Expert: Phil Nemy - 5/10/2008

Question
Hello! My name is Lily, and I'm 14. I wanted to act since about 2 years ago, and I'm really passionate about this, but lately I've been thinking if I'm acting for the right reasons. I don't know if it's because, I tried out for this AMAZING art school for high school, and then I got rejected, so maybe my confidence have gone down, or maybe I'm just doing it for the life. Truthfully, I know that I really don't have to be as famous as Jessica Alba, and I don't want to do movies that much. I want to do TV, and I want to be on a show like "Lost", because being on a set like that looks so much fun, and it's amazing to play a character in a show, with a plot like that. I love how being on a set is so much fun. For ex. the show "Supernatural". It's not that popular, but still I would do anything, just to be on that show. Now I know acting is hard, because it is. Not only do you have to become the character, and sound like the character, move like the character, react like the character, but every muscle you move has to be the character too. Like the facial expression is really hard, because one thing can mean a lot. When I started this, I said to myself that I want to be such a good actor, that when I act out a sad scene, they will cry, or just feel sad too. When a person is watching a emotional scene, a actor should want the audience to feel how deep & serious it is. It's like your a perfume, and you want your smell to go through the TV, and the audience can smell it too. So my question is, is that . . .do I want to act, because I love to act, or is it because I just like the idea of it?

Answer
Lily,

Thanks for writing. Unfortunately, you've asked a question that I cannot answer. No one can answer that question but you. You need to look inside your heart and mind and ask yourself the question - do you want to act, or do you just like the idea of it? Only you know what's in your heart.

Good luck!

Phil