Expert: Peter Messaline - 9/27/2007

Question
hi im 18 years old and for a while i've been interested in the acting scene, i dont have any experience and i would like to like to find out how/where to get started. I would like to start getting into doing tv commercials and then move up into acting on tv on local shows/series, then someday maybe onto the bigscreen. What/where do i need to start to make this happen?

Answer
Acting is a career choice, and all the jobs are fought over by people with training or experience, or both.
Vancouver is an excellent place to be for film and TV work! Go to Biz Books and ask them for a book about the Canadian business.
And log on to this discussion board,
http://www.vancouveractorsguide.com/Forum/
which is for BC actors, or this one which has a LOT of good basic advice in its Acting 101 section of FAQs.
http://canadianactor.com
You are unlikely to start by doing commercials. They pay very well, so the competition is horrendous. Your local cable TV route might work for you, though; not acting, because they buy their drama just as the networks do, but volunteering and getting to know a little bit about working in the business.