Expert: Peter Messaline - 4/10/2008

Question
No matter what, my parents will not budge, so on that regards I must become a pharmacist. It's kind of my passion too. Also, my other passion is acting, and I can not give it up neither. My parents do not know this nor do I plan on telling them this, but I want to get my pharmD, then work part time as a pharmacist and part time as an actor? Do you think it's a good idea?

Also, I'd like to start acting right now as a junior in high school, but the classes I've heard just make you play "acting games", and they aren't really relevant to what I wanna do: Film,Voice Overs, and very few stage performances. So, what can I do in the Rio Grande Valley to start getting more practice and noticed so that I can get an agent if there are no community theatres over here, and currently I do not have the means to move to a bigger place where there are such offerings. Keep in mind my parents aren't that supportive. Thanks for answering my two questions.

Answer
You will not get an agent who will be any use to you. You say yourself there is no work in the area and you can't move. No legitimate agency would set up in an area where there is no work. Agents live on the 10% they take off their artists' fees. No work for the artist means no rent money for the agent.You may find a scam artist who will make promises, take your money and leave you no better off.

It will be very difficult to work as a pharmacist part-time if you're an actor.
Sometimes people find jobs where they can dip in and out as work and auditions necessitate,
but a pharmacist, at least until he is established in a successful store with another pharmacist available, can't take a morning off suddenly for an audition, and certainly can't disappear for an open-ended commitment to a film gig out of town..

If what you want to do is to act, then there are other people who might be interested in working with you, either in an established company, or as part of a group you start. Find out a strong local subject and improvise a play around it.

If you are attracted by the glitz and the magic, forget it. Even for a star, there's not much magic in being submerged in a stream all one morning, and there's a long way down from that to where you'd be to start with, down among hundreds of other actors just as gorgeous as you and apparently confident and doing well, but actually full of BS. In the major film and TV centres a successful year is where you audition sometimes. These actors take classes because that's the only chance they get to act.

You can get from where you are now to where you want to be, but you have to be a self-starter. Go to the library and read all you can find in Dewey Decimal 790. These are books about being an actor. Nearby there will be books about how to act, but for now I want you to read all you can about the job of being an actor. "Audition", by Michael Shurtleff is a deservedly famous example and very readable.

Treat acting as a career choice. Do the same sort of research as you would any career. Where should you live, where go to college, how much can you expect to make. This sort of serious work may convince your parents that their son is seriously interested in a different career, rather than simply fighting against the family tradition.

You're on the ground in the Rio Grande Valley. You're in the best position to find out about what is available in your area, and what might be made to happen. Talk it up, get other people interested.

And remember that life is what happens while we're making plans. Enjoy the next years in as many different ways as you can, and don't waste time on trying to move directly to the next mountain but one, while ignoring the beauties of the trip you're on.