Expert: Peter Messaline - 3/31/2007

Question
i am now at the age of 22, having just finished studies in law (a degree and a masters) and now i am in the position to get into training to become a lawyer in london. however, i am really doubting whether this would be the right profession for me.

acting has always been in my mind since i was little, as it is the only way that i would be able to live many different lives. thus i am now considering about becoming an actor. however given the singificance of the decision, i am in a dilemma as to whether i should start an acting course, or attempt to attend auditions, in order to be sure that i would like to do it.
i also think that after doing a course lasting three years i would be too old to start.
i have been told that i have a talent in acting, and i also speak 5 languages, 3 of them really good. do you think that anyone would be interested in my profile if i dont take an acting course first? however, although my english is in a very good level, it is not my mothertongue and i have an accent (if not many)

p.s. i am confident about my looks too

Answer
Let me ask you to step back and ask yourself whether it is possible that on the edge of professional life as a lawyer, after five or six years of university life, it is possible that you aren't running toward the perceived joys of acting, but rather away from the perceived problems of a lawyer's reality?

To be thinking seriously about an acting career without having done the research which would have taught you how desperately hard it would be to get training or to go to auditions of any sort, suggests that you are not approaching the alternative career with the the logic and caution learned in law school.

Forgive my saying so, but there are plenty of good looking 22-year-olds with no accent and more reliable skills in the written word, who also have training and at least some professional experience.

If you are in the UK, you should visit the British Equity website to see what you can find there. Spotlight's Contacts is a book with huge numbers of valuable resources listed.

If you are in Ontario, call TheatreBooks and ask them about books for those thinking of an acting career. Look at the TAAS website to see some very good acting teachers, whose courses will quickly give you a feeling of where you stand in the rankings.

But seriously, beware of the diving-board nerves that I suspect you are feeling. Much better than breaking into your progress towards being a lawyer now would be to stick with it until you can practise, and then think again about the acting alternative. Coming in at thirty would put you after the huge exodus from the acting profession that happens five years after graduation, which thins out the competition quite a lot.

Stand back and don't commit yourself to anything until you can see the outcomes.