This article has made the rounds a little bit. You won't be surprised to hear that I disagree with just about every point he makes. In the comments section, there's a point by point rebuttal that I agree with, so I'm not taking that route. This is my counter-argument in the form of 10 things that I think are awesome about actors. You should know that none of this is about me flattering myself that I'm eminently datable. This is from the point of a view of a woman (me) who has many many many actor friends, who dated her fair share of actors, and ended up marrying one. You should also know that many of these points apply to GOOD actors, not to ALL actors.
1. Actors are emotionally open. They have to be in order to do what they do on stage. If they put up a wall so the world can't see their emotions they can't have that wall conveniently come down only while they're on stage. They walk around with their emotions on their sleeves. Which means, in spite of the fact that they're actors, you'll always know what they're feeling. At least when they're in real life with you.
2. Actors can make even the most mind-numbing, derivative, badly written children's book seem beautiful and thrilling. Your kids will grow up knowing what a good story sounds like, enjoying reading, growing an enormous vocabulary, and will be good storytellers (possibly even good actors) themselves.
3. Actors think outside the box. All the time. They are creative people who spend their time/energy creating characters and imagining how those characters act and react in the given circumstances of the script. That creative-thinking is applicable and valuable in so many areas of real life, including parenting and many different kinds of "day jobs".
4. Actors do their job on stage in front of lots of people. Which means you get to go into a theatre with a bunch of strangers and watch your significant other do amazing things. And you get to secretly listen to the wonderful things those strangers say about your significant other. And you get to admire them for all kinds of new reasons.
5. Actors usually surround themselves with an enormous crowd of other interesting, entertaining people. Which means any parties, dinners, drinks-after-the-show you attend with your significant other will be the most fun you've ever had.
6. Actors usually know they're not going to ACTUALLY make a living acting, so they gain lots of other skills: cooking, waiting tables, bookkeeping, grant-writing, non-grant-writing, photography, clerical work, bartending, catering, computer programming, teaching. Not to mention the other theatre skills they acquire: theatre management, stage management, costume design, directing, lighting design, electrics, etc. All of these skills are great for finding work that DOES pay.
7. Actors frequently change their looks for a part: dye their hair, grow a beard, lose or gain weight, etc (see above for a case in point). So, chances are you'll
have yourself a brand new lover for a time when your significant other is working on a particular role. Hey, there's nothing wrong with a little something fresh and new!
8. Actors are students of human nature. Which means they're very good at putting themselves in someone else's shoes. In fact, they will probably understand you better than you understand yourself.
9. Actors are brave. They go on auditions on a regular basis, which, if you haven't done it, is neither easy nor fun. It's terrifying. Yet they do it. Over and over. What's more, they get up in front of an audience and risk making utter fools of themselves night after night, not knowing what strange things might happen, how the audience will behave, etc. See? Brave.
10. Actors do a lot of their own
dramaturgy. So they're always studying up on something new--a period of history, a country, a city, a real-life person, a language, a culture, a playwright, you get the idea. So you will never ever ever run out of things to talk about.
Please feel free to add more awesome things about actors to this list. :)
