In the film Zoolander, Ben Stiller’s comic take on the world of fashion, the action comes to an award ceremony where one of the categories is “The Slashie Award”, which is presented to the best Actor/Model of the past year.

I smile at that moment because it is so true about our profession. Actors will now list themselves as Actor/Writer/Director/Producer. However we have always been “slashies”. For many years I was an Actor/Tech Support Rep. I’ve also been an Actor/Security Guard, Actor/Waiter, Actor/Bouncer, Actor/Customer Service Manager, Actor/Handyman… The list goes on. Of course the one constant in all of this is “Actor”. I plan to have that professional title appear in my obituary, sans slash. Practitioners of our profession must always be able to pivot to whatever profession will pay the bills at any given time. That is the life we have chosen.

It took me a long time to get comfortable with this reality. I would counsel young players to get comfortable sooner than later. It will make for an easier path.