5 Things I Did Wrong As A Young Actor

by Chris Peterson

I spent a pretty significant chunk of my life wanting to be an actor. I did theatre throughout high school, went to college for it, auditioned constantly, and, like most young performers, was absolutely convinced I knew more than I actually did.

Looking back, I made plenty of mistakes. Some were embarrassing. Some probably cost me opportunities. And a few are things I now see young actors doing and immediately think, Oh no. I did that too.

So, in the interest of full disclosure, here are five things I did wrong as an actor.

1. I thought I was entitled to roles because I had “put in my time.”

This was especially true in high school and college.

There was a part of me that believed casting should work like seniority at a company. Freshman year, you get the ensemble. Sophomore year, maybe a supporting role. By junior and senior year, surely the leads should start coming your way.

That's obviously not how casting works.

But at 17 or 20? I absolutely thought that way sometimes.

If someone younger than me got a role I wanted(and they usually did), I could convince myself that I had been overlooked. I had been there longer. I had worked hard. Wasn't it my turn?

No. It wasn't.

Roles aren't rewards for longevity. The director is trying to cast the show in front of them. Sometimes you're right for it. Sometimes you're not. Your number of semesters in the program doesn't change that.

I wish I had learned that much earlier.

2. I wasn't professional.

Here's one that still makes me cringe.

In high school, I once left a rehearsal without telling the director because I wanted to go hang out with my girlfriend.

That's it. That's the story.

I didn't have an emergency. I wasn't sick. I just decided there was somewhere else I would rather be and left.

At the time, I'm sure I had some teenage justification for it. Looking back, it's incredibly disrespectful. Not just to the director, but to every actor who was still there doing the work.

I eventually learned that being talented isn't enough. People have to be able to trust you.

Show up. Be prepared. Communicate. Don't disappear from rehearsal because your girlfriend is free. These seem like fairly obvious rules now.

Apparently, they weren't obvious to teenage me.

3. I didn't take the craft seriously enough until later.

I loved theatre. I loved performing. But loving being in a show and loving the actual work of acting aren't necessarily the same thing.

There were years when I cared much more about getting cast than I did about getting better.

I wasn't reading enough plays or thinking deeply enough about technique. I wanted the result without always respecting the process required to get there.

It took me longer than it should have to understand that acting is a craft, and craft requires work even when nobody is applauding.

4. I spent way too much energy worrying about what everyone else was getting.

We actors are spectacular at keeping score.

Who got the lead? Who got called back? Who moved to New York? Who is suddenly doing better than me?

I did plenty of that. And none of it made me a better actor.

There will always be somebody getting an opportunity you wanted. Sometimes you'll understand why. Sometimes you absolutely won't. But another actor's success isn't evidence of your failure.

I wish I had spent less time watching everybody else's career and more time paying attention to my own work.

5. I took rejection WAY TOO personally.

When you're young, it's very easy for “I didn't get the role” to become “I'm not good enough.”

I definitely let those two thoughts become interchangeable.

But casting is strange. You can give a fantastic audition and still not be right for the production. Yes, sometimes you don't get cast because the audition wasn't good enough. That's part of this too. But every “no” isn't a referendum on whether you belong in theatre.

It took me a long time to separate my identity from the parts I was or wasn't getting. And maybe that's the biggest thing I wish I understood when I was younger.

I wasn't nearly as good as I thought I was. I also wasn't nearly as bad as I sometimes thought I was.

I was just an actor trying to figure it out. And, occasionally, leaving rehearsal to go see his girlfriend(Cue facepalm)