Overview & Salary

Overview

Play parts in stage, television, radio, video, or film productions, or other settings for entertainment, information, or instruction. Interpret serious or comic role by speech, gesture, and body movement to entertain or inform audience. May dance and sing.

On the job, you would:

  • Collaborate with other actors as part of an ensemble.
  • Portray and interpret roles, using speech, gestures, and body movements, to entertain, inform, or instruct radio, film, television, or live audiences.
  • Work closely with directors, other actors, and playwrights to find the interpretation most suited to the role.

Education

  • no high school diploma/GED
  • bachelor's degree

Salary

Annual 10th percentile $27,040
Annual median $42,640
Annual 90th percentile $208,021

Knowledge & Skills

Knowledge

Arts and Humanities

  • music, dance, visual arts, drama, or sculpture
  • English language

Communications

  • multimedia

Math and Science

  • sociology and anthropology
  • psychology

Business

  • customer service

Skills

Basic Skills

  • reading work related information
  • talking to others

Problem Solving

  • noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it

Personality & Abilities

Personality

Artistic

People interested in this work like activities that include creating, designing, and making your own rules.

  • Cooperation
  • Persistence
  • Adaptability/Flexibility
  • Dependability
  • Initiative
  • Social Orientation

Abilities

Memory

  • remember words, numbers, pictures, or steps

Verbal

  • communicate by speaking
  • listen and understand what people say

Ideas and Logic

  • create new and original ideas
  • notice when problems happen
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