The following Career Dispatches essay was written by Akshay Kumar, an exciting British talent who has appeared in major TV dramas from Devs to Homeland and films including Star Wars: Episode VIII. He is currently starring in the post-apocalyptic sci-series Pandora.
My advice to my younger self, and to all aspiring actors, is to embrace your day job. You know, that job you hate to do in order to keep doing the job you love? Yep. That one.
All actors who love their craft love to work. That’s a given. And a lot of us – myself included – derive a significant amount of our happiness and sense of purpose from acting. It’s when we feel truly alive. We cherish that feeling and wish those moments would last forever. If this is ringing any bells, great! That’s wonderful! You’ve definitely chosen the right path. So well done!
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However – and I’ve spent most of my career arguing against this, there is a life outside of acting. And that life also needs to be nurtured, cherished and lived – your life.
Yes, it’s hard, precarious, and sometimes unforgiving. But it is also beautiful, rewarding, and has an endless supply of opportunities to expose yourself to. Friends, families, colleagues, hobbies, places, and strangers all contribute to the feeding of your soul. And, by extension, your ever-evolving perception of the world. And, by a further extension, your ever-evolving journey as an artist. One is constantly feeding the other.
“There is a life outside of acting. And that life also needs to be nurtured. ”
A lot of an actor’s life is spent flitting between day jobs. It’s part of the all-important grind. But the idea of having to get a day job to fill my time and supplement my income used to make me feel like a total failure. Yes, I know that 98% of actors at any time find themselves in that very position, but I had worked pretty steadily since leaving drama school, and so I never found myself in a position where I needed a day job. I thought I’d skipped that part of the book and shot through to the good bits. Lucky me, right?
Not so. When the wave finally crashed and the work dried up – and boy did it dry up – I was left scratching my head, wondering where that good feeling had gone. It evaded me for two whole years.
So, after much kicking and screaming, I finally got myself a day job. “Damn,” I thought, “now I’m part of that 98%.”
But that two-year period of my career (though I doubted I still had one at the time) turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me. I kid you not.
Pulling double shifts in pubs and scrubbing vomit-filled toilets on minimal sleep taught me resilience. I could put my mind and body through way more than I ever thought I could.
10 London Talent Agencies All Working Actors Need to Know Wrangling with racial abuse from tired, drunken 9 to 5-ers taught me to stand my ground in the face of danger – something I’d never had to do before. I also learned the importance of the phrase “kill them with kindness.” A lot of those folks became my favourite customers. Kindness should never be mistaken for weakness.
“This is a long game, folks. Be grateful for the ups, and learn from the downs. There’s plenty of value in both. ”
Trying to interpret non-English speaking customers’ orders taught me to pay attention to behaviour, body language and the slightest shifts in expressions. Language was no longer a barrier. Behaviour became the key to communication.
Most importantly, that day job I hated so much taught me that there was a world of seven billion other people out there, each with their own struggles, dreams, and fears. And their struggles, dreams, and fears were just as important to them as mine were to me. We’re all just trying to get by.
And after two years, when the work finally started to appear again, I learned gratitude. I vowed never to take work for granted again. And not just acting work – any and all work. Anything that allowed me to learn something new, or do something that I knew would make me feel uncomfortable, or force me to face my own hang-ups. Because some way, somehow, those experiences always end up playing a part in your artistry.
This is a long game, folks. There are no shortcuts, no overnight success stories (despite what social media might make you think). So, take pride in the ups and downs. Be grateful for the ups, and learn from the downs. There’s plenty of value in both.
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