Expert: Peter Messaline - 8/19/2010

Question
iam 21 years old and i want to get into acting my long term goal is make it to hollywood. i dont live from LA so i can drive there if i have a chance to get some roles. my first year at this community college and iam going to take this acting class at the end of august. i have explore talent i look for roles. i have a job on the side to give myself the income for my fam does acting take a long time  can i make it by next year

Answer
I'm guessing that you are starting community college, and acting is looking better and better. Stand by for a bucket of cold water. You may find other people's advice easier to listen to, but do you really want to bet your happiness on meeting a casting director at a party and being asked to read for a part?
Believe me, no matter what you are learning now, you will make more money and be happier when you qualify than you would acting. Most actors make very little money from their acting. Maybe one in a thousand makes enough to live on, with some waitering on the side. SAG, the Screen Actors Guild, has 126,000 active members. How many actors can you name who are always on your screen? There are maybe a dozen big stars and two dozen who often appear.

If I am a producer in LA and I want to see twenty actresses for a non-paying project, I can start seeing girls with on-camera experience and years of training as soon as I put the phone down.

If you could see into an audition waiting room in LA, it's like first day at high school. Everyone looks way cooler than you, entirely on top of things, they sound confident and successful, and there are HUNDREDS of them.

Look up "Bonnie Gillespie", and read her advice to LA actors (she's a casting director there) You'll soon see that even actors with a successful career elsewhere in the country are advised to think twice before going to LA.

Acting is a real career, not something you can do because you like it. Most American actors have had university training, many have more than one degree, and most take training every year until they die. From where you are now, you wouldn't be likely to be ready to look for work for five years.

All bad news, I'm afraid, but the voice of experience.