To think that acting isn't an especially difficult occupation?

[WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll]

I'm prepared to be met with strong opposition here, which is great and leads to interesting discussion, but both in threads on here and IRL, a lot of people seem to fawn over actors and actresses* and the ones who make it to the top are lauded on TV, BAFTAs, Oscars etc, paid ridiculous amounts of money - and a lot of them seem to think they fulfil such a crucial, serious role in society and should be given huge respect because of their outstanding skills and not just because of their fame/celebrity.

I'm not denying they entertain a lot of people - and that there are other professions, such as top-flight footballers, where they get paid even more money for a relatively frivolous job - but is what they do really so incredibly difficult? Isn't it just pretending to be somebody else and learning and saying words that somebody else has written? A lot of them have body and/or stunt doubles to take over the more difficult or less palatable parts, so they aren't even having to face those challenges.

*I also don't get why the word 'actress' is considered as offensive by many in the profession. There are no complaints that the sexes are separated when it comes to awards, which often include the word 'actress' in their names (and this makes great sense, as there are currently very few cross-gender roles, so the highest-regarded actress in the world most likely would never be considered for traditionally male roles, which are still routinely written as more important, given greater prominence and paid more for reasons of pure historic and enduring sexism).

However, the standard response is usually that we don't call female medics 'doctresses'; no, but we DO call restaurant servers waiters or waitresses, depending on their sex.

Grossly patronising phrases such as 'WPC', 'lady doctor' or 'male nurse' - where it's 'assumed' what the 'normal, expected' sex of the person will be unless you specifically tack on an extra word because you feel the need to draw attention to the 'shock' that 'it's a police officer - but it's a WOMAN!!!!' - have thankfully now been largely dumped except by the Daily Mail.

But when you have two equal-status words, depending on the sex of the person in question, neither of which is considered the default or more or less important - waitress/waiter, man/woman, schoolgirl/schoolboy, postman/postwoman etc. etc. - why should actress/actor be any different?

Fair enough if you just use a neutral word - waiting staff, person, schoolchild, postal worker, member of the acting profession etc. - but why should the male version automatically be considered the default and the female equivalent perceived as somehow of lower status or importance - or even an insult???? If that is somehow the case, then surely the word should be preserved/reclaimed and not just dumped, thus giving in to idiots like the one in Notting Hill, who claimed that the word 'actress' was synonymous with 'prostitute', making them feel validated and letting the ignoramuses win?

Isn't terribly difficult compared to what? I would imagine there are many unpleasant factors to their jobs such as having to get up at 2-3 am for months to shoot and reshoot night scenes, having to jump into cold water for a scene when it's already cold outside, having ro run on heels when it's bloody 46 degrees outside, having to kiss someone you hate when they also have stinky breath etc etc etc and all of this may have to be repeated 10 million times because people get their lines wrong, technical issues etc

Plus being apart from the loved ones, having to look a certain way all the time, photographers everywhere etc etc

Every job can look easy until you try it yourself!

To piggyback on @tiggerkid and @TheDirectorIsIn what do you count as “difficult?”

Physical work: someone compared mining and sports - a huge number of actors are injured in the course of their work, their work is intensely physical, from aforementioned horse riding to just moving in a different way that is normal to you can cause serious life changing injury and often happens in low budget films and theatre up to West End and Broadway, very few acting roles require an actor to move naturally and just sit on their arses. The physical demands of repetitive motion in theatre particularly. As PP said incredibly early starts and incredible long days - the last tv show I was on the calls were 14hours of shooting every day - this didn’t include the additional 4 hours some actors were sat in the make up chair wearing incredibly heavy prosthetics. Yes everyone else on set was also subject to this too.

Difficult emotionally? It’s actually quite a brutal thing very often to believeably inhabit another person (and no I’m not talking method actors - I personally think that’s a very selfish way to work) to act in ways against your own nature, to commit acts over and over that although are fake are beyond your own ethics and morality. And talking of committing acts - referencing a PP point about actresses being akin to prostitutes, the industry is RIFE with expectations on actors to perform acts that NO OTHER LEGAL JOB asks of them. They are expected to just get it done and often have to fight to protect themselves, be it having a proper coordinator for a fight scene so they don’t injure themselves or an intimacy director because they often have to get completely naked in front of a room to fully dressed (usually male) crew and simulate sex acts - even kissing someone else you need to compartmentalise yourself all the time and protect yourself emotionally and physically. And usually far away from your family.

And finally, to those who are saying there are talented actors who find it easy, actually the most talented actors don’t find it easy, they don’t just walk on set or stage the day before having briefly read the script - the sheer amount of work that goes into the small amount that the public actually sees is astounding. The prep work, again on an emotional AND physical level, is usually intense and goes on months on their own before they even get to a table read. That is why they are so good, because they do actually work HARD.

I have no idea the amount of work that goes into jobs outside my industry but within it I would say that being an actor is one of the toughest. Pretending to be someone else so the rest of us may be entertained is an intense and hard process. I would argue that working in an amazon warehouse (presumably a regular job with a contract wearing all your clothes, being able to leave your work behind when you go home at the end of the day - which you know will end at a designated time and some heavy lifting until you get to use a forklift truck) is a million times easier than being an actor.

Kiki
Well said. The ignorance from a daughter of an actor is astounding. Acting well requires far more energy than just living. I’m disabled and chronically ill. My whole day uses about the same amount of energy as 5 mins on stage and that’s without all the prep work.

I have no problem with actors being very well paid for their work, and many undoubtedly work very hard.

My only bugbear is that I can't think of any other industries save for music where there's such a massive fuss made for awards - I mean, really, a whole fucking season to celebrate the work of actors?

In fairness I think it’s because the public outside the industry demands it - actors are the only artists totally tied to their art so we see them doing their artistry constantly - if people didn’t want to see it the aaards would be as popular as whatever the national architecture awards or whatever are.

DS made a short film for a college course and DH and I had small parts with half a dozen lines. It was bloody difficult. Until then I’d always imagined I’d be a good actor - I was terrible. I am now full of admiration for anyone who can do it well.

DH on the other hand was a natural.

I'm amazed that someone can start a thread like this and then be amazed that their ignorant comments are offensive. You've completely belittled everything that an actor does. Learn lines and stand where they're told to? Utterly unbelievable. Surely any career can be summed up like this?