The Great Acting Blog: “The Delusional Actor”

The Great Acting Blog: “The Delusional Actor”

I’ve known actors over the years who convinced themselves that they were going to be big stars. In order to maintain this self-delusion, they would strut around the place as though they were special, treating their colleagues like second class citizens. They saw the production as merely a stepping stone toward their ultimate glory. However, they rarely ever seemed to truly enjoy the work, and their conceited attitude meant that they could never really develop the courage necessary to give generously during performances, so tight-fisted were they that it was as though they thought gracing us with their presence was enough.

Upon reflection, they must have been unhappy souls, as it must have been exhausting and stressful to continually fight reality in order to sustain the delusion that they were superior to their colleagues. There could never be a point of rest for them, never a moment when they could stop and look at what they had accomplished because that would mean acknowledging that they were not who they thought they were. Perhaps, with this thought in mind, the next time we encounter such an actor in our work, we will feel not sadness but pity for them. They will never really be a part of it all, they will never experience the true joy of being an actor.

Oh, and the actors I have known who thought they were going to be big stars, never made it. Infact, they are no longer actors at all.

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