<p>Did any of your kids forego college altogether and move to NYC to pursue theatre?</p>
<p>My kids didn’t, but several of their classmates (performing arts HS) have over the years. Most came home within a year or two, having made the rounds of casting, taken a few classes, passed out flyers on Times Square, etc. One classmate is working steadily in Hollywood, but he was in a best picture Oscar winning movie before he even graduated from HS (actually he never graduated!), so he had a great agent and possibilities before he headed to LA. </p>
<p>If your child decides to head to NY or LA without significant connections, make sure that they have at least six months to a year of $ saved up - even entry level jobs are difficult to find sometimes.</p>
<p>By contrast, they have several friends who did graduate from BFA programs who are either in national tours or doing regional theater. One friend who went to NY for an internship during jr year and went to casting call as a lark. She was cast in a big Broadway musical, so took a year’s absence from college to pursue it. But she eventually came back to school and graduated.</p>
<p>Many very succesful actors have done exactly this, and have become succesful without a college degree. A college degree is NOT mandatory for an actor. This is one reason why I encourage people to research the actors they admire.</p>
<p>Backstage has an article on 19 (or is it 21?) actors who dropped out of high school, college, or never even attended college.</p>
<p>I do want to point out that college offers personal growth in the intellectual, emotional and social realm that I believe are not easily duplicated at 18 while living in LA or NY pursuing acting. </p>
<p>Sure an actor can always find strong studio training but college is a great place to develop competence, manage emotions, take care of oneself, figure out their true passions and learn the value of relationships.</p>
<p>^Amen to that, Shacherry!</p>
<p>thanks for the all insights, esp megpmom. Mine is too immature to go to La by self yet so it would not be good plan for them. Although we have discussed a bachelor’s degree is not necc to break into this field. they plan to start college right out of high school, learn the craft, hopefully make connections, and if doors open up, jump at a chance since those doors do not open easy. if that means taking time off from school, i’m fine with that. the next few years should be interesting</p>
<p>I think in this short thread there are three options being alluded to. </p>
<p>(1) head out at 18 and hope for the best. Take some classes on the side here and there. See what happens. </p>
<p>(2) skip college and attend solid acting studio for training – Circle in the Square, Stella, Atlantic, etc. </p>
<p>(3) college (BFA or BA). </p>
<p>I think the hit rate with (1) is very tiny. I know KEVP is very big on his research actors theory but there are a few flaws with that approach IMO. For many non college actors, you will not see from looking at their resume how much separate non-college studio training they’ve had. Plus, that approach also won’t tell you what a very very tiny percentage tried approach (1) and succeeded. I don’t mean to suggest there are high percentages in (2) or (3) but I bet the success rate for (1) is way lower than (2) or (3). </p>
<p>As to the differences between (2) and (3), I think you are not hurting youself at all from a training standpoint to choose a high quality acting studio over college training. My daughter gave it a lot of thought. In the end, it was Shacherry’s point about personal growth that tipped the edge to college over acting studios.</p>
<p>Nathan Lane, for instance, had enrolled in a performing arts program but didn’t have enough money to pay tuition and went to New York instead. Though I don’t know how many Nathan Lanes there are in the world…</p>
<p>The problem with researching young successful actors is that you will very quickly discover that most of them are sons and daughters of other actors or high-level people in the industry.</p>
<p>Actor12 I do not think that is and absolute truth.</p>
<p>Well, no of course not. I was exaggerating but more and more I’m seeing how much connections make all the difference. For instance, a girl I know is dating the son of a casting director in LA and all of a sudden is getting a little bit of television work. Probably not a coincidence. Her only training is some community college drama classes. The good news is I really don’t think this kind of stuff leads to a long term and varied career but I will admit it is annoying.</p>
<p>This is a great discussion…the reason I asked is my D is going the college route but her best friend is going straight into auditioning for MT in NYC. Can’t imagine a young 18 yo alone in NYC but each parent sees things his/her own way.</p>
<p>Does she have an agent?</p>
<p>I personally am not a big fan of Rooney or Kate Mara, Emma Roberts or Lilly Collins and do think their appeal could run out of time. </p>
<p>There is still room in Hollywood for actresses like Lena Dunham who stars and created HBO’s Girls and went to Oberlin, Jessica Chastain who went to Juilliard, Whitney Cummings who created and starred on the tv show Whitney and went to U Penn as well as Melissa McCarthy who is filming a dramatic role right now so she can show the world she is more then one note who went to the actors studio for training.</p>
<p>An agent my son had a very long time ago once told me something very wise. No two actors have the very same career. It was then that I realized my focus should not be on what others are doing but what he can do to better himself.</p>
<p>Rather than researching famous/celebrity actors to see their backgrounds, I recently did the reverse and looked up about a dozen young actors who had been in the same BA theater program as my daughter. They’ve been out of school for 5-9 years. It was fascinating to see the range of what they were doing with their careers–everything from undertaking a second bachelors degree (BFA) at Juilliard to apprenticing at Actors Theatre in Louisville to signing with agents to good ol’ straight theater auditioning in NYC. Two are in MFA programs for directing and playwriting; one finished an MFA in acting; one launched a Chicago webcast series that’s won multiple awards (he produces, directs, and does voice acting in it), and he also is an assistant director/dramaturg for a small Chicago theater while working in a prominent museum as one of their lead “interpreters” (live exhibit kind of thing). These are interesting, vibrant kids who are smart and well educated and yes, they may have “day jobs” (most of them in theater) but they are also living their art and getting where they want to go. It was a reassuring and fascinating little project for me!</p>
<p>No she doesn’t and I am worried for her…</p>
<p>I agree with Times3 that there are so many jobs in regional theater and the like that have nothing to do with being an A-list celebrity that researching those opportunities makes much more sense.</p>
<p>There was another tread recently that asked parents “Would you pay for your child to pursue any major?” My answer to that was YES - I would and I have. My D1 has a BFA in Musical Theatre and we paid every dime of her education (a promise we made to our kids many years earlier). The proviso was that she must attend full-time with no gap year(s). If at any time she quit that indicated she had decided to be on her own and could support herself without any help from mom and dad. If she had told us she wanted to skip college and head directly to NYC we would have supported her decision but we would not have supported her financially. Since neither my H or I were given the opportunity to go to college after high school and had to get our degrees on our own in spurts of part-time school during our adult lives we were adamant that our kids would have no obstacles to getting a degree after HS. All they had to decide was whether or not they chose to accept our one rule.</p>
<p>I have a friend who is a successful actor on the stage and in film, he got his BFA and MFA. When I asked him for guidance, he stressed the importance of college. He said so many are pursuing this field, that casting directors are often faced with those who went to college versus those who did not, and when all things are equal, the ones who went to college and have a BFA are chosen, they have a track record of working hard and sticking with a project.</p>