There are many milestone birthdays that take on extra significance to people. Hitting 50, or 40 or even 30. This last one can weigh heavily on many actors because it isn’t too late to veer off into another field and still be fairly competitive because college is less than a decade behind you.That means it isn’t too late to put this silly “acting bug” behind you and have a “normal life” with a reasonable shot at health insurance of some kind every year. This is why many actors think about giving up around the age of 30. It can be an important number. Just don’t let it be too important.
The first step to having a successful fourth decade on this planet is to acknowledge where you might have made mistakes. Don’t beat yourself up, but look long and hard at the choices you made the past ten years or so, and identify where you need to improve. This would be a bad time to think that everything happens for a reason. While that may be true some of the time or even a lot of the time, as you are assessing your progress you must be able to acknowledge the concept of mistakes. Otherwise, you will look back in 30 years and still think everything happens for a reason and so your acting career just wasn’t what the universe had in store for you. The universe doesn’t hand anybody a career in acting. No one has an acting career in store for them.
Let me break down your first 30 years for you so you see why it makes no sense to feel “over” at 30. Unless you were born in or near Los Angeles, you had very few opportunities to have an acting career before the age of 18. Then many folks go to college, which brings us up to 22 or 24. Now we’re about 5 years from 30. See the problem. Many people take 5 years just to lock down a great safety job, obtain competitive training and do a little networking. And that’s assuming you didn’t make too many mistakes along the way. You are just getting started at 30.
Think of some of your favorite older actors. What were they doing in their 20’s? There is a small portion of actors that break in young and stay at acting from childhood through their 40’s. Many actors that start out as a successful child actor lose interest in their college years. Some others just can’t seem to make the transition to working adult actor. So, while some of the competition may be more experienced, the average person sitting across from you in my waiting room is pretty much in the same boat.
So, who gives up at 30? People who had unrealistic expectations about what it takes to be a professional actor. So many actors don’t break in until 40 or even 50. It can take 20 years to become a consistently working actor that makes a living. Booking a few co-stars every year won’t help you much to qualify for union insurance. Remember, some actors move here at 40! I applaud these folks because they have truly taken a leap of faith to pursue their dreams.For most actors, their best castings begin at 30. You are now eligible for dozens of “professional” roles like doctors and lawyers. And the roles themselves tend to be better as well. You have gone from playing a college kid in a horror film to playing a college professor that consults with the police to catch a killer. The roles are often better as you get older. Hollywood often writes roles for young actors that are superficial. But, as you get older, the roles are more complex and challenging. Stick around for these.
You have to show up. You have to keep showing up. People fail at an acting career because they give up, not because they had a birthday. And 30 years of age is way too young to decide that you are not talented enough or attractive enough to make it as an actor. This is a marathon. If you give up at 30, then in my book you were never very serious about it in the first place.
Don’t give up at 30! It’s not some magic, pre-ordained number. It only has the power you give it. If this is truly what you want more than anything, then show up every day and see it through.
Based in Los Angeles, Mark has cast films for many markets including the United Kingdom, Peru, the Philippines and Russia. Domestically, he has cast films that shot all over the country in Texas, Ohio, Massachusetts, Virginia and multiple projects in Colorado.
He currently teaches three weekly on-camera, audition technique classes in West Los Angeles.
Follow Mark on Twitter @castnguy.