what do actors do when they are not working?

[Slartybartfast]

just googled various actors and got me thinking, these actors, IE Bill Bailey, my age, Their work is not continuous. how do they survive?

Teach Lambda in schools.
Role play actors for corporate companies / the nhs, etc.
Temp jobs.

The well known / rich ones have a good time living off all their money. Then they go a bit loopy generally.

I know an actor quite well. He's very well-known but not stratospherically famous.

He just seems to be constantly acting. If he's not in something on the telly, he's in theatre productions.

He's usually filming something though. The times when he's not working, he spends st home with his family, I presume reading scripts and learning lines.

I think if you're successful enough to be a 'known' face, you'll always have something in the pipeline.

I know an actor, mostly does musical theatre, has been in Mamma Mia etc, he's an estate agent in between jobs.

I know a few actors. One does temp work at my company when he's between jobs and another is in a position not to worry too much but will help a mutual friend out in her company or work in the local cafe.

They need to be able to take the acting jobs when they come up.

The sensible ones save their money from jobs to cover lean times - in between they will be reading scripts, rehearsing for next job, voiceover work, charity work etc. We have local "celeb" here (music not acting) and he is helping at his daughters (state) school between gigs, reading with the helper is very popular now!

Oh and My opera singer friend drives for Uber between jobs.

then they go a bit loopy generally.
that's what I thought

The sorts of people you’ve named specifically only need to book about 1 job a year, financially.

Less successful actors work a lot in catering and hospitality, promo work, and call centres.

Once successful but less so actors will rely a lot on appearance fees for public appearances (opening a garden centre, hosting a tea with the WI etc)

There's such a massive variety of work out there for jobbing actors, I imagine if you have a half-decent agent and were happy to do a mix of stuff, you could probably be employed for a good proportion of your time.

A friend of ours is like this, he does tv ads, one-off tv drama roles, foreign tv dramas, voice-overs, short-run provincial theatre, Christmas theatre (which is quite lucrative apparently), touring theatre (though that is obviously less family friendly), those in-situ dramas in stately houses, corporate videos, comparing awards dinners...
In between all this he goes to auditions and prepares for the next job. He's constantly busy and has popped up on tv a few times, but you'd never have heard of him! He earns a decent amount over a year, he's also married to a high earner and has been the one to work flexibly when they had children.

When I was younger I had nannies, some of whom were 'resting' actors, I think quite a few do that.

I know one who is a freelance domestic electrician.

@Slartybartfast Yes she worked as a temp in Retail and they would give her time off for roles and she would work in between jobs to supplement her income. She went for adverts as well as acting roles.

Some actors might not look busy but that can be deceptive due to the scheduling of the film or TV show. You might not see them on screen but they are acting and working behind the scenes. Also, some do act on stage in smaller productions that do not get national exposure.

As for famous actors, they do jobs like adverts in Japan that never get seen in the UK. They are very lucrative for them and, as they are not screened in the UK or other Western counties, it protects their reputation so they are not seen as selling out.

when I did telephone market research/marketing/fundraising there were quite a few 'resting thespians' on the job.

I worked with one in a call centre after they left one soap before joining another. They did have a years career break from there whilst they did a play.

Ds and i went to a talk by Bill Bailey about Alfred Russell Wallace , along with Richard Dawkins.
It was to raise money for a statue to ARW in the Natural History grounds, so doubt he gpt paid for it. He was really interesting, Richard Dawkins was dreadfully boring and full of himself

you would be surprised if you recognized the voice when calling the call centre

@Lallypopstick a guy who was in one of those type of bands (think Five or Boyzone) now owns the escape room in my local town and works there. I went a few weeks ago and saw him and thought 'i vaguely recognise you' but it's not til I read his name badge and googled I worked it out!

A friend of brothers from school is an actor has a long list of credits and also writes and produces and teaches acting. He is constantly in work but even many of the things he has been in I wouldn't know him in them although he has known me since I was a kid, he does stage mostly, screen sometimes has been in a few films as supporting actors His main income comes however from writing, producing, teaching and LAMBA exams.

Youngest niece is now 15, who has another 2 years to go in school, 2.5 years ago, she was allowed 4 days out of school (without affecting her attendance record) to be an extra on a film that came out this year, we now have screenshots of her in the trailer and a screenshot of her face directly in the film as the camera panned to her expression, which apparently is something doesn't happen often for extras. Can see her fully in 4 other screenshots #proudauntiemoment They were long long days of filming and then back to school for the 5th day of the week and 4 days of school work to catch up on that weekend. The glamour hasn't faded.

She knows exactly what she wants to do (acting and musical theatre and dance) but is also already started basic training to do hair and makeup as that will help make her money when needed.

When I was in secondary school, I was involved in writing a play as part of a group international drama festival and we went to Paris to put it on, we returned 2 years later with a play which was sent to us by a French school and put it on again in Paris.

Our artist in residence was by day a primary school teacher but after 4pm became our ruler as we rehearsed each night till the early hours (many trips to the phonebox downtown at 1/2/3am) and back to school for 9am and rehearsals again at weekends. We were literally treated the same as professionals.

His twin brother was also a primary school teacher by day but worked on a long-running soap in Ireland for many years

They both taught drama as another sideline and regularly appeared on tv and stage as well. They were also a comedy duo.

So loads more strings to bows than first appears and that's how many actors survive, main jobs and sometimes second jobs as well as acting

There a millions of ‘actors’ who occasionally get bit parts in a tv show/film/stage show and have normal jobs the rest of the time, they mostly temp in between.

The B list famous eg most people would recognise them if they are smart use their money to set up a business that can make them money without them necessarily being there, they then probably as previously said do voice over/corporate work etc

The A list famous will have billions of interviews and photo shoots and events inbetween proper acting jobs and have the money to live off. Again the savvy ones will set up other businesses eg George Clooney makes more money from his tequila business then he does from acting now!!

I was a huge fan of bad girls when it was on tv, me and my Mum used to watch it together every week. I work in a primary school and one of our children had 1 to 1 support. His support worker was off sick and the agency sent a supply. I knew this lady and remarked that I'd seen her somewhere before. Yep, she was on bad girls and had a major role in the programme. I was a bit star struck for a few days 😂 after her time with us she was going to America for her next acting role.

they often have other jobs

A friend of mine is about to finish a gruelling run in the West End - big part in long play, 8 performances a week - and the resting bit which comes next is certainly not in need of inverted commas. At this level, this friend is beginning to really get to pick and choose jobs, and invest wisely when pay is good so resting time can be financed. But it is such hard work! I hadn’t realised.

The less successful actors I know spend their time off teaching and doing unpaid theatre and film work. The successful ones I know nominally 'rest' but will actually be involved in other aspects of work: writing, producing etc.

Also have an opera singer friend, he's in pretty steady work now (but gigs usually of about a year's contract or even less, like a season) and he lived off scholarships, occasionally doing Deliveroo & teaching singing in our front room!

We would talk often about money and lots of times he was penny pinching & really relying on insecure bits and pieces to make money and get by - like waiting for invoices and so on. I wasn't a high earner by any means but next to him I had a stable income

Our rent was fairly cheap and he would often go bargain shopping and ride his bike to save money. He would go on holidays and be put up by the rich people he knew or worked for

I got the sense it was either feast or famine. But always a busy time: auditioning and practising for shows, teaching, singing in a choir and events to make a bit more cash on the side, always on the lookout for an agent or big break, taking voice lessons to develop and stay fresh

He is relatively at the start of his career & has what sounds like good prospects. He is also learning languages so he can move to one of those big opera countries like Germany or France where the big companies are

thanks for your fascinating stories