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Acting is often seen as a younger person’s profession, but if you look past the fresh faced soap stars and Hollywood film fodder, you will find that in fact there are a diverse variety of roles and age ranges on offer. There are plenty of examples of actors who have entered the profession in their 40s or beyond and gone on to have successful careers.

However, a career on stage or screen is often not the main motivation for anyone who wants to learn to act. It can, and should, be just as much about the journey as the destination. Here are just a few of the reasons why age should never be a barrier to pursuing your acting dreams. 

You have life experience and wisdom to bring to acting

Acting is essentially pretending to be someone else, and when you are older you naturally have a broader range of life experiences to draw on that can help you to do this. You can bring that emotional depth and maturity to a role in a way that a younger actor might struggle with. This will help your performances to resonate and feel authentic.

Age is more than just a number

Actors are rarely the same numerical age as the characters they are playing, and neither is this always relevant. Casting directors are more concerned with the ‘playing age’ of an actor, which is the age that they could convincingly play. In many cases, this can be within a range of 10 or even more years below and above their numerical age. 

TV and film roles are more diverse than ever before

With the huge success of streaming TV channels such as Netflix, more shows are being made than ever before for a more diverse audience. This naturally means that there is now a greater variety of acting roles available than ever before, as people want to see relatable elements of their lives and experiences reflected in the stories on screen.

Speaking to Backstage magazine recently, casting director Olivia Ahmed commented: “Casting older people is much more fulfilling. They just haven’t been given a chance in reality TV and I think it is going to come full circle.”

Acting coach Matt Newton added: “I believe there is a place for everyone in this business.  “Type and talent are obviously important but, more than anything, it’s important to follow your dreams and do what makes you happy.”

“Learn the skills, educate yourself about the business, and surround yourself with people who will help you on that journey and support you,” he said. “It can be a wonderful, rewarding career.”

If you feel inspired to take some adult acting lessons, there are many rewards that await you beyond the acquisition of skills. You will find yourself part of a diverse and inclusive community, where you will learn how to feel comfortable and confident expressing yourself in front of an audience. 

This is a life enhancing experience that is worth the effort no matter what your age or future aspirations may be. 

If you are looking for TV acting classes in Manchester, please visit our website today. 

A new £35 million fund has been launched to help creative industries in the UK, including the film and TV sector. This is great news for anyone who is interested in drama classes for adults, as it could potentially open up new acting roles and job opportunities. The funding will be available to the performing arts sector and games and digital media companies. 

The funding scheme, known as the Creative Growth Finance II, will be delivered by Creative UK and follows the successful first round of funding in 2019. This scheme saw £17m invested across 30 creative businesses. The Stage reports that eligible companies will be able to apply for loans of between £100,000 and £1m to grow their businesses.  

Caroline Norbury, chief executive of Creative UK, said: “Over the past decade, the UK’s creative industries have grown more than 1.5 times the rate of the wider economy, currently generating £108 billion in economic value and employing 2.3 million people.”

She added: “However, this country’s talented creative businesses are experiencing a significant gap between their immense growth potential and access to the vital capital they need to succeed.”

“In launching the Creative Industries Sector Vision, the prime minister Rishi Sunak acknowledged the ’enormous potential of our creative entrepreneurs and businesses’ and said that ’growing the economy means growing the creative industries’.”

The creative industries are vital to the British economy, and the government has recently outlined ambitious plans to grow the sector by £50bn and create one million jobs by 2030. The UK is home to world class cultural institutions such as the National Theatre, and is a leading maker of films, documentaries, and binge-worthy television dramas.

Collectively, the performing arts and other creative industries contribute £108bn annually to the British economy, yet all too often they are neglected, underfunded, or dismissed as lightweight and non-essential. Despite this, the creative sector in the UK is thriving and has grown at 1.5 times the rate of the wider economy, employing over 2.3m people. 

In a statement earlier this summer, prime minister Rishi Sunak announced that he was determined to level up the creative sector, building on such landmark projects as the new British Library centre in Leeds. He also said that new creative clusters would be established across the country. 

Currently, Leeds has a centre of excellence in film and TV that has put the city on the map as the UK’s leading media production centre outside of London. Whether you are interested in acting, writing, set design, costume design or production, there are a wealth of opportunities in Leeds. 

In order to achieve these aims, the government has pledged a total of £75 m in new investment, and extra funding for apprenticeships and training in areas such as media, video games, and set design. This not only levels up access to the arts, but creates hundreds of other opportunities in related sectors such as marketing and props and costume design.

Acting can be a wonderful creative outlet whatever your level of skill and experience, and it can lead to life-changing professional opportunities working in TV, film, or theatre. 

However, not everyone has the time to put themselves through auditions, or the resilience to subject their efforts to the judgement of professional theatre or TV critics. 

This is perfectly understandable, but it shouldn’t put anyone off the idea of pursuing acting for its own sake. Here are some of the benefits of taking part time acting lessons whatever your career ambitions. 

An outlet for self-expression

Acting is a unique medium of expression and you may be surprised at just how much you can apply what you learn to your everyday life. You will find that you are much better able to access and express your emotions, whether for self-reflection or to improve your relationships with others. 

You will learn how to access past experiences and the deeper thoughts and feelings that we rarely have time to draw on in the course of everyday life. This will not only help you to become a better actor, but also to evolve in your own inner journey. 

You may find yourself better able to handle sensitive situations and bring a new emotional intelligence to past or present events in your life. Of course, not all acting has to involve heavy emotional weather, and it can simply be a way to escape from the more mundane realities of everyday life and have fun pretending to be someone else for a while. 

Improved communication skills

Whether you have inner demons to wrestle with or you just want to feel less self conscious and more confident speaking in public, acting lessons will help you to express yourself in an accurate and assured manner. This can lead to greater self awareness and help you to achieve career goals or have more rewarding personal relationships. 

You will not just be taught the theory, but also the practical skills to help you communicate well. For example, you will learn how to project and modulate your voice to fit the situation, and adopt the right posture and body language so that your gestures enhance your words. 

By learning to control your whole stage presence, you will find that you have an invaluable skill that you can bring to a wide range of other occupations, from teaching to telesales or customer service. 

You will become part of a community

In your drama classes, you will encounter people from different walks of life to your own, and soon you will have friends and acquaintances from a variety of backgrounds, ages, and occupations. This is a great opportunity to build a supportive network of friends that can bring you a fresh perspective on life and enjoy shared experiences with.

You will develop cultural capital

During your acting classes, you will encounter some of the world’s best stage and screenplays, from Shakespere to contemporary TV dramas and comedies. This will enhance your understanding and appreciation of drama and help you to explore the wonderful variety and complexity of the human condition.

Feel inspired to try acting classes in Liverpool? Please get in touch with us today.

In recent years, there has been a trend for big Hollywood names to turn their hand to stage acting. Stars such as Hugh Jackman, Gemma Arterton, Emma Stone, and Nicole Kidman have all made the successful transition from the big screen to the famous theatres of London’s West End or Broadway. 

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Embarking on adult acting classes is a very exciting venture, but how can you best prepare yourself? Of course, there are many new skills and concepts that will be revealed by your course tutors, but it can be helpful to have some idea of what to expect, and also of what will be expected of you. 

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Most aspiring actors also have a second career, either through a previous calling or to support themselves financially while they look for acting work, attend drama college or study online acting classes. For some, a side hustle is merely a means to an end; something to be endured while waiting for a big chance. 

However, even the most ordinary-seeming job can provide an excellent training ground for the aspiring actor. Here are some surprising ways in which you can boost your acting career while working a ‘survival job.’

Call centres

Working in a call centre may not have the glamour and excitement of acting, but in fact you are using some similar skills. The best actors are also great listeners, and know how to respond effectively to the cues of their director or stage partner. These skills are also essential for a good call centre agent to communicate effectively with customers.

Telephone work is also a great opportunity to perfect the art of speaking clearly and moderating the pace and tone of your voice. If you are a whizz at accents, you can always keep yourself entertained by switching between regional accents for each call (if your manager doesn’t mind/notice).

Waiting tables and bartending

Waiting tables may not have the status of acting, but to be a good waiter or bartender you need some of the actors’ flair for adapting to different audiences and being comfortable with a crowd. If you are naturally a sociable personality with oodles of charm, you will probably enjoy waiting or bartending as a side hustle while you look for your acting breakthrough.

Hospitality jobs have the benefit of being flexible, usually offering evening shifts that leave you free in the daytime to attend auditions. It’s also possible to supplement your wages well with tips, especially in the higher end establishments. 

However, if you have no previous experience, you may need to be prepared to start in a more humble role collecting and washing glasses or peeling veg in the kitchen. Even this type of work can bring you into contact with people who move in the right circles, so don’t dismiss the idea too quickly.

Retail or other customer service work

Working in customer service is often seen as a stop-gap job that requires no particular training or qualifications, and it’s one of the easiest sectors to break into if you don’t have a lot of work history under your belt. 

The work will bring you into daily contact with a wide range of personalities from diverse backgrounds, which is a perfect opportunity to observe human behaviour and hone your emotional intelligence. The ability to ‘read the room’ and deal with all manner of characters without becoming flustered will stand you in good stead for your future stage career.

Tutoring  or teaching work

Tutoring other students in person or online allows you to hone your communication skills and develop empathy and a greater understanding of how other people think and feel, which is a perfect grounding for an actor.

One of the most common pieces of advice aspiring actors are given is ‘acting is reacting’. This can be a novel concept for those who believe that acting is all about using their voice and body language to portray character and emotion. However, the best actors do not put themselves first, but are actually great listeners.

Here’s a look at how to put the concept of reacting into practice. 

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A common reason for adults to opt against taking TV acting classes in Manchester is the thought that this is something that has passed them by; that they might have had a go when they were younger but it will now never happen.

However, that really isn’t the way to approach the question. True, many famous actors started out young and made a name for themselves while still under the care of their parents. But unless the production in question is a remake of Bugsy Malone, actors of different ages will always be needed.

So, instead of lamenting that you “could have been anything that you wanted to be”, inspiration can be taken from actors who are still playing starring roles when many in other walks of life would have their slippers on.

A prime example is Harrison Ford, a man known for many film roles, but for two iconic characters in particular. While Han Solo was killed off in the seventh Star Wars film, Indiana Jones lives on for one last hurrah in The Dial of Destiny, before the now octogenarian Ford hangs up his whip and fedora for good.

Ford told Variety Magazine it may be his last appearance as Dr Jones, but even at 81, he has no plans to quit acting altogether.

He remarked: “I don’t do well when I don’t have work. I love to work. I love to feel useful. It’s my Jones. I want to be helpful”. Unlike some of his adversaries, he clearly has no plans to melt away.

It may be true that Harrison Ford started out acting a long time ago, in an age when special effects mean an X-wing fighter pulled by a piece of concealed string. But even if you start late, there will be age-appropriate roles on TV and on stage for older actors out there for you to fill.

If you are keen on getting into acting, taking drama classes for adults is a great start. But if you do well and have the chance to progress into stage or screen roles, you may have some qualms about what might be asked of you.

That could involve taking on roles that clash with your own values, or might feel particularly uncomfortable with on a personal level. A prime example of that could be having to perform naked or partially naked.

For many actors, especially women, this can be a challenge but in the past has often been seen as an obligation. In an interview with the Guardian, Joanna Lumley revealed how this was a part of her career that she felt compelled to do even though she thoroughly disliked it.

Name-checking contemporaries like Diana Rigg and Julie Christie, she said: “We all had to take at least our tops off in something. It was standard and it was this, ‘You’re not a real actress unless you take your top off.”

She added that “nobody likes it” and described undertaking sex scenes as “ghastly stuff we have to pretend to do”.

While you may be unlikely to be asked to perform naked or part-naked at an early stage, one way you might develop your fledgling without this is voice acting. With the right tone of voice, you can work on radio, in advert voice-overs and in other recordings.

Speaking to Bang Showbiz, Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage highlighted how he loves voice acting. “I find not relying on other things as an actor, and just solely your voice, it really can be very liberating,” he said.

Part of the appeal, he noted, is that he can wear his own clothes instead of a costume, ensuring he is comfortable at all times.

Of course, it wasn’t his role as Tyrion Lannister that saw his body exposed for all to see, unlike many of his co-stars. But the fact remains that voice acting does provide a means of avoiding visual exposure. Whether that means you get to wear whatever you want or simply get to wear something, it could offer many opportunities.

Method acting has become one of the most well-known techniques in the industry, thanks to its world-famous supporters, including Marlon Brando and Robert DeNiro.

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