Not financially, but my question is do you parents support you in your career choice?

Mine have, but s the years pass, I get the feeling they are getting less and less patient for me to actually make decent money off it, and my mom especially though it was a phase.

Iceman,

The fact that they do not support you financially says a lot about your character.

As a parent of a teen, I joke that my daughter is going to get a "foo-foo" degree. She is very interested in musical theatre and her "back-up plan" is fashion design(neither of which from a logical position is very stable and is very difficult to break into). That being said I am very supportive of her choices. In fact I encourage her to keep reaching for her dreams especiallly while she is young and not tied down to any obligations. If it is truley your passion and dream stick with it. Your parents may seem less patient as time goes on just because they worry and they want you to be happy and financial secure.

Best of luck and keep reaching for your dreams!

Well, I'm still only in college and I hope to get my BFA in Acting, and my parents say they support me, come to the occasional I am in, put up with me talking their ear off about some acting technique I found out about. However, I get the feeling that they are waiting for me to "wake up" from my dream of acting for a living.

I am very supportive of my daughters dreams. July of 2007 I relocated to Los Angeles so that my oldest daughter could attend AMDA. I want my daughters to follow there dreams. To me it's worst to look back and say shoulda coulda. We are also a praying a family and God has guided our every step. Alot of my family members thought I was crazy for moving to LA without a job and a place. God has showed me each day that I made the right choice. My oldest daughter is doing great at AMDA and my youngest daughter has an 4.0 GPA and we just found out she got accepted into the LA Magnet High School of Fashion. I say all this to say, Iceman follow your heart. Now a days there is no such thing as stable work. I left a good job back home, right before I left the company I was working for sent a notice that they were laying off thousands. Alot of my friends back home are out of work now. That could have been.

This sounds funny because it's so lame.

I have found my parents get very happy when they see me as an extra on TV, but really don't get excited if I do five independent films that do show on TV or in a theater.

I have no intention of giving up, weather or not I’m supported by my parents. It's nice... but not necessary.

Great post! My parents have been super-supportive of me over the years. They still are, and I know they will be till the day they die. I was always a flake in school I wanted to either be an actor or a professional snowboarder. I've become both! its great, Although, now I live in the south so the snowboarding thing has been out of the picture.
My dad was always a little weird about me acting, but i think its because when i was in grad school we did a chaucer piece that involved me dressing up in a leather mini skirt, bra, blond wig and high heels right in front of him. I improv'd a little scene with him because he was in the front row. I just had to sit on his lap and flirt with him. TAKE THAT, OEDIPUS! Since then, the electrician in him didn't really trust me anymore. But, they still love me. Go Mom and Dad!

LOL, It's great to have support from family and friends in whatever you pursue in life.

um, I think my mom is a lot more open to it than my dad is.
I am currently in community college taking a reading class, trying to get the prequisite classes out of the way.
I should be able to take my Theatre class by Winter.

I think she is a lot better with me wanting to do this with my major.

I've always been creative anyway.
I play bass guitar and for years I've tried to find a band, and all that but nothing worked.

I have only been in acting for a year and have had better success with this than music.

My mother is a single parent and I am 18 and in college...I know she supports me but it worries her that I want to work in a business that is extremely un rewarding and competetive.

It's a good questions, Iceman, but I do think it's very hard for many people to objectively say whether their parents support them. Most people see the world only through their own lens, and younger actors in particular may have a hard time discerning understandable parental concern from support/lack of support.

20 years ago when I was going to college I wanted to major in theatre. My folks discouraged me, and since they were helping pay my bills and I was the oldest kid (read: big people pleaser) I acquiesced very quickly. Guess what, if I would give in that quickly to please them then I probably would have had a very tough time in such a competitive business. Instead, I chose a career that's almost as competitive (broadcasting) and have ended up loving it!

Now that I'm a parent of a teen who wants to pursue theatre, I understand the parental desire to make sure your kid chooses careers wisely. Let's be honest, at 18/20/22 pension plans and health benefits are the farthest thing from your mind. BUT when you're 35 or 40 they're pretty darn important. It's a parents job to keep kids grounded a bit.

My DD and I have talked about back-up plans... what kinds of jobs would gel well with an actor's schedule, etc. Right now she's thinking massage therapy (decent pay, flexible hours, etc). Hopefully it'll work out.

Okay - I've gone on too long... just wanted to give another parent's perspective.

~T

Hmm, My mom definitely supports me. We live by the "live is short" motto. She's also the one who got me involved in acting and dancing, so even if she didn't agree with it- it's her fault!

I think sometimes parents seem like the aren't supportive and don't understand, but I don't think it would be easy to see your kid go into such a difficult career choice. I think it's one of those things that you don't understand until you are a parent yourself. Although, ultimately, I think in the end they just want you to be happy.

well said, tmb43.

It's sort of hard for a kid/teen/young adult to get started and be involved in this business without parental support. I think that most kids show an interest and the parents take it from there. I sometimes wonder if it is me that is pushing my DS to take classes and go to auditions. I really felt guilty this spring with my kid doing three shows in May. He thought it was overload but did it for us since it was a 'great opportunity'. He’s going into HS in the fall and when we ask him what he wants to major in college it’s maybe Theater and then maybe Law School (like the rest of the family). We can only guide and provide support. My parents did when all I wanted to do was music and electronics. I was ready to go into aerodynamic engineering and wanted to build rockets and missiles but then someone told me about the RadioTV department at their school. Well, that’s when I changed direction and did broadcasting and engineering with my parents cheering me on.
We have four more years to push and direct and support DS in whatever path he chooses. Hopefully theater will continue to be along the way.

Hey Dadin, it sounds like our sons are the same age. Mine is 14 and entering HS this fall too. As far as overload, I know there have been times my DS has felt overloaded too, especially with theather because it's so time consuming and for such a long period. But every time, when the performances come up he is totally in his element. He loves the performace/dislikes the time that practices take up. It never fails though, he's always glad he did it once the performing happens and misses it when it's done. On another note, we enjoyed our trip to NYC a few weeks ago and we tried to do Rock center thing but most of it was closed by the time we got there. His class went until 4:30, we went to Mass near by and by the time we made it up that way...oh well, maybe next time! Thanks again for the tip. We'll be back in NYC mid July so we'll see what happens then. Maybe we'll cross paths sometime!