In order to be an actress, you have to work in a restaurant.
Yeah, it seemed pretty ridiculous when I read it back to myself too. But for some reason it's just one of those things that everybody thinks. And for the most part, very true. The amount of people who would ask me as I cleared their empty plates, "Oh, are you an actress?" made me wish the answer was no.
But alas, I am the stereotype. Or at least I was.
How I Got the Job:
Fresh out of college, I worked at a summer camp for the first few months after graduation, while living at home with my parents. I was the musical theatre director for the Queens College summer program, and making about $400 a week, all of which was going into savings upon preparation for moving into my new apartment in August.
And then August came, and I moved in, and the summer ended and I didn't have a job yet. A girl I'd gone to school with worked as a hostess in a busy Times Square restaurant and offered to get me a job there. Two days later I was hired, my first day of training was a double, and I stayed there for 5 years.
5 years is a long time. And I wasn't doing the same thing for that whole time. Sure I started out as a hostess, making just enough money to wrack up a $2,000 credit card bill on monthly MetroCards alone, but eventually I moved up the ranks, and by the end I was a pretty big deal.
But still, 5 years at the same place, doing the same thing over and over again takes its toll. Almost every year I had a night where I threw my hands up in despair, came home and searched CraigsList for a new job. But ultimately, I decided, what was the difference between getting fed up at this place as at any other place?
5 years is a long time. And that same five years has been filled with my trying to build a successful acting career; With rejections and tiny victories. Shows have opened and closed and been cancelled due to lack of funds. I have spent money on train tickets to do film for nothing more than food and a copy that I never saw because nobody ever fucking finishes anything. I realized a long time ago that I do not have the ideal temperament for the life of an actor. I have so many actor friends who float from job to job and apartment to apartment, never really sure of how much money is going to be in their bank accounts at the end of the month and not really caring either way.
I don't do that. I lie awake staring at the ceiling going through elaborate scenarios in my head of What Will Happen If I Don't Pay the Cable Bill On Time. The cable guy comes. He laughs at me. They take away my TV and I forever have a black mark on my Time Warner permanent record and am never allowed the option of DVR service again. Then someone punches me in the face and I die.
5 years is a long time. But in that time, The Job was a stable, unifying thing in my life. I always knew what to expect, I had a regular schedule and people that I could switch with, and managers who counted on me to be responsible to do the right thing. I succeeded, and I climbed the ladder, and I really saw that there might be a future for me in the world of restaurant management. If this acting thing fails, I think I might have a bright career in the Hospitality Industry.
And you know what?
Wait for it...
FUCK that.
A few Wednesdays ago I had an audition. For a job that pays. And I got it. The next day I put in my two weeks.
It's not the title role in Evita; I don't even know if I'll be making enough money to live. I don't know if I'll have to get a part time job to still make rent and pay bills and eat everyday. But I don't care. Because though in the past 5 years The Job has been a shining star and the only stable thing in my life that I had besides my boyfriend and my cats, there has been many a time when I've looked at a casting and said, "I can't audition for that. It rehearses on Saturdays. I WORK on Saturdays."
From now on, for as long as I can, I am a full-time actor. If I have to do background work every day off I have for ten hours, a donut and a $75 check that doesn't come in the mail until 6 months later, it will be worth it just to say that I am doing what I want to do.
I have had a great time at my restaurant for the past 5 years. I've made wonderful friends and learned lovely lessons and pigged out on some serious chicken parm...
But I'm out.
Peace.
Most of the days have been productive. I've been submitting for background work everywhere I see a listing, and working on my website and my reel and my resume and all sorts of productive things. I put up a new Wall of Inspiration, like the collage I had up in my old apartment and managed to save most of.
