It feels incredibly liberating— so weird and amazing— to be feared, misunderstood, mysterious and powerful. GRaaaRRRRR!

As you walk from makeup, through to the cameras, onto the set, the director grins approval, and all the crew move quickly out of your way. Some of the grips and crew are actually scared, seeing you, even though they know it’s you. An actor.

The heavy makeup is hot and claustrophobic, and you walk the way you and the director worked out, kind of the way tough guys in prison walk. No fear walking. And as you walk, getting into the animalness of the role, the feeling of werewolf power grows, as you remember the scene you’re about to shoot. The one where you tear off the head of the cage-fighter Repo Man, the thug who’s been stalking your childhood sweetheart. Another actor.

That guy is actually a good friend… but playing his part, he roughed you up in the last scene. And now, you’ve gone through your hairy and fangy transmogrification, into your better half, an incredibly powerfully cool werewolf, and you’re ready to kick some mere human butt… yeah!

So today you are a werewolf. You get to be so many things, so many people. You live so many lives. Life is a constant surprise.

Last month you were a car salesman, in an infomercial about clunker trade-ins. A thing for money. But before that you shot a little movie of your own, about alien space invaders, and you were a “bug hunter” with a pulse rifle. It’s making the film festival rounds. Maybe a distributor will pick it up.

You’re doing an equity play, too, a labor of love, for less money than a Walmart greeter. It’s a revival of “streetcar.” You play Stanley, the scumbag bully, and you love dropping to your knees, ripping open your t-shirt, throwing your head back, and crying, “StelllllaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAH!” Oh yeah, the actress playing Stella? She’s a babe. And incredibly talented. You can’t wait for the next performance. She studied in a legendary drama program at her university, and it shows.

Actors live a thousand lives, maybe more. They express ideas and create images in theater, film, radio, television, and other performing arts media. They interpret a writer’s script to entertain, inform, or instruct an audience. Actors perform and exist, role to role, under constant pressure. Many face stress from the continual need to find their next job.

Although many actors work in New York or Los Angeles, far more work in other places. They perform in local or regional television studios, theaters, or film production companies, often creating advertising or training films or small-scale independent movies.

Actors perform in stage, radio, television, video, or motion picture productions. They also work in cabarets, nightclubs, and theme parks. Actors portray characters, and, for more complex roles, they research their character’s traits and circumstances so that they can better understand a script.

Most actors struggle to find steady work and only a few achieve recognition as stars. Some well-known, experienced performers may be cast in supporting roles or make brief, cameo appearances, speaking only one or two lines. Others work as “extras,” with no lines to deliver. Some actors do voiceover and narration work for advertisements, animated features, books on tape, and other electronic media. They also teach in high school or university drama departments, acting conservatories, or public programs.

To succeed, actors need patience and commitment to their craft. Actors strive to deliver flawless performances, often while working under undesirable and unpleasant conditions. Producers and directors organize rehearsals and meet with writers, designers, financial backers, and production technicians. They experience stress not only from these activities, but also from the need to adhere to budgets, union work rules, and production schedules.

For any actor, education and training are powerful assets which build upon a foundation of natural talent.

Formal dramatic training, either through an acting conservatory or a university program, may give inroads and accelerates a career, but some people successfully enter the field without it. However, every actor is competing with every other actor for the roles they are able to play. Every advantage is key.

Most aspiring actors participate in high school and college plays, work in college radio or television stations, or perform with local community theater groups. Local and regional theater experience and work in summer stock, on cruise lines, or in theme parks helps many young actors hone their skills. Membership in one of the actors’ unions and work experience in smaller communities may lead to work in larger cities, notably New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles. In television and film, actors and directors typically start in smaller television markets or with independent movie production companies and then work their way up to larger media markets and major studio productions. A few people go into acting after successful careers in other fields, such as broadcasting or announcing.

Actors, regardless of experience level, may pursue workshop training through acting conservatories or mentoring by a drama coach. Sometimes actors learn a foreign language or train with a dialect coach to develop an accent to make their characters more realistic.

Actors need talent and creativity that will enable them to portray different characters. Because competition for parts is fierce, versatility and a wide range of related performance skills, such as singing, dancing, skating, juggling, acrobatics, or miming are especially useful. Experience in horseback riding, fencing, linguistics, or stage combat also can lift some actors above the average and get them noticed by producers and directors. Actors must have poise, stage presence, the ability to affect an audience, and the ability to follow direction. Modeling experience also may be helpful. Physical appearance, such as having certain features and being the specified size and weight, often is a deciding factor in who gets a particular role.

Many professional actors rely on agents or managers to find work, negotiate contracts, and plan their careers. Agents generally earn a percentage of the pay specified in an actor’s contract. Other actors rely solely on attending open auditions for parts. Trade publications list the times, dates, and locations of these auditions.

Some actors begin as movie extras. To become an extra, one usually must be listed by casting agencies that supply extras to the major movie studios in Hollywood. Applicants are accepted only when the numbers of people of a particular type on the list, for example, athletic young women, old men, or small children, falls below what is needed. In recent years, only a very small proportion of applicants have succeeded in being listed.

Actors may advance to lead roles and receive star billing. A few actors move into acting-related jobs, such as drama coaches or directors of stage, television, radio, or motion picture productions. Some teach drama privately or in colleges and universities. Many actors studying for a bachelor’s degree take courses in radio and television broadcasting, communications, film, theater, drama, or dramatic literature. Many stage actors continue their academic training and receive a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree.

Employment in the drama occupations is expected to grow 11 percent during the 2006-16 decade.

Expanding cable and satellite television operations, increasing production and distribution of major studio and independent films, and rising demand for films in other countries should create more employment opportunities for actors.

Median hourly earnings of actors were $11.61 in May 2006.

• The middle 50 percent earned between $8.47 and $22.51.
• The lowest 10 percent earned less than $7.31, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $51.02.
• Median hourly earnings were $16.82 in performing arts companies and $10.69 in the motion picture and video industry.

Under terms of a joint SAG and AFTRA contract covering all unionized workers, motion picture and television actors with speaking parts earned a minimum daily rate of $759 or $2,634 for a 5-day week as of July 1, 2007. Actors also receive contributions to their health and pension plans and additional compensation for reruns and foreign telecasts of the productions in which they appear.

Then there are the actors with managers, with agents at CAA, ICM, WME… actors who won’t walk onto the set for less than 5 million, 10 million, 20 million, and points with a dollar-one gross profit definition. Actors who have won the hearts of the entire planet Earth.

So you drive a 20-year-old car and live in an apartment. So Will Smith is getting upwards of 20 million per movie. You just got a call from an agent about a movie role, and it may be the break that puts you over the top.

Acting is a Cinderella game. Each role could bring the magic that tells the world who you are, and they love who you are.

Today you’re a werewolf. Tomorrow, who knows? Your life is an onrushing adventure, totally unpredictable. And you love it.

You put in the years in drama classes, studying from professionals, you got a degree, and you built upon it. In college, with your professors, (many of whom have film and stage credits of their own), you made amazing industry contacts.

In college, you proved yourself on stage, and in front of the cameras. You paid your dues at the university level, and you are building upon that every day. Whether a director talks about Ibsen, or Stanley Kowalski, or Godot, Jane Austen or Travis Bickle, you understand his shorthand.

If you want to live a thousand lives, hedge your game, get a drama degree. Learn with other actors.

Advanced curricula may include courses in stage speech and movement, directing, playwriting, and design, as well as intensive acting workshops. The National Association of Schools of Theatre accredits 150 programs in theater arts.

Be one with your talent, hone it, mature it, before throwing yourself into the savage competition as a pro. Why wouldn’t you learn your craft, if you love it?