Making a living out of it. If you are non-union, you are paid minimum wage with overtime thereafter. If you are union, you now have over 100,000 actors competing over limited spots. More than likely, you have to have some other form of financial support like venturing into business or getting a job outside acting. People who are TOO prideful to support themselves in
other ways between gigs are the ones who will hurt the most.

Your success is based off of your ability to network. Working hard, being talented and having a great image adds to this, but networking is key. One person said it best when he said, “It’s not
who YOU know, it’s who knows YOU.” Many people think the more headshots or demo reels they put out, they increase their chances. Maybe they do… but there’s more of a need for relationships out there and paper isn’t it.

You will face rejection again and again and many of those casting decisions have may nothing to do with you. But it can eat at your personal self-image and confidence if you have no optimism or enthusiasm or understanding of who you are. On the other side of the spectrum, after a little success, some actors feel they are too big for small roles or to do regular work. And if they find that the world does not give them other opportunities immediately, they get depressed. This business is very hard on the insecure yet ironically, it attracts many of them for approval. Keeping a level head is a challenge.

The entertainment industry is an easy place to get scammed for those who do not know what they are doing. Getting the right people around you to help weigh your priorities could be a big problem. In the Nollywood industry nobody id to be trusted because the ending most likely isn’t a fairy tale so one needs to be very careful.

The biggest challenge I think is that some people forget that despite all these challenges, people want to be actors because it is fun. It is fun to play roles, be on set, be creative and work with other people. When it is no longer worth it, it is time to leave. And that is the hardest to admit if that ever happens. Accepting that you are out of league and is time to take a break is one of the hardest thing for an actor to accept, especially when there is no other form of getting daily income and this could be frustrating as an actor.

The life of an actor is more or less in the public eye, people are always judging them from afar without knowing the basic things they go through, they have so many friends and at the same time many more enemies. The daily struggle of always being perfect at all cost with no major trust worthy people around could be problem to an actor.

They don’t have a steady income, nor do they know when they’ll land a role, this always keeps them on their toes, they have to be always ready for the task before them and this could be time and money consuming for them. People treat them as actors even in the outside world. Anything and everything they do is drama and just to show off or gather the Media’s attention. The media ​
is the worst enemy of an actor, whatever they say or do can be perceived in the wrong way without knowing their reasons or intentions, people intrude into their private life which is called “Gossip”.

If the Movie doesn’t run well even if the script lags strength, actors are ridiculed. And considered as bad luck if their next movie is also a flop. Looks matter more than their acting and at such, so many actors go through a lot to stay attractive for the public because they have to face a lot of cameras even out of the Film sets and they are forced to be nice, regardless of how harsh the
public behaves.

An actor can’t just walk into a supermarket to do shopping, they’ll have to face a lot of people with their autograph books, restricted freedom is one of the biggest challenge an actor faces, fans sees them and want pictures or autograph from them, all this and so many more are some of the problems actors face in the movie industry today.

Also published on Medium.