what do you need to be a successful actor?

LighterGuy

Was thinking about this last night and its kinda intriguing.

- In music, all you have to be is goodlooking. How many singers sound crap live?
- Even in things such as pro wrestling talent takes a backseat to a large physique (Usually an "enhanced physique")

So how much does talent play? or is it all about looks?
I know there are varying levels of success in acting. But lets say the big time. Hollywood. What does it take? ... a pretty face weighs more than talent?

Biggins

Fans and talent.

Luck

Yakult

bunch of 13yo girls

Oranage2

you need to be Homosexual.

UsernameInUse

You need an uncanny edge at being a total arsehole.

Ruu_Old

A good PA, dash of arrogance wouldn't hurt either.

Larianne

LighterGuy wrote: »

... a pretty face weighs more than talent?

For women yes, for men not so much.

I'd say sexual favours plays a huge part too.

Sergeant

Attend the Leo Dowling School of Acting.

liah

If you're male, all you need is talent. If you're female, all you need are looks.

/crass generalizations.

Seriously though, if you're male, you gotta have talent to become one of the greats, and your looks don't really matter that much, though they obviously help. If you're female, it's generally the reverse: looks first, talent after. Bonus points if she's both in surplus (Natalie Portman, for instance). Occasionally an ugly woman will get through but it's been a long time since I've seen it..

Oh, and just in case someone drops the 'feminazi' card or something-- I'm not complaining about this. I'd rather look at beautiful people on TV screens, I can look at normal people any time.

LighterGuy

Yakult wrote: »

bunch of 13yo girls

That has worked out for Justin Beibler and Jedward so far

Oranage2 wrote: »

you need to be Homosexual.

Its pretty screwed up because who hasnt heard of a girl dropping her knickers for a director / casting director ... but we all know the acting industry has alot of gay men. Freaky to think a lot of guys have probably dropped their draws for a director! lol. ...

LighterGuy

liah wrote: »

If you're male, all you need is talent. If you're female, all you need are looks.

/crass generalizations.

Seriously though, if you're male, you gotta have talent to become one of the greats, and your looks don't really matter that much, though they obviously help. If you're female, it's generally the reverse: looks first, talent after. Bonus points if she's both in surplus (Natalie Portman, for instance). Occasionally an ugly woman will get through but it's been a long time since I've seen it..

Guess I agree.
But how many ugly leading hollywood men have you also seen tho?
Then again, Im a guy and not gay. lol. So I cant really tell who is goodlooking and not :P

Latchy

A lot of very good ugly actors out there , male and female and a lot of very bad ' but good looking ' ones to so saying it's all about having good looks is incorrect .

If the part in a movie calls for somebody who has a plain ,ordinary or ugly face ( by definition ) then unless he/she has a makeover ,they are not going to look for somebody good looking

rossie1977

LighterGuy wrote: »

Was thinking about this last night and its kinda intriguing.

- In music, all you have to be is goodlooking. How many singers sound crap live?

you still need talent of some kind, yes the pop music sold to pre-teen girls doesn't require much more than good marketing but don't tell me james hetfield and thom yorke get by on their good looks :eek:

- Even in things such as pro wrestling talent takes a backseat to a large physique (Usually an "enhanced physique")

charisma and mic work are the two main things in pro-wrestling, thats been the case since the early 60s and the era of gorgeous george. ric flair never had a great physique but most consider him one of the greatest of all time

OutlawPete

A good liar.

That's all acting is .. lying.

Doesn't mean they have to be 'liars' of course.

DeVore

I've done a good bit of acting up to the point of getting paid (minimally) for it.


You need a few things.... Talent is one , for sure. You need training because every profession requires you to learn the basics of the trade. You need confidence in yourself and you need presence.

After that, you need perseverance and a huge chunk of LUCK.

Actors make very little money so if you think its all coke and hookers and money... its not. Its a rough job with long long hours. Forget weekends, forget nights.

Coming up to a play I might be in reheasals 5 nights a week and the other 2 I'm running lines at home.

During a shoot, you can be sitting for 16 hours on set having recorded maybe 15 minutes if you are lucky, while crews sort out issues and directors and writers argue etc. You spend 2 hours in hair and makeup and there have been nights we finished at 3 and were back in H&M at 7 or 8.

Acting is a real talent, which is why unlike boy bands, you dont see too many "celebs" from that genre.

DeV.

liah

LighterGuy wrote: »

Guess I agree.
But how many ugly leading hollywood men have you also seen tho?
Then again, Im a guy and not gay. lol. So I cant really tell who is goodlooking and not :P

Maybe not ugly, but there's loads of overweight/not conventionally attractive (though undoubtedly some find them so!), yet popular and successful, actors. Seth Rogen, Jack Black, Willem Dafoe, Danny De Vito, Steve Buscemi, Ed Norton, Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Walken, Joe Pesci, Mickey Rourke, Michael Cera, etc.

Men are allowed much more range in terms of visual appearance than women typically are in Hollywood.

AnonoMouse

You need to be able to carry several plates at the same time.

Yakult

LighterGuy wrote: »

That has worked out for Justin Beibler and Jedward so far

Dont forget the gay vampires from Twillight!!

Latchy

A good Agent ...even John Wayne did loads of b movies before he became the legend

Handsome Bob

Fearlessness, confidence, perserverence, a thick skin and charisma would be big attributes for an actor to have. Oh yeah and talent. :pac:

Colilfc

this pretty much sums it up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyoWmkhRyp8

LighterGuy

Yakult wrote: »

Dont forget the gay vampires from Twillight!!

Too true.
God... i've never watched twilight. you know what, it might be an alright movie, i dunno, i've never seen it. but the whole thing doesnt appeal to my demographic of being a man, mid 20s and with intelligence :P lol.

DeVore wrote: »

I've done a good bit of acting up to the point of getting paid (minimally) for it.

Actually, whats the acting scene like in Ireland?
Am I right to think its practally non exsistant compared to a country like the england?

rossie1977

liah wrote: »

Men are allowed much more range in terms of visual appearance than women typically are in Hollywood.

torri spelling, sarah jessica parker, hillary swank, Renee Zellweger, jodie foster are not exactly conventionally attractive either, people like rosie o donnell, kathy bates and Roseanne Barr have got loads of work in hollywood

XcupcakeX

serious drug and prostitution addictions..... Oh wait that's 'what do u need to be as successful an actor as charlie sheen?'

Latchy

There's that famous, but likely apocryphal, story about Laurence Olivier and Dustin Hoffman when they were working together on Marathon Man. To prepare for a scene, Hoffman had gone for a few days without sleep and looked pretty rough. Olivier asked him why he was putting himself through such an ordeal and Hoffman replied that he was trying to be convincing in the role.

Olivier replied, "Try acting dear boy" :cool:

liah

rossie1977 wrote: »

torri spelling, sarah jessica parker, hillary swank, Renee Zellweger, jodie foster are not exactly conventionally attractive either, people like rosie o donnell, kathy bates and Roseanne Barr have got loads of work in hollywood

Not even close to the same amount of fat guys who've got loads of work, though, in fairness. And Swank/Foster are the only two I'd consider proper actors out of those.. neither are ugly by any stretch, and while I don't like Swank she's not unattractive. the rest tend to be just romcom/sitcom/bad comedy stars and imo don't really count in the context of successful overall actors. Kathy Bates is a legend though.

Tilda Swinton is another one on the female end of things. Having trouble thinking of more though.

EverEvolving

liah wrote: »

Tilda Swinton is another one on the female end of things. Having trouble thinking of more though.

Sigorney Weaver, Emma Thompson (not especially unattractive but kinda fits), Diane Keaton, Meryl Streep

Ya it is hard actually! Especially to come up with younger names.

Poor Craythur

Whilst there are less of them around, I think less conventionally attractive female actresses stand a better chance of having longevity in their career because they didn't break into acting on the back of their looks. That's not to say good-looking actresses are all talentless.

Naomi Watts is another one I think. She's fairly good-looking but not a knock-out, I don't think, but she is very successful and still very in demand for meaty roles in her 40s. And indeed she was in her 30s before she even tasted success.

Fart

DeVore wrote: »

I've done a good bit of acting up to the point of getting paid (minimally) for it.


You need a few things.... Talent is one , for sure. You need training because every profession requires you to learn the basics of the trade. You need confidence in yourself and you need presence.

After that, you need perseverance and a huge chunk of LUCK.

Actors make very little money so if you think its all coke and hookers and money... its not. Its a rough job with long long hours. Forget weekends, forget nights.

Coming up to a play I might be in reheasals 5 nights a week and the other 2 I'm running lines at home.

During a shoot, you can be sitting for 16 hours on set having recorded maybe 15 minutes if you are lucky, while crews sort out issues and directors and writers argue etc. You spend 2 hours in hair and makeup and there have been nights we finished at 3 and were back in H&M at 7 or 8.

Acting is a real talent, which is why unlike boy bands, you dont see too many "celebs" from that genre.

DeV.

We're talking about real actors here.

Capt'n Midnight

The secret is honesty. Once you've learned to fake that you're away.