Ken Rea - Nurturing the outstanding Actor

                                                              Nurturing the outstanding Actor

In this article Ken Rea explores factors that may have implications on an actors success using his own empirical research and vast experience as senior acting tutor at Guildford School of Acting.

Gender

Studies show that there are fewer female roles on stage and screen in terms of acting with a higher proportion of women in the business.
52% Women
48% Men
This means competition is greater for women than for men leaving a greater majority of female actors unemployed.
In comparison to the Musical Theatre industry the ratio of women to men in the business is also greater, however shows with large ensembles and Female heavy casts provide more opportunities. An example of these shows would be, Legally Blonde, Made in Dagenham,Little women.

Age/Networking

Acting careers in general tend to be longer than Musical Theatre, dance and song careers. Rea also mentions how casting directors for stage and screen are looking for young, good-looking Actors.
He states
'agents visiting drama school showcases are keen to snap up the most immediately employable'. (Rea, 2014) Through his research he discovered Actors who gain a high profile job before the age of 25 are more likely to get continuous work as one job provides a spring board for a long lasting career, simply because of its potential to lead to other work. This relates to networking which is relevant for all aspects of the arts industry. As a Musical Theatre performer with a community of practice largely involved in Musical Theatre, it will be essential for me to expand my networks into the acting medium by attending classes, events, emailing directors, joining actor social media pages etc.

Class

Up to the 1960's actors tended to come from upper class backgrounds. Changes in funding during 1960's helped 'usher a new breed of less affluent actors' (Rea 2014) Examples would be Peter O'Toole and Richard Harris. These actor brought new energy and raw talent to the stage and were casted regularly on stage and screen. In 2012 funding was again reduced dramatically whilst fees have inflated meaning less affluent hopefuls have fewer options in terms of training and therefore miss out on building contacts and networking.
Upper class Actors are also able to more easily afford periods of no work.


Belonging to an acting dynasty

Ericson (2007) , in his theoretical framework suggests there is a link between genetics and talent.
'It is likely that in many cases parents transmit to their children a substantial amount of knowledge and motivation in skilled activities in a domain. He also emphasises how these relationships create more contacts and therefore lead to more opportunities.