The Great Acting Blog: “Professional Jealousy”
Few professions take their toll on the self-esteem in the way that acting does. Afterall, everytime an actor is rejected (i.e. – not getting the role, signing with the agent, or meeting a casting director etc) it is their face, their body, their personality that is the object in question. It is not a painting, or a film, or a song, or a joke that’s being rejected, it is themselves.
It is for this reason that I think actors are more prone to professional jealously than most. I’ve seen actors crushed when they’ve heard of a friend’s success. I’ve seen some even lash out, and I’ve seen others gradually decline over the years as their sense of themselves erodes whenever a colleague succeeds. This negative response to the progress of others reveals a fragile sense of one’s own self-worth, and it is like an acid which burns until eventually there is nothing left but ashes.
Choosing to feel intimidated by a colleague’s success, is not only a complete waste of time, it’s destructive as well. Celebrate them instead. See them as inspiration, afterall, they are showing you that it can be done.
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