Career as Actor
Acting is one of the most well-known and lucrative professions for many people. To pursue a career in acting a person needs to know the basics of Acting. Moreover, skill and talent are also important to shine in the acting career. People can pursue an acting career in several mediums like television, movie, theatre, and currently in the digital platform. People can choose the medium according to their field of interest. Generally, this career brings enormous fame and money in a shorter period compared with other career options. Before earning recognition and money, a person interested in an acting career needs to learn the grammar of acting and watch international acting to make oneself more skillful.
- About Actor :
- Job Profile |
- How do I get there?
Job Profile
Though Acting is considered to be one of the most popular and lucrative career options, especially for adults, there is no fixed salary or full-time job available for the Actors. The growth of the job depends upon the acting skills of the Actors. Generally, auditions are organized for the Actors to make a cinema, Television serial or web series for the digital platform. From the auditions, the actors are selected according to the character.
As the job of Acting is not a full-time job, there is no fixed schedule or time limit for the acting job. Generally, a cinema takes from nearly six months to a couple of years to be made and to be released in theatre. So, actors have to block their schedules while acting in a movie for a certain period accordingly. Besides, there are daily soaps with duration of two to five years. Actors have to shoot in the daily soap for 12 to 15 hours regularly as the episodes are telecast daily. The Actors who act in theatre have to rehearse for the drama show for some months before the stage performance. One of the best prospects of the acting job is to earn the popularity of a huge number of people within a very short period. In case a person having a degree in acting courses does not want to be a professional Actor in the cinema or daily soap then there are several choices of careers for that particular person. The alternative career options are drama therapist, theatre director, arts administrator, talent agent, special effects technician, broadcast presenter, etc.
The average salary of an Actor in India is Rs 21,856 per month. It is often found that the lifestyle of the Actors is more luxurious than the other career pursuing peoples. The reason behind this scenario is the number of movies and daily soaps acted by the actor. An Actor can be a part of several movies or daily soaps at a time. Moreover, an actor has to participate in public functions from where they can earn a huge amount of money.
Future Growth Prospect
As the medium of Acting is exploring day by day, the career opportunity as an Actor is also increasing simultaneously. So, as a beginner and interested in Acting one can surely join an Acting course from the institutes and pursue his career as an Actor.
Pros and Cons of an Actor
Pros
- A very interesting profession to show the creativity
- As an actor earning love and respect from both national and international audience is quite easy
- As an Actor exploring new countries is easy due to shooting purpose
- In a single profession, an Actor can play the role of various profession
- The profession of Acting is considered to be the most significant in society
Cons
- High Chance of physical injury during acting
- The busiest schedule does not provide free time for the family of an Actor
- High chance of exploitation of the newcomer Actors
How do I get there?
Primarily there is no such requirement of degrees to pursue a career in Acting, but a basic level of education is needed for Acting. People who are interested in earning fame by Acting can get a bachelor’s degree in drama, theatre arts, performing and acting from a reputed film institute. Generally, a person can start his acting career from childhood. So, besides the early stage of school education, the acting career can also be run by the actors that help to make the acting career smooth and full of experience.
Cost of an Acting career
Several academies provide the basic training of Acting to the people perusing Acting. The cost of the training is based on the duration of the courses. The course fee of acting training in India is about Rs 130,000 to Rs 200000 for the two-year post graduation. Despite the reputed institutes, several small institutes provide monthly, annually, half-yearly, and three months duration courses. According to the duration the course fees differentiate in several acting institutes. Generally, the half-yearly courses cost about Rs 60,000, and the three-month courses cost about Rs 30000.
Top Colleges and Institutes to provide Acting courses
The name of the Top Institutes for the Acting courses and the course fees in India are available below:
|
Rank Of College |
Name of College, City |
Course Name |
Course Fees (in Rs)
|
|
1
|
Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune
|
Two Year PG Diploma in Acting |
Rs 48,315
|
|
2 |
National School of Drama (NSD), Delhi |
Three year Diploma Courses in Dramatic Arts
|
Rs 8,500 per Year |
|
3 |
Institute of Creative Excellence, Mumbai
|
Diploma in Acting
|
Rs 75,700 |
|
4
|
R K Films and Media Academy, New Delhi
|
Diploma in Acting
|
Rs 75,700
|
|
5
|
Ramesh Sippy Academy of Cinema and Entertainment (RSACE)
|
Certificate in Acting
|
Rs 53,000
|
Books and Study materials
Though Acting is all about creativity and talent an actor needs to study some books related to Acting like:
- Indian Film by Erik Barnouw and S Krishnaswami
- An Actor Prepares by Konstantin Stanislavski
- The Art of Acting by Stella Adler
- On the Acting Technique by Michael Chekhov
- Respect for Acting by Uta Hagen
What if this career does not work out for me? What are the other career options?
This is surely the best career for creative persons to gain the maximum amount of money and National recognition at the same time. In case a person does not want to be an actor after doing an acting course then he/she has career options like becoming director, special effect technician, drama therapist, etc.
Other careers of your interests
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Content on this page is by Career Expert Mrs. Kum Kum Tandon MA (Psychology), M.Ed, Diploma in Educational Psychology, Vocational Guidance & Counseling (NCERT, Delhi) | View Complete Profile |