If you like to work the same hours every day, see the same faces, wake up every morning with the knowledge that you will most likely do nothing out of the ordinary and will probably do almost the exact same thing you did yesterday, then a bank job or restaurant position is for you. If, on the other hand, you want something different and exciting in your life, where change is a constant and the hours are almost never the same, then acting and the entertainment industry in general, is for you. Good advice from the Brit actor Mike Archer.
He also suggests that you honor your own creativity by doing what you want to do, not what others think you should do. He says that the hardest thing he’s had to struggle with was to take the road less traveled. It’s absolutely the easiest thing in the world to not take risks and to simply do what “they” want you to do. A dedicated actor, however, could go either way. One could just let others guide his character and he would never have to push himself to give the character added nuance or extra dimensions. The character would get through the scene, no doubt, and the audience would applaud but there would be something missing from your performance. The missing part is the nuance and dimension and creativity that you left out because you didn’t want to give of yourself and you let yourself be satisfied with a mediocre performance.
Dare to be different, and dare to be committed. Being an actor is not being a bank employee. It’s not living a hum-drum boring life; it is a life that demands a constant flow of creativity and constant risk taking. Mike Archer has learned this through observing what makes an okay actor vs. what makes a great actor. Great actors certainly take guidance from directors but they never stop exploring their character and building on it.
Mike has been around the block and he knows what he’s talking about. He has plenty of credits to his name and we can name a few here: Easy Virtue, The King’s Speech, Captive, The Undomesticated, Soyuz 1, The Remote Office (TV series), No Place Like Holmes (TV series), Subterfuge, Baudica, Couples Therapy, Falsified, The Journey of Alfred Small, Voodoo Magic, The Mary Morstan Mysteries (TV series), Different Perspectives and too many more to name them all. His most recent performances in Embers and Letters for Lost Lovers are currently both in post-production and are scheduled to be released soon.
