Thread by @SoozUK, THREAD: This is for anyone who is slogging it in a field [...]

THREAD: This is for anyone who is slogging it in a field they feel like they're getting nowhere in. I'm an actor and writer and I know I feel like this sometimes, this week I've had a bit of it and ol' Sooz gots some good stories for you.

I won't fill it with "[actor] didn't get to play a lead in a movie til they were 26!" or "[actor] was just an UNDERSTUDY when they finally got a West End lead from a TV reality show!" stories coz those aren't inspirational, they're just pushing the myth of the "big break".

The "big break" thing is popular outside the industry, that Star Is Born moment doesn't exist. Tom Hanks got a part in a sitcom which was a break, then he got in to comedy movies which was another break, then he played Oscar-worthy dramatic leads...another break.

This industry is a series of breaks and knock-backs and we'd all do well to remember that, particularly during coronapalooza.

STORY #1: Joe Pesci really struggled to get his career going. He was in a comedy double act doing clubs (with Frank Vincent!) and had a supporting role in a TV movie in mid-70s. Following that he didn't act for 4 years. He was a waiter in a restaurant in his mid-30s.

De Niro saw Pesci's TV movie in the late-70s and thought "that guy's good" and got Scorsese to call him for an audition for Raging Bull. We know the rest.

The industry can change on a dime when you least expect it. Be ready I guess?

STORY #2: This is one of those "it's all relative" things but Richard E Grant and Jonathan Pryce are two incredible actors who elevate whatever they're in and they've had wonderful careers. But two years ago if I was asked "will they be Oscar nominated?" I'd have said "nyooop".

Richard E Grant and Jonathan Pryce were in their 60s and 70s respectively when they were nominated for their first Oscars and it just goes to show you can feel like something ain't never gonna happen and then KABOOM. King Shit of Fuck Mountain, baby!

STORY #3: Samuel L Jackson is flippin' fantastic isn't he, iconic and always has been. But he spent his 20s working very sporadically in regional theatre while battling addiction.

It wasn't until he was 40 that a chance meeting with Spike Lee saw him cast in small roles in a couple of his movies. He was also working as Bill Cosby's stand-in in The Cosby Show. He was over 40 when he played Stacks, a three-line max part, in Goodfellas.

He went on to star in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever in 1991 and his performance was so damn good that Cannes created a special award just for him. He's gone on to be, well, Samuel L Jackson!

Age is just a number, kids.

And in the 70s he was being mentored by an older actor, Morgan Freeman. Now, Freeman had worked steadily in theatre and television since the 60s so he doesn't really get to be on this list BUT he didn't receive big league attention from the industry until he was almost 50!

STORY #4: Jennifer Coolidge is always hilarious, bombshell sexy and was a reliably brilliant improv performer with the Groundlings.

Jennifer Coolidge didn't even get to appear on screen in ANYTHING until she was 32, a one-episode role in Seinfeld.

Doing audition after audition and being told no at all of them until she was in her early-30s must have suuuuucked but when she came to mainstream attention in 1999 (at almost 40) in American Pie she knew what she brought to the table 200%.

Before I do my absolute favourite story here are some other wicked actors who were just hoofing until they were in their 30s:

Taraji P Henson
Jon Hamm
Lupita Nyong'o
James Gandolfini
Gene Hackman (YES REALLY!)
Kristin Wiig
Lucille Ball (I'm fuppin serious)

STORY #5: This is my absolute fave. This Austrian guy was living in the UK, teaching and playing small roles mainly in German television movies at the age of 53 when Quentin Tarantino was having a terrible issue finding the right actor to play Hans Lander in Inglorious Basterds.

Tarantino was worried he'd written an unplayable part. Lander had to be a master of multiple languages, be repellently charming, makes us laugh and terrify us beyond belief. He initially wanted DiCaprio but it didn't work, the actor needed to be a native German speaker.

Eventually he lost hope of ever finding anyone to play the part. At one point I think he auditioned British comedy actors like Simon Pegg and Rob Brydon thinking maybe that would be the answer, go down a character actor route etc. But no dice.

It took a WHILE for him to get to the point where any German and Austrian actors were invited to send audition tapes. When he received one from Christoph Waltz he said "he gave me back my movie".

When Christoph Waltz received his award at Cannes for Best Actor he said Tarantino "gave me back my vocation". He went on to win an Oscar for the role and another Oscar for Django Unchained.

One thing in this industry can change EVERYTHING.

Cheers guys, have a wicked weekend.

WEEEEELP I may as well share my Spotlight. Showreel on page. https://www.spotlight.com/interactive/cv/9438-8975-5059

An update to this thread:

At the beginning of 2020 Sarah Cooper was a stand-up and writer in her early-40s. She had published a couple of books that drew little attention and was considering quitting comedy as after years of slogging she just wasn't getting anywhere.

In April she lip-synched a Trump speech about COVID. It went (lol) super-viral, like, CRAZY viral. She was on all the big late night chat shows, one of her books was picked up for TV development and in October she released Everything's Fine, my favourite Netflix special of 2020.

I hadn't taken a huge amount of notice of Sarah Cooper's success this year until I saw the Netflix special. I figured she was already writing for late night shows, probably had shown up in some films I'd already seen etc etc...but she truly blew up this year and deservedly so.

So if you see this @sarahcpr congratuwelldone from London, you deserve every bit of what you've achieved and I can't wait to see what you do in the future. Also, thanks for the inspiration coz there've been points in the past 8 years where I've gone "why am I bothering?".

I get told often "you're doing so well!" but it's the illusion of social media. I'm almost 36 and have never had a TV audition, it's over 7 years since I auditioned for a West End show and if it wasn't for constant (DEAR LORD, CONSTANT!) hustling I wouldn't work at all. Fin.

If you sit on your arse and wait for success to happen to you it probably won't. For some people it still does. That probably isn't you. It CERTAINLY isn't me.

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