Career
Actors
Bring characters to life on stage and screen.
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Attend auditions and casting calls to audition for roles.
- Work closely with directors, other actors, and playwrights to find the interpretation most suited to the role.
- Portray and interpret roles, using speech, gestures, and body movements, to entertain, inform, or instruct radio, film, television, or live audiences.
- Study and rehearse roles from scripts to interpret, learn and memorize lines, stunts, and cues as directed.
- Collaborate with other actors as part of an ensemble.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
AI
BLS now cites artificial intelligence in this occupation's outlook: “share decreases as fewer domestic television, movies, and live theater are produced and as artificial intelligence (AI) reduces the number of commercial advertising opportunities otherwise available to actors.”
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on creation & expression, then people & care?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Attend auditions and casting calls to audition for roles.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Reading Comprehension, Speaking, Active Listening, Social Perceptiveness.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
Varies of education after high school (some college, no degree), for a median of — a year and 6,300 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- TheatreSee the degree →
- Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts, GeneralCIP 50.0501
- ActingCIP 50.0506
- Directing and Theatrical ProductionCIP 50.0507
- Musical TheatreCIP 50.0509
- Comedy Writing and PerformanceCIP 50.0511
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Musicians and Singers
- Talent Directors
- Choreographers$55,310 · +3.1%
- Music Directors and Composers$73,710 · +1.2%
- Poets, Lyricists and Creative Writers
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
Not sure this fits who you are? Start with Vocational Finder →
Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.