To find it sad that privately educated actors dominate telly/film?

[chulast]

6% of the population go to private school yet the majority of successful British screen actors have been privately educated.

I just find it quite bleak really and makes it feel like it's nigh on impossible to make it in that industry without a leg up and connections.

Sad? Bleak? Look around you. Much, much worse things happening…

Do you comment that on every thread that isn't about geopolitical affairs? Must get tiresome.

@Pottedpalm It’s possible to care about, say, the treatment of women in Afghanistan and ponder the domination of the privately educated in British screen acting. Good grief. OP, YANBU. It’s partly about connections and partly about not needing to worry about getting a ‘proper job’ when you are a nobody at first as you have the financial cushion of parents who can fund you while you audition and take bit-parts.

Yeah it is not good. Some actors like Christopher Eccleston have spoken about this and there's some good campaigns like arts emergency to support working in the arts for working class people.

It shouldn't be the preserve of the privileged. There's so much talent and diverse voices we should hear. Like Alma's not Normal. Bloody amazing series and actor/writer.

If you need some positive stories on this listen to the episode of Life Changing with Sian Williams, about the guy who became the lead in the Lion King. It was great.

Acting is badly paid and insecure for the vast majority of people, so it is not surprising that a high proportion of those who stick at it long enough to become successful have financial support behind them. People who have been privately educated probably have a cushion of family money to fall back on and can afford to have a gamble on a career that probably won’t pay, and can get through the lean years when they won’t be making enough to live on.

The same is true in many other careers in the arts, creative industries, academia, etc.

It’s not as much about the connections as the fact the career route is only possible if you can afford to do it as a hobby for the first part.

Loved Alma's Not Normal! Sophie Willian is amazing and has obviously overcome so much to get where she is.

Thats good that there are schemes out there with big names behind them. True working class actors and writers just seem so few and far between and the lack of diversity is just so jarring.

I'll listen to that podcast, thank you.

It's because it's almost impossible to succeed in the arts unless you have wealth. Most actors, musicians and artists can't develop their careers as they have to work and in the past they could survive on benefits and squat whilst developing their skills and reputation. I was thinking about this whilst watching snow horses and marveling at Gary Oldman. His generation (see also Tim Roth, Leslie Manville, Ray Winstone, etc)
There are a few lucky exceptions, but in the past there were also opportunities and pathways like the youth theatres which led to opportunities from the BBC (play for today, youth broadcasting) and early channel 4.
Music is much the same, for bands especially it's the preserve of the upper middle classes and those with generational wealth as it's also almost impossible to make a living from.

Yes I did notice that there were an unnaturally high % or privately educated nominees at the brits this year.

I suppose things like performing arts clubs or music lessons are also completely out of reach for low-income families these days.

How do you even know which actors are privately educated. Seems a strange obsession.

I was watching the Sam Thompson match ball challenge programme the other evening with DD (the amount of swearing was unexpected but that’s for another thread…).

She asked me who he is and when I looked him up, he was on Made in Chelsea (so posh and rich), then various Celeb programmes, then got a radio show with seemingly no experience and it really annoyed me.

It’s like Jamie Laing and now his wife too - they start out with an already good hand and somehow end up in this place where they are given cushy public-facing jobs in entertainment for no real reason. Depressing.

A quick click on a Wiki page usually. I think it’s quite normal, if you enjoy tv and film, to have some interest in the actors performing and winning awards for their work. Nothing even nearing obsession.

Re the OP, I imagine it starts quite young. My DD does Stagecoach which is like a youth drama/dance/musical theatre weekly workshop and it also provides opportunities to get small parts in professional shows showing locally. It’s technically accessible to anyone but it’s about £300 a term so naturally many of the kids are from wealthier families, dd says most of her current group go to private school (dd doesn’t).

Im guessing but I expect anything that develops artistic talent from a young age costs £££.

Is this a career you would like to have? Or do you have a son or daughter wishing to go into this career?

Do you have any actual data on what schools people went to or is this just based on a few anecdotes from a minority? I'd really like to see data on at least a few thousands actors before I start caring - and to be honest, I don't really care. I'm more interested in whether they are decent at acting in whatever show it is.

I completely agree - the huge percentage of very successful privately educated actors and musicians is depressing

This, particularly "many other professions" this applies to. The routes in require a level of wealth in order to gain the experience on almost no money; it's not just acting. There are many parts of the working world that are unfair.

I had this exact conversation with mum yesterday. She was talking about jack Whitehall and his dad. I said they make me sick lol.

Elitism is the downfall of our society. Posh rich people, the royal family, nepotism, elitism, titles, I cannot stand it.

My dd did a lot of drama in her teens. It was only ever a hobby for her, but she has a lot of friends who hope to make a career in that field.

I don't think she was at any disadvantage for going to a state school, and there was actually a lot of mixing between private and state in shows etc, but it wasn't a cheap hobby and you absolutely need to have money behind you if you want to pursue it seriously.

Not meaning to be rude, but you haven't got a clue. If you done a bit of research you would be aware that the acting, music, media, creative arts professions are absolutely dominated by the rich/nepotism/upper class etc.

I think the biggest barrier is, as others have said, not being able to live on family money whilst starting out.

They need to be available for auditions at very short notice, and that's hard to do if you have to work to pay the rent.

You also need to live in, or be able to get to, a city where auditions and big acting roles happen.

Put that all together and it's no wonder (almost) only posh people can make it.

The same is true of musicians.

I think some of this applies to writers, too? Less so but having connections to the publishing industry and the most to take year/s off work to do a Creative Writing MA and/or write a book.

The demonisation of the working class has been going on for years. You only have to read some threads on here about ‘Micky mouse’ degrees and how people should learn a trade instead of pursuing learning. Art should never be the preserve of the rich.

I wonder if things might change a bit with all the reality tv stars nowadays. A lot of them seem to go on to acting or presenting roles. And then online influencers might be the next ones to start moving more and more into tv and acting. Just need lots of followers!

Think about our successful British actors and then look what at what school they went to. It's not hard to see a trend.

I was watching Ted lasso last night and 3 of the British leads were privately educated. And just to reiterate, only 6% of the population go to private school.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-35641061

It’s not just media.

My DSS is at acting school and a number of his peers are from privileged backgrounds (he isn't) - also saw first hand recently the impact of having a parent in the business in terms of the leg up it gives you.

Edit to add my DSD did marine biology and that's similar because the posts are often really poorly paid and most of her course mates were very wealthy and parents can afford to support them so they don't really need to work for money.

This reminds me of a mum I knew who was distraught because they needed to pull their youngest daughter from private school… she said that most people that made the olympics went to private school.

I think I was too quick to point out that both her child and mine would need far, Far, FAR more than private education to go that far, neither could or be interesres enough to run after a ball! 🤣