the "lucky" ones -- I have at least three actor friends who have landed national commercials in the past year or two which have financially allowed them to concentrate almost exclusively on doing the more fulfilling, but low-paying stage work which they generally prefer to tv and film (though one of them just landed a regular gig on a very well-written network tv show which he's quite excited about).

Updated On: 10/1/06 at 07:05 PM

[BreeDaniel]

Posted: 10/1/06 at 7:15pm

The very lucky ones do tons of voice over work and make a hefty enough paycheck to turn down mediocre stage work, two that immediately come to mind are Murney and Orfeh. I've seen many on repeated episodes of Law and Order and I've seen people like Micheal Arden and Christian Borle on national commercials that I'm sure made them a boat load of cash. The ones that don't limit their options fare better. Some "actors" think it's beneath them to do commercials, the smart ones laugh all the way to the bank.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 10/1/06 at 7:21pm

"Some "actors" think it's beneath them to do commercials"

I don't believe that's true anymore. Actors wised up on that score quite a while ago.

[actor]

Posted: 10/1/06 at 7:23pm

I think Rath's right. You see actors in commercials all of the time.