How Skilled Are You as an Actor?

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“He who knows best knows how little he knows.” –Thomas Jefferson

Imagine your were given an acting-skill performance test with a group of other actors, but you were not given the opportunity to observe the performances of the other actors participating in the test. If you were asked to estimate where your acting abilities ranked among others in the study with 100% representing those with the most talent, at what percentile would you rank your skills? If you’re like the vast majority of people who are asked to rate themselves in a wide variety of abilities, virtually no one reading this article would rank him or herself below average in abilities, even though it would be statistically impossible for everyone to rate in the top 50%.

Scientists have discovered overconfidence is indeed common. Dr. David A. Dunning, professor of psychology at Cornell University concluded after a series of studies that people who do things poorly are often supremely confident of their competence level and are, in fact, more confident than those who actually are competent.

Click here to see a line up of overly confident American Idol contestants.

Those who “grossly overestimated” their abilities in Dunning’s studies were blind to their own lack of skills largely because the self-monitoring abilities required to achieve a competent skill level are likewise required to recognize competence.

“I began to think that there were probably lots of things that I was bad at, and I didn’t know it,” Dunning said.

On the other hand, those in the studies displaying high-level skills were likely to underestimate how well they performed, as they often assumed others taking the test would be doing as well as they were.

With all the mix ups in perceived and actual skill levels, Dunning set out to discover if training confident-but-incapable subjects would help their ability to properly assess their own skill levels. Thankfully, yes, it did!

So what can an aspiring actor conclude from these studies? Don’t be so confident? Wrong! In no way, shape, or form should you allow anything to mitigate your confidence level! In acting, confidence in your abilities ranks supreme and allows you to show your best no matter what your skill level at any given time. But, this study can serve as an inspiration to likewise be humble, and energize your training efforts. Never assume you now know it all. There is always room for improvement no matter what your skill level. When you remain open to learning, you can build on your communication skills, acting mastery, auditioning expertise, or on-camera technique, to name just a few examples. Following a sense of intrigue, wonder, and curiosity will serve you well over the years, and reaching out for more knowledge and skill can lead you the next level of the game and make all the difference in your acting career.

Please share what aspect of your career you’re currently working on. Inquiring minds want to know!

Submit your profile for commercial auditions, TV auditions (and more!) in Los Angeles, New York & nationwide. Get more auditions using Casting Frontier's online casting system and showcase your talent! Post your reel & plus get your Casting Card that includes your personal Actor ID Barcode. Visit us at http://castingfrontier.com.

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Get Discovered with Your Special Skills

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How does an actor get discovered? There’s always that (extremely rare) chance that you’ll be eating at your favorite restaurant and, just as you’re about to sink your teeth into a grilled vegetable salad, a big-time agent will interrupt your meal with an A-list offer. Wouldn’t that be miraculous? Unfortunately, yes–it probably does take a miracle. But given the fact that people actually do get discovered and do sustain worthwhile acting careers, the real question is: What’s an aspiring actor to do to get noticed? If you’re like most people, well, you’ve got to prepare to be discovered of course. It’s all about numbers: How many things do you have going for you at any given time? Personality? Check! Authenticity? Check! Talent? Your Look? Training? Check-Check-Check! It seems you have your acting resources all tended to like a perfectly groomed garden.

But there’s something else that can help get your foot in the door of the industry right away, and Casting Frontier is here to assist you now!

Your Casting Frontier profile can get you in the right place at the right time. That is, a casting director looking to fill a spot with an actor exhibiting a specific skill can immediately find talent using a sophisticated search engine. But only you can make sure your skills are listed in that data search!

Here’s what you need to do to get noticed for your unique skills–no matter what level of skill you currently display: Populate your Special Skills “wizard” in your Casting Frontier profile. The more skills you have listed, the more likely you will get an audition.

And, as an added incentive, Casting Frontier is offering a 15% discount on a yearly Premium profile (limited time $42.50) and yearly Premium Plus profile (limited time $59.50) as soon as you have filled out your special skills.* And just by filling out your special skills wizard, you can call (323) 300-6129 Mon. – Fri. 9:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. PST to be entered into a raffle. Prizes include: a Premium or Premium Plus upgrade, two free Dodger tickets, and a free photo shoot (3 looks) at our state-of-the-art digital photo studio. This offer will expire June 15, 2013.

Remember, not everyone can speak Portuguese or restore vintage cars or play Ping-Pong at a semi-pro level. And not everyone has won numerous chess tournaments or blows away the competition on karaoke night…and the list goes on. So fill out your Special Skill sheet today! If you do the work and prepare, your chances of getting discovered go way up!

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* The 15% off credit offer is valid for a 12-month term. Valid for first-time Premium upgrades only and requires 12-month commitment to a Premium or Premium Plus profile. This offer cannot be used in conjunction with other coupons, discounts, or other special offers. To be eligible for the 15% discount, talent must log into their Casting Frontier profile, add multiple special skills to multiple categories and save the changes. Your subscription will renew at a standard rate after the 12-month term has expired. Offer expires 06/15/13 at 11:59 p.m..

Submit your profile for commercial auditions, TV auditions (and more!) in Los Angeles, New York & nationwide. Get more auditions using Casting Frontier's online casting system and showcase your talent! Post your reel & plus get your Casting Card that includes your personal Actor ID Barcode. Visit us at http://castingfrontier.com.

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What Does Your Mother Think of Your Acting Dream?

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Jennifer Lawrence and her mom

Indian spiritual leader, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, once said, “The moment a child is born, the mother is also born.” All the infinite varieties of children are as vast as the shades and hues of the mothers who brought them into this world. And as every actor has a unique personal journey that leads him or her to the entertainment industry, likewise, every actor’s mother responds to his or her dream in her own way.

First off, there are the incredibly supportive moms like Hilary Swank’s mother who was determined to do all she could to encourage her daughter’s acting dream. She even moved with Hilary to Los Angeles virtually penniless, where they lived out of a car until she saved enough money to rent an apartment. Now there’s a mother who believed in her daughter’s potential!

Then there was Jennifer Lawrence’s parents who initially felt conflicted when their daughter quit school at age 14 to move to New York. Jennifer’s older brothers, Ben and Blaine, had to persuade their mother and father to allow Jennifer to risk failure in her attempts at following her heart. Jennifer said, “My brothers called them and said: ‘You’ve traveled all over the country with us, for baseball, football and basketball. This is her baseball game. You have to support her.’ So they were forced to, at that point.” So, even though they were reticent, they pushed all their chips to the middle of the table.

Jessica Alba, who signed with her acting agent at the age of 11, plans to encourage her own children to avoid the business altogether during their formative years. She would like them to finish college, live their lives, and then, “…if they want to get into the arts, that’s fine…I wouldn’t encourage them to work in this type of environment as children.” Similarly, Britney Spears was a Disney Mouseketeer at the age of 11, and has stated that if her sons desired to participate in the entertainment industry, she would, “lock them up in their rooms until they turn 30.”

What about your mom? When you first shared your desire to pursue acting, how did she respond? Did she remind you of her aspiration for you to become a doctor or lawyer? Did she start reciting the drawbacks like ruthless competition, loss of privacy, and the financial pressure commonly associated with the field? Or was she elated because, after all, she’d already spent thousands of dollars in pushing you to become famous–something along the lines of the moms featured in Toddlers and Tiaras? Or maybe your mom was genuinely excited that you had found something you’re passionate about and set out to support you in any way she could.

Please share how your mom encouraged or discouraged you in your acting dream.

Submit your profile for commercial auditions, TV auditions (and more!) in Los Angeles, New York & nationwide. Get more auditions using Casting Frontier's online casting system and showcase your talent! Post your reel & plus get your Casting Card that includes your personal Actor ID Barcode. Visit us at http://castingfrontier.com.

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  1. It means a lot when you come from a big family and your mom manages to find the time to drive you an hour to and an hour back to acting classes and sew a costume dress………..especially when that costume is the dress of Lizzy Borden. Moms are awesome!!

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What’s More Important: Talent or Grit?

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In your career, your education, your life in general, what is more likely to bring you success: your natural aptitude and skill or your resolve, stamina, and hard work? This was one question that University of Pennsylvania psychology researcher, Angela Lee Duckworth was determined to have answered. Through the course of her research, she discovered that no matter what area people were trying to succeed in–whether it be students endeavoring to graduate, teachers working in disadvantaged schools striving to make a meaningful difference in their pupils’ lives, West Point cadets determined to make rank, or corporate salespeople attempting to earn the highest paychecks–a clear tendency became apparent:

Grit was the undisputed winner.

Taking a variety of professions into account, the question ”Who was successful and why?” was answered quite clearly: gritty characteristics like passion, perseverance, and a dedicated work ethic spanning over years ultimately proved efficacious.

“Our data showed very clearly that there are many talented individuals who simply do not follow through on their commitments. In fact, in our data, grit is usually unrelated or even inversely related to measures of talent,” Duckworth asserts.

In the acting profession, it’s tempting to believe those who seem most talented will be the ones who ultimately land the big, desirable roles. And certainly, sometimes they just might. But overall, talent is not a shoe-in. These research conclusions read as both a fair warning and a flagship of hope to actors looking to succeed in an undeniably challenging industry. To those naturally gifted actors, the data suggests that being gifted will not open all the doors in your career. And to those actors with perhaps less talent but a heap of true grit, it encourages you to keep persisting, keep working, and resolve to do so for the long run. “Grit is living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint,” Duckworth insists.

Doesn’t this remind you of the tale of The Tortoise and the Hare?

To hear Angela Lee Duckworth speak about The Key to Success, click here for her six-minute talk. 

Submit your profile for commercial auditions, TV auditions (and more!) in Los Angeles, New York & nationwide. Get more auditions using Casting Frontier's online casting system and showcase your talent! Post your reel & plus get your Casting Card that includes your personal Actor ID Barcode. Visit us at http://castingfrontier.com.

2 thoughts on “What’s More Important: Talent or Grit?”

  1. if this is true often enough then it gives me hope. that disney cartoon is a classic too. Just keep your focus, try to outdo what you did yesterday and you’ll keep on the up and up.

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Being the Spokesperson for Embarrassing Products

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Lisa Rinna in a Depends commercial

Do you experience occasional irregularity? Do your dentures give off an annoying odor, interfering with your confidence in social interactions? How about erectile dysfunction, excessive gas, or athlete’s feet…getting you down? Well, aren’t you glad there are products that address these awkward matters? I’m sure we all are, because no one is immune to the vicissitudes of this life no matter how well we take care of our health or personal hygiene. But where the rubber meets the road for you, as an actor, is when you’re cast in a commercial addressing these uncomfortable conditions. This is something you’ll want to think about before you’re afforded a promotional opportunity.

Jamie Lee Curtis brings humor and a down-to-earth openness to the topic of digestive irregularity in her role as the spokesperson for Activia yogurt. Florence Henderson, otherwise known as the beloved Carol Brady of The Brady Bunch is the spokesperson for Polident denture cleaner. And Days of Our Lives and Melrose Place star, Lisa Rinna is shown in a Depends commercial walking the red carpet wearing an adult diaper. Lisa stands behind her decision to tout what could be considered an unglamorous product saying, “I am a champion of positive self-image for women; the new Silhouette makes a woman feel confident.” So, it’s obviously not the career kiss of death to endorse one of these delicate products. But it should be noted these women have long and storied professional resumes behind them.

In this regard, you–as an up and coming prospect–might want to give some thought to the products you want your image attached to; or, more specifically, the products you’d rather not be associated with. It’s a good idea to talk with your agent and get clear on your professional image and how you’d like to be perceived by the public. If you don’t have an agent, talk with your friends and family to dial in your professional goals and the decisions you’ll make in getting where you want to go.

While there’s nothing wrong with experiencing ailments like bloating, male pattern baldness, acne, or serious medical conditions, it’s not something people generally care to discuss with large groups of people. Thankfully, some people come forward to put a face on such issues. But in your career you need to clear as a bell as to who you are and how you wish to be perceived. This is true of just about every profession, but acting is a particularly conspicuous endeavor. That being said, success can certainly be achieved after being featured in such commercials. After all, starring in a 1980′s Australian Tampax tampons commercial didn’t stop Naomi Watts from having an outstanding, multi award-winning career.

Submit your profile for commercial auditions, TV auditions (and more!) in Los Angeles, New York & nationwide. Get more auditions using Casting Frontier's online casting system and showcase your talent! Post your reel & plus get your Casting Card that includes your personal Actor ID Barcode. Visit us at http://castingfrontier.com.

2 thoughts on “Being the Spokesperson for Embarrassing Products”

  2. What about a product of dubious value, a product that may not perform as well as advertised, or a product that at least *looks* like it might be a scam?

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