Expert: Peter Messaline - 6/2/2007

Question
im an international student and currently im in  Baylor university,im majoring in biology(pre-med),i did not have much interest in acting until i came to America and i find myself think about it and wanting to act in movies.in three years time,ill graduate and go to medical school,but the confusing part of it is that i want to act too.ive tried stopping myself from thinking about acting,but i cant,i want to be a doctor too.although im fifteen and might graduate from medical school at 24 years,i feel,its too late,i dont know what to do because im really confused,i can not even tell my parents because they will freak out.please can you advice me on what to do and the schools to go for acting.

Answer
My sympathy with you in your struggle. Congratulations on trying to deal with it sensibly, instead of just changing your name, moving to Los Angeles and being a waiter for the rest of your life!  :)

You will have to forgive me if I say things you've already thought through:

Are you sure that you want to  run towards acting, rather than away from your current track? Pre-med, and certainly the rest of the course to a medical specialty, looks like a mountain now, and acting may look like freedom and self-determination. But believe me, being a professional actor is at least as much a mountain. Any decent theatre arts or film course will work you all day every day through a three-year degree, with physical and emotional, as well as intellectual challenges. Once you're qualified, you join the thousands of wannabes who are struggling for any acting work at all. In Los Angeles, where all the restaurants are staffed by actors, film and television work is so short for union members that they are given special permission to perform for nothing in stage productions which they hope casting directors will come to see.

Have you considered the difference between what actors seem to be doing, and what is actually happening? The brief funny scene on the beach that took three weeks in the freezing cold because planes flew over every ten minutes and the sun wouldn't come out? The conversation in the store, where the actress playing the shop assistant had to walk about behind the counter with her legs bent up, so that the camera could show her and the seated star. (It happened to my wife!)

You see I'm not keen on your changing track!
I think that you can ease the acting itch, and build up useful résumé credits in case you do decide to change track later, by joining the university drama club. you could volunteer for the Theatre Arts production teams: you won't get cast there, but you may be able to hang around backstage and learn something by absorption.

If the worst comes to the worst, and you end up qualified as a doctor and still yearning to be in theatre, remember that Jonathan Miller got his medical degree before turning professional. and he's done pretty well.