Actors
Also called: Actor Understudy, Actress, Background Actor, Character Performer, Comedian, Community Theater Actor, Entertainer, Film Actor
Play parts in stage, television, radio, video, or film productions, or other settings for entertainment, information, or instruction.
What actors do
Typical tasks
- Attend auditions and casting calls to audition for roles.
- Work closely with directors, other actors, and playwrights to find the interpretation most suited to the role.
- Portray and interpret roles, using speech, gestures, and body movements, to entertain, inform, or instruct radio, film, television, or live audiences.
- Study and rehearse roles from scripts to interpret, learn and memorize lines, stunts, and cues as directed.
- Collaborate with other actors as part of an ensemble.
- Learn about characters in scripts and their relationships to each other to develop role interpretations.
- Perform humorous and serious interpretations of emotions, actions, and situations, using body movements, facial expressions, and gestures.
- Read from scripts or books to narrate action or to inform or entertain audiences, utilizing few or no stage props.
- Work with other crew members responsible for lighting, costumes, make-up, and props.
- Promote productions using means such as interviews about plays or movies.
- Tell jokes, perform comic dances, songs and skits, impersonate mannerisms and voices of others, contort face, and use other devices to amuse audiences.
- Write original or adapted material for dramas, comedies, puppet shows, narration, or other performances.
Typical path into the job (BLS)
Actors salary
No pay statistics are available for this occupation yet.
Projected pay for Actors (3, 5 and 10 years)est.
No projection yet because pay statistics are missing.
Projected pay = current pay × (1 + annual growth)^years. The annual growth rate starts from a base wage-growth rate and adds or subtracts labor demand (BLS projected employment growth), wage momentum and AI replacement risk for each occupation. Projections are not guarantees. How it is calculated →
Outlook score for Actors
Each component is a percentile rank among all occupations in the same country (0–100). Weights: labor demand 25, wage momentum / openings 15, pay level 15, AI resistance 25, aging workforce 10 (Japan only), entry barrier 10.
Will AI replace Actors? AI replacement risk
How AI is changing this job
A written analysis for this occupation is being prepared.
AI replacement risk compares the parts of a job that are easy to hand to AI or software (processing information, documentation, repetitive computer work) with the parts that are hard to automate (physical work, working closely with people, judgment in unpredictable settings), using O*NET work activities, work context, skills and knowledge. The result is a relative position among all occupations in the country, scaled to 0–100%. Methodology →
Labor demand for Actors
Employment projections are from the BLS Employment Projections program (2025–35). Annual openings include both new jobs and replacement of workers who leave the occupation.
The same job in Japan
| Actors United States | 声優 Japan | |
|---|---|---|
| Median / average pay | — | ¥5.44M ≈ $34,593 |
| Pay in 10 years (est.) | — | ¥7.29M |
| Outlook score | 48 | 50 |
| AI replacement risk | 29% Low | 25% Low |
| Workers | 55K | — |
Matched by occupation (SOC code). Yen converted at 157.25 JPY/USD for reference; Japanese figures are averages, U.S. figures are medians, and the surveys define occupations differently.
Skills, education and requirements for Actors
Key skills
O*NET skill level ratings (0–7).
Key knowledge areas
What the work involves
Important abilities
Training before entry
Related work experience
Job Zone 2 — some preparation needed (O*NET)
Difficulty of entry: ★★☆☆☆ Fairly easy (from education, training, experience and Job Zone)
How to become actors
A step-by-step guide for this occupation is being prepared. The education, training and experience data above show the typical path.
Career path and how to earn more as actors
Career-path guidance is being prepared.