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Today’s Dream. Tomorrow’s Reality.

“Being Authentic” – Erin Parker

“Being Authentic” – Erin Parker

Choosing to pursue the life of a performer is difficult.  This probably isn’t news to you.  I mean, it’s just simple math!  There are way more actors out there than there are roles.  Somebody is going to get the part, and a lot of people are not.  Rejection is a frequent (if not daily) occurrence, and it can get you down. The highs are high, and the lows are low, so keeping your head on your shoulders is essential.

So how do you keep your head on straight?  I personally think one of the best things you can do for your mental well-being as an actor is to let go of trying to please and impress the people who have the power to give you a job or a role.  Instead, focus on your job – which is to be comfortable with who you are and to audition well.

Since you are not a mind reader (I mean, if you are – awesome! Perhaps you should be reading a “how to pursue a career as a magician” website instead of this one!) there is no way to figure out or decode what a director or casting director wants and then attempt to become that in the span of an audition.  You’re wasting your time and your energy! You’ll get a lot further by being the special, unique person that you are than you will by playing a guessing game and trying to become something you’re not.  Just show up as the best version of you.

Walk into that room knowing that you are capable. You are prepared.  You are YOU.  Being yourself is not only OK – it’s vital!   You are the absolutely-one-and-only YOU in the entire universe. Share THAT with the world!  And remember – what keeps you from getting cast in one show may be the thing that GETS you cast in a different one.

Casting comes down to a million different things – 999,995 (or more) of which you have no control over.  Your job is simply to show up prepared, to put yourself out there, to be 100% true to YOU, and to know that you are enough!  (All this is easier said than done, so feel free to write it on notecards that you can read before you go into an audition to remind yourself that you are unique and awesome.)  Your job isn’t to cast yourself. Your job is to audition!   Brian Cranston talks about this subject wonderfully in this video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1WiCGq-PcY

Once you can let go of trying to prove yourself and be all things to all people, you can relax. You can be you. And “you” are a valuable, unique asset.  Don’t worry about getting it “right”.  There is no “right.  Just get out there and be TRUE: True to yourself.  Be true to the character. Be true to situation that you are in.   I promise – the less you’re trying to prove, the more you’ll shine.

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