I think that secretly,or not so secretly, everybody hopes that their favorite celebrities are chill individuals. You never like to hear stories about them spazzing out on the paparazzi or treating a fan like crap although it happens more times than we’d probably like to admit to ourselves.
This is especially the case when we can personally relate to the celebrity’s story. You always get a good feeling watching someone who came from nothing finally get their moment to shine because with any luck, you, who also came from nothing, will have your moment to shine as well.
If you follow my blog regularly then you know that my primary passion is to become a successful actor. Right now I’m just trying to learn as much as I can about the acting world and get involved in as many projects as I possibly can handle. Of course it is very hard to ‘make it’ as an actor and even more so if you’re a minority. It’s because of this that I have a level of respect for every minority celebrity in the acting world even if they are not one of my personal favorites.
This past Tuesday I was on set for a television series doing work as an extra(you know those people that you have to squint really hard at your TV to make them out in the background haha) and I had a chance to ‘meet'(and I use that word very loosely) one of the actors I had grown to respect after watching them on Television over the years. The reason why I can’t truly use the word ‘meet’ is because the person and I never spoke the entire time I was there despite being within five feet of each other during multiple takes. In fact, this actor didn’t acknowledge any of the extras that were there and only chose to address their fellow principal actors.
Don’t get me wrong I’m not one of those people who suffer from delusions of grandeur. At the very least, extras are really just ‘people props’ or people who are paid to look like people who just happen to be in the area when a particular scene is taking place. Not to say that it doesn’t happen but your chances of being ‘noticed’ as an extra are very slim; you literally have to be in the right place at the right time surrounded by the right people to get any individual recognition.
Anyway I was surprised yet not surprised at the same time. Here you have this individual who at one point was probably in the same position that I was, just looking for recognition, and rather than send an encouraging word my way, or at the very least a ‘good morning,’ they would rather be content with being too Hollywood to acknowledge anyone that they didn’t have to.
I always try to turn everything into some sort of learning experience and this experience was definitely something that I will hopefully remember for years to come. Should I ever make it as an actor, I’m going to make it a point to mingle with the ‘little people’ of the profession and hopefully not be corrupted by all the star praising that goes on(and continues to get worse) in the industry.
If you, the reader, are in any position in which people would possibly draw inspiration from you, then you should do your best to continue to give them reasons to be inspired. Some people make it to a certain place in life and become so comfortable with it and in the process “Forget” the situations and environments that pushed them to make it to the place they are today. You don’t have to be someone famous to inspire somebody else so try not to be the douchebag that people wish they never met.
