Child Star? Help?

Question:My daughter wants to become a child actress. She is 11-years-old, 5"3, 110 lbs, and has never acted a day in her life. She says its her dream to be an actress and I believe in her. Her spunky personality and creative mind sets her above the rest, on the acting scale. Anyway, can anyone tell me some good sites on how to become a child star or any acting projects that are taking place in AZ for her type (age, height, etc) of needed actress?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: My daughter wants to become a child actress. She is 11-years-old, 5"3, 110 lbs, and has never acted a day in her life. She says its her dream to be an actress and I believe in her. Her spunky personality and creative mind sets her above the rest, on the acting scale. Anyway, can anyone tell me some good sites on how to become a child star or any acting projects that are taking place in AZ for her type (age, height, etc) of needed actress?

1. Training. Acting/Dancing/Singing classes are a good start. You start to get some talent under your belt, and grow your confidence. Plus, if after about a year of classes if you realize you really don't like it, it'll be easier for you to back out.

2. Experience. Do Community Theater, act in your school play, get in some student films, etc. You'll want to do as many productions as possible to have a great resume.

3. Agent. http://www.soyouwanna.com/site/syws/tale...

As you can see, you're going to need to spend at least two years (At the VERY least. Usually you'll need three to four.) building yourself up. You'll want to make sure this is what you really want to do before you start getting into this.

Also, you should NEVER have to pay for anything when it comes to getting an agent. If an agent tells you to take special classes from them or a website asks for a credit card number, that is a red flag that it is a scam. Some of the big scammers out there are: John Robert Powers, Millie Lewis, John Casablancas, Model Look, Barbizon.

Hope this helps you and I hope you go on to have a fantastic career. =)

join the club im 11 my dream is 2 be a actor 2 i love it havent seen or heard of any auditions so far or any cool sites if u find 1 please send it 2 me at paigeogilvy@yahoo.com please looking foword 2 meeting her on tv maybe we might star in a movie 2gether

I know this isn't exactly what you're asking for, but my advice would be, don't let her go this route. If she's truly interested in acting, and has an aptitude for it, there's plenty of time after she turns 18 for her to make this her life's passion. At the age of 11 her only "jobs" should be school and being a child.

"Child actors" are nothing but lost kids who are being used and exploited by adults to make money for them in one way or another. That's it; nothing more. Either they're making money for their parents, or for managers, advertisers, or companies. Along the way they're losing out on the NORMAL activities kids engage in to develop and learn who they are. Even child actors with the most enlightened parents often end up lonely and depressed, unable to have normal friendships, confused about their place in the world and, in the end, deeply regretful that their parents allowed them to give up their childhoods. And those are the HEALTHY ones! At worst, if they fail at their dreams they end up feeling that life is pointless, and if they succeed they often end up "has-beens" at the age of 18, or on drugs or dead.

Just my advice, but if you don't believe me, check out some biographies of child actresses that you've heard of....then ask yourself what probably happened to the ones you HAVEN'T heard of because they spent their childhoods trying to make it but couldn't. Acting and the search for fame and fortune are brutal enough for adults....why subject a happy child to it?

The age of 11 is WAY too young to be making decisions that could impact her entire life. If she's desperate to act, let her participate in church or community theater activities, or participate in school plays. If she (or you) feel that she has to be on TV, making money, or becoming famous before she even hits puberty, I'd say someone needs some serious rearrangement of their priorities, and fast.