Keith Kearney-Pelsey
Professor Rebecca Weaver
Engl 1102
April 18, 2022
Actors: Degree or No Degree
For those of young students who want to be actors or actresses know that acting doesn’t always come from talent but from skill. There’s more than what people might think. And that is getting a little bit educated on the art of Theatre or Film. Some actors strive to get a degree in those categories in order to get far in their career, but there is one major question that is often asked is whether or not actors really need to have a degree in their craft. The answer often varies when it comes to the actor or actress who want to have a degree. For most people, they will say that acting just comes from experience without needing an education but others take their time to go to college to increase their knowledge in their career. It matters to everyone who wants to become successful after their years in education. Actors are free to have the choice to go to college and make an Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree in their craft.
The college degree that everyone, including actors, strives for is a Bachelor’s degree or an Associates degree. In an anominously written article on the Best Accredited Colleges website, “Acting Career Information: Becoming an Actor or Actress”, they addressed the educational requirement for being an actor. The author of the article states that, “There are no formal education requirements to become an actor but a bachelor’s degree in theater arts, drama, acting and performing, may be helpful in learning technical skills.” Granted, they only talk about everything that an actor does and needs, the author actually talks about the different skill sets to be an actor. Those skills are memorization, creativity, and literacy. Those skills are often there as a reminder for how young actors should treat their education. Since there is no formal educational requirement, they offer classes in the college field as a bit of extracurricular for other actors. These classes show the students how to be technical in their craft and help them gain full experience. Even if those extra-curricular activities help with experience, it doesn’t truly help with getting a degree in that particular field. The general conclusion of this article lies under the fact that the necessary skill sets and extra-curricular programs in college will help students become actors. Therefore is one of the reasons that actors don’t need a degree to make it far into their careers.
Without having a degree in acting, students who are soon to become actors will find better experience when they are doing real jobs onstage or onset. This is fully explained in the article, “Actor” written by Kathyrn Quinlan. Kathryn Quinlan is a writer who writes on different career pathways that give out training tips in those particular careers. In Chapter 3: Training to Be an Actor, Quinlan states that, “Most actors train on the job, taking lots of small jobs at first, as extras in shows and helpers building sets and props.” (Quinlan) For actors who are being extras are usually given minor parts with little dialogue. Luckily they get paid for their work and gain tons of experience doing so. Another thing that was mentioned in Chapter 3 was that actors could join unions. Quinlan added, “A union is a group that seeks fair treatment and better pay for workers. Sometimes actors must belong to unions before they can work.” (Quinlan) Say as if an actor wanted to be a lead role in a play or a movie, they would have to be part of a union such as SAG-AFTRA or Actors Unity Association. There are actually different kinds of unions that helps different types of actors ranging from being an extra to being a stunt double. Many beginning actors can gain true experience when they do real work real set or stage. They can even do without having a Bachelors or Associates degree in their craft.
It could be a few actors who actually do decide to get a college degree and use it for their career. They would use that degree for getting a job in theatre, acquire a lot of money in that field or even better they get to experience new things with the degree. This particular idea is a lot more explained in the article, “Dollars and sense’’: Professors and Other Experts Share Advice on Financing Your Theatre Degree.” written by Amy Cuomo. Amy Cuomo is a theatre professor of University of West Georgia who made this article with other theatre professors on their opinions and advice on theatre students who want to have a college degree. “For theatre practitioners, higher education training provides an opportunity to learn new skills and hone your craft, as well as to make discoveries about yourself and your abilities.” (Cuomo 11) As she said, when most actors gain their degree, particularly in Theatre, the world is always open for multiple opportunities for everyone. With financial aid, FAFSA aid could definitely help with scholarships for college and it could really benefit college professors for their jobs. Granted, colleges will charge students for classes and living expenses, but luckily FAFSA will take care of all of it. It all adds up to how students manage grades and what they got on their test scores. With acquiring money and experience, that all goes into how the student chooses whether or not to use their degree. Experience and money is very important to a degree but the way a degree is financed should be very crucial.
As it would be seem from all of the evidence that whether or not actors should get college degrees to help further careers lies on the hands of the actors themselves. Even if there is no formal education requirement when actors need a degree for their craft, it would still be good for them to go for it. Every actor should be able to find their way into their career with or without a college degree. They could learn by experience, programs, or even by getting real jobs in the field. Others who want to get a college degree will be able to study more and learn new things along the way that they never knew even existed. It’s almost similar to the old saying of “College isn’t for everyone.” Where in this case, actors who would want to go to college to find more opportunities will be great for them, while other actors who aren’t really looking forward to college can still find those opportunities by another source. Degree or no degree, Actors will be able take the stage in their own way and set up new journey for themselves.
Works Cited
“Acting Career Information: Becoming an Actor or Actress.” Bestaccreditedcolleges.org, https://bestaccreditedcolleges.org/articles/acting-career-information-becoming-an-actor-or-actress.html.
Cuomo, Amy. “DOLLARS AND SENSE: Professors and Other Experts Share Advice on Financing Your Theatre Degree.” Southern Theatre, vol. 62, no. 1, Winter 2021, pp. 24–36. EBSCOhost, https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=ibh&AN=148423046&site=eds-live&scope=site.
Quinlan, Kathyrn. “Chapter 3: Training to Be an Actor.” Actor, Jan. 1998, p. 22. EBSCOhost, https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=ndh&AN=8906123&site=eds-live&scope=site.