Why I act

(Another Facebook-inspired post, this one because of a comment “you should always get paid, never act for free”.)

Why is everyone assuming that people act because they want to get paid for it?

The likelihood of me making as much acting as I do on my day job is, well, practically infinitesimal.

I act because I thrive on it. I act because I crave the art. Payment is lagniappe. My cheese commercial has been playing for almost two years, I still get comments about it. It paid better than all of my other acting gigs combined (and it paid, by hour or by day, better than my day job, and that is saying something).

And since that commercial, I have been shot and hung by a treacherous deputy, swallowed by a shark, had a gunfight with Jesse James, been puked on by a zombie, and am in pre-production on a few other things, to name but a few.

If I get as much as lunch money from my gigs, I’m happy. Hey, I’d be even happier (maybe) if I could do this full time. And yes, I know there are people who succeeded starting as late as I did - but that’s not why I’m do it.

I act for the sheer joy of it. I’m good at it, as it turns out, but that’s only important because it allows me to work over and over again with some of the best people I’ve ever met.

That’s why I act.