Accepting failure is one of the critical things that an actor must embrace in order to be successful. In fact, viewing failure as a negative is probably not the right perspective if one is going to be resilient and get back up and keep trying. It’s better to look at things that don’t work as exploratory in the process and exclusionary, meaning that you have just discovered one more thing that DOESN’T work and you are getting closer to what DOES!
There are artistic explorations that not work out and there are professional, business situations that both may feel like a failure. This may be that you don’t get a part or an agent or manager chooses not to work with you. There are many ways you may experience what the world will call failure, but an actor must embrace each part of the process and keep going forward. To do that, you must have the right value, viewpoint, and sensibility about every experience you have. Others may not deem something as successful, but an actor must see it as part of the joy-filled process of doing what they love and following the blessing of their bliss.
So it is best to get used to doing a lot of trial and error, experiencing a lot of what others would call ‘rejection’ by putting yourself out there and building the thickest skin you can so that it becomes less emotional, less personal, and less special every time something does not go the way that you wish or want. This kind of resilience and detachment will not remove the necessary intention and objective toward your goals, it will just give you the resilience to keep going until your goals are met on more and more occasions.
So it may seem counter-intuitive, but actors must embrace failure and see it all as progress in the process and hence each step no matter how small, is a kind of success!
For over 40 years, Joanne Baron has been the Artistic Director of The Baron Brown Studio. The Studio has been a wellspring for the theatrical casting and producing communities, and is home to more than 250 actors, writers, directors, and producers each year, including students and alumni such as Halle Berry, Robin Wright, Mariska Hargitay, Patrick Dempsey, and Leslie Mann. Classes are enrolling year round. Free Seminars available at various times. [email protected] www.baronbrown.com
