And on a slightly different note:

[reynardo]

From that shocking waste of time and "I'll just click another link" Cracked.com, the story of an Arts graduate.

...who had gotten an art degree (because enrolling in drama classes "wasn't considered the sensible thing to do"), and by his late 20s was doing as well as you'd expect anyone with a degree to do. He was running his own graphic design business ... and that's when he decided to drop absolutely everything and sign up for acting classes. He even left his own company to concentrate full-time on acting, which doesn't do a lot for your financial security, it turns out.

And then spent some years supporting himself by fetching the clothes for other actors while they got on screen - but then at 46 got a role in a movie for himself.

*sigh*

And that is how Alan Rickman started, and that is why I must knuckle down to get this damned degree and finish the novels.

Comments

[phoenix-fancies.livejournal.com]

also why there are no pics of young Alan, which I always thought was a problem because it was Before Internet, and know we know he was actually just working in an office where people weren't photographing him.

(I might have though because... yum!)

[kerravonsen]

O_O

[laurielover1912.livejournal.com]

because enrolling in drama classes "wasn't considered the sensible thing to do

Thus said my parents to me (or something like that). I remember, it was 'Get a proper degree first.' So I did. And I still wanted to be an actor. Thing is, after having worked my way through several thousands of my parents' money I didn't then feel like asking to go through several thousand more, so I never went to drama school. And twenty years later, I'm still wishing I had.

I've still got several years on forty-six though maybe there's hope yet ... But Slope was a breakthrough for him ... he was in his late twenties/early thirties then, surely?

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

Slope was in the UK (although his Tybalt wasn't bad either) but the really big break was Die Hard, followed by Robin Hood (Prince of Scene-Stealers).

I was disappointed tonight to find out that he was the first choice for the part of the villain in the latest Muppet Movie. If only...

[laurielover1912.livejournal.com]

Looked it up - he was thirty-six. Hmm. I need a TV series quick!

[blithespirit.livejournal.com]

I love stories like that. Thank you for sharing it. :)

[nefaria.livejournal.com]

Seems like many of the greats had a lot of life experience outside their final profession before settling in; their weird jobs helped add a little something unique to their outlook that actors-for-life don't have.

Terry Pratchett had all sorts of odd jobs, such as beekeeper, which lent authenticity to the people in his stories.

[lenaf007.livejournal.com]

Wow, that is so inspiring to hear! I ended up getting a CS degree even though I wasn't sure what I wanted to go into. Now I've found I love writing even though I've got a pretty decent FT job at the moment, it's just not the same.

If Alan Rickman can break into acting after a while, I think I can churn out a few novels myself. :)