Career roadmap
How to become an Actor
Median annual wage for Actors, Producers, and Directors (27-2010) — BLS OEWS, May 2023. This is the broader SOC group, covering more jobs than this one career.
What you would actually do
The tasks that make up the work of an Actor, weighted by how central each one is to the job.
- Collaborate with others to prepare or perform artistic productions.
- Practice athletic or artistic skills.
- Study scripts to determine project requirements.
- Audition for roles.
- Perform music for the public.
- Collaborate with others to determine technical details of productions.
- Entertain public with comedic or dramatic performances.
- Promote products, activities, or organizations.
The skills that actually carry the job
Scored on how much the work depends on each one — not a wishlist, a measurement.
- Reading Comprehension3.9/5
- Speaking3.9/5
- Active Listening3.8/5
- Social Perceptiveness3.8/5
- Critical Thinking3.0/5
- Monitoring3.0/5
- Time Management3.0/5
- Writing2.9/5
- Coordination2.9/5
- Complex Problem Solving2.9/5
Would this suit you?
Every occupation leans on a particular mix of interests. Here is the mix measured for an Actor — and our free 2-minute Career Match scores you on the same six.
- Artistic7.0/7
Creating, expressing, working without a fixed procedure
- Social4.1/7
Helping, teaching, caring for and working directly with people
- Enterprising4.0/7
Persuading, leading, selling, taking commercial risk
- Realistic2.3/7
Hands-on, practical, working with tools, machines or the body
- Investigative2.1/7
Investigating, diagnosing, reasoning through problems with evidence
- Conventional1.7/7
Ordering, checking, following a precise procedure accurately
Interest profiles from the O*NET 29.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration. Used under CC BY 4.0.
