Acting : Background Actor by Kyle Taylor

While extra/background work is essential to building the reality of a any show, understand that it's not placed in the same category as "acting" by many. That is, since you didn't audition or have to prove a set of skills to get the extra job, it can't be considered acting. I think that's a bit harsh, because there are times when extras are "featured" and if they don't have a basic ability to live in the moment, it's painfully obvious to the audience.

That said, there is little to no chance that extra work will actually parlay into a professional acting career that consists of co-star roles, guest star roles, series regular roles, etc. I've overheard extras on sets talking about how they're gonna be famous simply from extra work, or that agents are unnecessary, and it only betrays how naive they are. No casting director is looking at extras to cast speaking roles. For 99.9% of principal roles, they will ONLY solicit submissions from legitimate talent agents.

So first you need to get a reputable talent agent. But even before that, you'll need a solid foundation of training. Training, training, training. You wouldn't want a heart surgeon to perform on you without having been through years and years of med school, so why should acting be any different? If anyone thinks you don't need training, then they are diminishing the importance of the very career they are pursuing.

I think my stance on this issue is pretty clear :)

So keep doing extra work if you truly enjoy it, or need the supplemental income. But as a stepping stool to a professional acting career? It will outlive its usefulness very fast.

Matthew, training now and will continue to do so! I was thinking more as a means to pay the bills and be on set, why not? But I'd never think "Oh I'll be noticed". I'll get paid, and have a flexible schedule that allows me to train and audition for speaking roles as I hone my skills.

Extra or background (BG) work can be of good use. It will give you experience of being on a set, you learn the lingo between cast and crew and, if you're looking to get into SAG-AFTRA, it can be an avenue to membership. There is no "extras union" anymore. That was called SEG (Screen Extras Guild). SAG convinced SEG to merge with them back in the 80's and then proceeding to strip the BG actors of just about everything they had worked for. Anyway......

Don't believe that extra work will lead to a career big break. There are those one off situations where a BG actor gets selected for an upgrade and is given a line (and I mean only 1 line, possibly just a couple of words) and made a co-star for that episode or supporting if it's a feature film, but again those instances are very, very few and far between.

Extra work can be a good source of supplemental income and, as I stated previously, provide good set exposure and experience, but nothing more beyond that. I used to do BG work, it was good money and I learned a lot. But, there was one time where it bit me in the ass. I worked BG and was very featured on a popular Netflix comedy show. No additional money for being featured (that category went away when SAG absorbed SEG) but I did get quite a bit of face time on camera. Two days later I get called in to audition for a guest star role on the next episode of that same show, but as a totally different character. I went in, auditioned, they said I was great. Since this was a straight to callback audition, the director was there and recognized me from two days before and said that he couldn't use me because I was already in the previous episode as BG. Honestly, I was pissed. More so at myself then anything or anyone else.

Just know that there are thousands upon thousands of BG actors out there who have the mindset that every time they get booked on a show that that could be their "big break" and then there are those who are career BG actors and that's all they want to do. I would say that if you're looking to do BG, do it for the experience, learn from it, and then move on to bigger and better things.

Understood, Kyle! And while it doesn't happen in the Atlanta market (where I'm based), I've heard of actors getting a stigma attached for doing too much extra work. That is, if you're trying to segue into getting an agent and doing principal roles, too much extra work could work against you. Don't know how factual that is. But also pay close attention to Jonny's anecdote above. Don't EVER do extra work on an episodic if you even think there's a chance you'll get a legit audition for it. It's not worth the $80 a day to take away your chances of making $960/day.

Very well said from both of you guys. Thx!

Matthew has a very good point there and, yes, there are those actors who do so much BG work that they're pegged as just a BG actor and do find it hard to get representation. On top of that, there were times, back when I was doing BG as a source of income, where I would get booked to work the next day and later on get an audition for that same day. That's when you need to make the choice of paying the bills or taking that audition and killing it. Out here in LA, the BG casting companies (Central Casting, Sandy Aleesi, Rich King, Prime Casting, etc) all talk to each other and anyone who cancels a gig gets the word put out on them that they're "unreliable". Then nobody will book you. So...making the decision on a guaranteed $170/8 compared to a potential $966/8 for some people is a hard choice. Ultimately, the decision is yours. Like I said, BG can be good for getting the onset experience (just make sure to become a "back of the head" actor or stay deep background) just don't get pigeon-holed as "just another BG actor."