Acting Advice by Jenna Fischer from "The Office"

I stumbled upon a blog post by Jenna Fischer, the actress who plays Pam Beesley from "The Office", and I had to re-post it here for my L.A. Graffiti readers who are aspiring actors.

The information and advice given in her post is clear, truthful and priceless.

The original post can be found here.

The Acting Advice Blog - by: Jenna Fischer from The Office

I've received tons of letters from people asking advice about the entertainment industry and, in particular, pursing a life as an actor.  People have also asked how I got to be on The Office. This blog, I hope, will address some of those questions.

I grew up in St. Louis Missouri.  I always wanted to be an actor but when you grow up in a place like St. Louis that is sort of like saying, "I want to be a superhero when I grow up".  It hardly seems real.  The world of Hollywood is mysterious.  You hear stories of girls being discovered at ball games.  Success is about having "it" or being pretty or some other intangible magic.  You have no model for how to succeed.  Everyone's story is different.  One person does stand-up for 15 years and then gets a TV show, someone else finances their own movie and it takes off at a festival and suddenly they are the hottest thing.  But for each of those people there are thousands of stand-up comics and filmmakers who never got their break.  How do you know what to do?

The Hamstars Are Taking Over!

What do hip hop hamsters and Kia cars have in common?  Absolutely nothing.  But I was reminded of the fluffy, rapping critters when I was invited to a Kia luncheon by my good friend Adam, from AutoStream.com.  I really didn't know what was going to be presented at this Kia luncheon; I just heard "free lunch" and said "ok, let's go."  We made our way down to Kia's North American headquarters in Adam's steroid using, son of a rocket GT-R.  I let out a couple of guttural grunts as the force of acceleration from the GT-R pressed me into my seat.  I can't think of a better way to blast down the coast of California.

Upon arriving at Kia's sterile looking corporate headquarters, we saw a neatly parked row of Kia Optima Hybrids parked in front of their building.  "Oh yeah!" said Adam, "We get to test drive the new Optima today."  Free lunch and a test drive?  The only thing that could top that for a Tuesday would be if the hip hop hamsters gave us a concert while we were eating.

Sadly, there were no lyric spitting hamsters, but the food was excellent and the presentation was educational.  The vice president of Kia pointed out that the company has shown growth every year since it's launch in the mid 1990's.  This got me thinking:  I wonder how many people laughed when they heard that Kia, a Korean company with small economy cars, was going to launch in the United States.  How was a little known company with tiny cars going to break into a market where big cars and Detroit muscle dominated?  How many people told them that this was going to be an impossible task?  Well, more than fifteen years later, they're still here and they're capturing more of the auto market each year.

Now think back to how many people laughed at you when you told them you wanted to pursue a career in art.  How many people told you it would be impossible to break into the industry?  If it's really your passion to have a career in the art world, you'll listen to these nay-sayers, tell them to have a nice day and pound the pavement like Kia did until you're happy with where you're at.

I often hear about seemingly overnight successes, people being discovered in elevators and such, but after doing some reseach, I quickly learn that they've been putting their nose to the grindstone for over ten years!  They just happened to be in the right place at the right time and had the right walk to back up their talk.  It takes 10,000 hours of practice to master your craft, so start logging those hours whenever you can!

Kia has definitely put in their 10,000 hours of practice and it's evident in their new Optima Hybrid.  It's a smooth and confident ride with plenty of creature comforts.  Perfect for transporting a young family.  Of course, being car guys, we had to finish off the day with a visit to the Lamborghini and Ferrari dealerships.  =P












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