by Emelie
QUESTION:
I am a foreign student in England studying a performing arts degree in university. I want to become a movie actress and since there are less auditions in my country, I was thinking to stay in England after graduation and work on my British accent and try to go to auditions here. But, I am confused if I should learn British accent and go to auditions in England or if I should learn how to speak with an American accent and then go to USA and go to auditions there(I think it will be easier for me to learn American accent)? I want to be in Hollywood movies but I have no idea how to get there and I know it is not easy. I am willing to get smaller roles on TV as a starting point and then some roles in movies. I am so confused and I hope you can help me with this. What do you think I should do? any advice? 🙂
ANSWER:
If you’re in a good university in London, you will leave school with connections in the industry – your classmates, former teachers who may be working professionals themselves, and agents & casting directors who attended your showcase or that you met through workshops and internships. You would have to start all over building these relationships and learning how the business works if you moved here, not to mention it is difficult to get a visa.
If you are going to a good acting school, you should be taking accent elimination classes and learning both how to do a standard British and a standard American accent. To work in England, you should also learn to do different regional English accents.
There are plenty of Hollywood movie actors who started in England (Ralph Fiennes, Catherine Zeta-Jones, etc.) London has some of the best acting schools and although there may be less film productions than in America, my guess is there is less competition too. Even getting a small TV role here is no small task if you don’t have any screen credits.
It’s hard everywhere, of course, but probably easier if you try to work in the town you went to acting university in, so at least you have these connections to start with.
Good luck!