Aaron Marcus booked nearly 1,300 acting jobs by dropping his ego and embracing his casting type. Instead of fighting how he looks, he used it to land everyday roles like doctors, lawyers, and teachers. He tells actors to stop resisting their type and use it to their advantage.
In this video, I'm going to be sharing with you my one simple secret for booking nearly 1,300 acting jobs. And watch this video until the end, I've got a great bonus video for you. It's the new self-tape rules that SAG-AFTRA negotiated for us. Okay, let's get started. Hi, I'm Aaron Marcus, and welcome to the Acting and Modeling Quick Tips channel and the Actor Career Center. So look, I've been very fortunate and I've booked nearly 1,300 jobs in my nearly 40 years of working as a full-time actor. And to be really honest with you, I haven't booked that many jobs because I'm the greatest actor in the world or I'm the most talented guy in the industry. Far from it. There are millions of people who are much, much more skilled, better actors than I am. Now, they might not have booked as many jobs, but here's one of the— there are lots of reasons, but here's my number one reason for booking a lot of jobs. I learned early on that I couldn't let my ego get in the way. You know, like a lot of people want to view themselves as, you know, the leading woman, the leading man, the good-looking guy, the beautiful woman, and they try to base their headshots on that theory. They let their egos get in the way. And the reality is, I know what my type is. I'm just an average-looking person. And instead of fighting it and trying to think, hey, you know what, I can do anything, you know, I can be the leading man, you know, I could be the Brad Pitt, you know, I could be the Tom Cruise, you know, if I'm just given a chance, I'm an actor, you know, that's what I do, I can do a lot of different— Look, I know what my look is. I know how people are going to cast me. And instead of fighting it, I let it go, and I use my look to my strength. And it's not a coincidence that the majority of my bookings and my auditions are for the regular guy. You know, I'm the highly educated Successful. I'm the doctor, I'm the lawyer, I'm your professor, your high school teacher, I'm your pediatrician. You know, I'm the guy that you like, I'm the guy you feel comfortable with, and I embrace my look and I use it. Now, I don't have a college degree, so It'd be hard for me to practice medicine, but I play a really good doctor. And so I think the most important thing for you and everyone to understand is use your strength to your advantage. People can make a really good living and be highly successful at just playing who they are. And I don't mean who you are as a human being, Because like I said, I don't even have a college degree and I'm playing doctors and lawyers. But how people perceive you, that is what you need. So if you have the look of this nasty person, this evil person who gets cast as the kidnapper and people who are doing bad things to others, maybe you're the sweetest person in the world. Use that to your strength. So drop your ego and whatever, whatever it is that people are viewing you as, use that as your strength. I am really curious, please share with us if there is a look that you have that has gotten you work. Let us know. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this. I will personally comment on Anything that you say on the channel. So anyhow, just wanted to mention that to you. If you haven't done this yet, don't forget, subscribe, click the notification bell so you always know when I upload a new video. If you like the video, please give it a thumbs up. That's actually very helpful. And most importantly, share the link with your fellow actors. I did promise a great video for you. You can see it up here. And it's the new self-tape rules that SAG-AFTRA has been great at negotiating, and some of them are really good, and I'm very, very much appreciative of the union. I'm Aaron Marcus, and I can't wait to talk with you again soon. See ya.
