Expert: Kenneth D. Plonkey - 8/12/2011

Question
Hi there! To start off, im 15 years old, and although im not currently pursuing a professional career, i find it totally necessary to begin planning and deciding what im going to do in the future.
For starters, there's nothing i want to do more than acting on TV/Movies; even if they're bit parts. I live in an area where there are absolutely no professional opportunities. So i am concentrating on my schooling and my school theatre program. However, i find myself still wondering what my plans will be after highschool. I want to go to a theatre/performance arts oriented college. What colleges would you suggest? Also, i would love to have these colleges in an area with job opportunities so i can do small acting jobs while i go to college. I'm also working on scholarships and student loans, because my family is a lower middle-class family. So thew college needs to be at least slightly affordable. Thank you :)

Answer
Hi Jaclyn, It is a good thing that you are thinking about the future at this time. I wish you had put where you live, as many people are not at all aware of the opportunities in their areas.
First, you have to know that it takes many, many years to become an actor. It was twenty years after I graduated college that I began to act in films. You can prepare for acting now by doing all the plays you can find, going to acting camps in the summer and reading books on being a professional actor. Many colleges have BFA acting programs, and this is what would be your best choice. But it will take an outstanding student to be accepted into such a program. If you are in a BFA acting program, you will not have time to be in any other acting activities. Except in the summers, but you again need to live where the work is.  Now, BFA programs are going to cost thirty to fifty thousand dollars a year, and so you may want to do something else. Being an acting and attempting to be an actor is a business and like all businesses it requires considerable financial investment. Learn much more by going to http://tao-of-acting.org and read my free ebook and all of my blog back to its beginning. Use the contact button on the site to ask me lots of questions. God bless, Doc