The Great Acting Blog: “Wannabe”

The Great Acting Blog: “Wannabe”

A wannabe is someone who moans about not having something but does absolutely nothing to get it. In acting terms, this generally amounts to not getting work but doing nothing to actually get work. This persons “career” is little more than a pose. They pretend that accomplishing nothing as an actor is deeply painful to them, that acting is so important to them, it hurts. At the same time, they lack any dedication whatsoever. Never practicing craft, lacking any real drive to make their way as an actor, this person refers to their office job (etc) as a “day job”, inferring that it is “not really them”, it’s just something they do until their acting comes through. They refer to socialising as “networking”. This is one of the many downsides to the over-abundance of actors: that despite their best efforts an actor can legitimately go long periods of time without work, creating anguish for many real actors. For the wannabe however, unemployment is the camouflage they use to masque their disingenuity.

If we look past the superficial posturing of the wannabe however, we may see an emptiness. Without the pretence of being an actor, what is their life?

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