Would a call from Martin Scorsese make a good "stocking stuffer?"

Would having even just a few minutes on the phone with someone as accomplished as he is do anything for your career?

This time last year, that’s exactly what happened to a member of our Boost My Star tribe.

By doing what I’m about to share with you in a moment, she was able to get in touch with her idol, someone she would never be able to reach by “conventional” means.

See, if you’ve been around BMS for any length of time, you know that there’s something we believe in deeply: if you do what everyone else does, you end up where everyone else does.

And, that’s not somewhere you want to be, given that most actors are on their way out of the industry long before they even realize it.

Most actors never end up accomplishing what they set out to do in the industry or even get anywhere close to it.

That’s why it’s important to carve your own trail and do the things that no one else will do.

Fair warning, what I’m about to share with you is one of the most effective things you can do to move your acting career forward quickly.

So, if acting is more of a hobby for you, you should probably click off this page here.

But, if you truly want to be a professional, full time actor then this could truly be a game changer for you...

Almost 300 years ago Native Americans and European colonists first broke bread in what came to be known as the first Thanksgiving.

Since this is Boost My Star and not a sixth grade history class, trust that what happened that day had far reaching implications and it affects your acting career in ways most actors never consider.

See, most actors are in a different mode this time of year. It’s basically the official start of the holiday season and that leads most to set their professional goals aside and celebrate the fruits of their labor.

Successful actors take time to celebrate as well but they do things very differently than everyone else in the industry and they are able to make huge career strides because of it.

Before I get to how they do it and how you can do it too, I have to ask you a question...

Every actor goes through a period of time when they feel like things just aren’t going their way.

They’re not getting callbacks and the few auditions they may be able to get into don’t turn out very well. It’s a normal part of everyone’s journey to becoming a professional actor.

Some make it through this period and make incredible career progress and go on to have long and fulfilling careers in the industry.

Others let it get the best of them and they hang up their acting shoes for good. A tiny percentage of actors skip this part altogether.

Let me ask you a question...which group would you rather be in? Most actors start making their way out of the industry shortly after they get in, they just don’t know it.

I spoke with an actor who was fired on Friday the 13th one year and she was sure that it was just “bad luck.” She was working on a big budget studio picture with actors that have long been household names.

Even though she only had a couple minutes of screen time, getting the part was a dream come true, especially since it was only the second job she had ever booked.

Everything had lined up just right and she blew away the entire casting department during the audition process. She had originally been scheduled to read for a different role, but she was bumped up to a much more prominent one.

That all changed when she was on set, because she wasn’t able to perform up to the same standard she had set. After several takes, she was ultimately “excused” from set and another actor took her place.

Over the years, I’ve seen that most actors are very one track minded. They either go deep and work really hard on mastering the audition or they work on their on set performance.

World Class actors do something completely different, and if what you want is to become a professional, full time actor there’s something you need to start doing right now...

Since we are commemorating Veterans Day this week, I thought it would be fitting for us to pay tribute to the industry veterans that come before us, paved a path, and on whom’s shoulders you can stand.

See success leaves clues, and if you want to be successful as an actor and build a long and rewarding acting career, you have to know how to decipher those clues.

That will let you sidestep the mistakes that other actors have made, while you leverage the things they did right.

It’s a perfect recipe for making huge career progress, quickly.

See, when you start to dig into the careers of the most successful actors you will find that they all do a few things similarly.

And, if you truly want to be a professional, full time actor, then you should be paying close attention to what they do, how they do it, and why.

Let’s break this down in the simplest way possible so you can get started on this today...

If you visit the northeast corridor, you would find buildings that have been standing since before the United States were known as the United States.

They have stood strong through centuries of rain and blizzards, because they were built on a solid foundation.

Your acting career has to be built the same way.

If it’s not, then it could fall come winter. Yes, that was kind of a lame attempt at a play on words but I think you get my point.

This is an area that almost no one pays attention to. Everyone is focused on getting the next audition and booking the next job, but without having a career that is built on a solid foundation, it will always be an uphill battle.

Instead of making it hard on yourself and always having to chase the next gig, you could focus on making sure that your career takes off on the right footing, so that booking your next job isn’t simply left to chance...

If you want to be a successful actor, you must learn to live in the moment and find inspiration for your work in everything.

Not too long ago I watched one of Paul Bettany’s lesser known projects. He has a fantastic line that, even though it’s very grabby, most people toss it aside as soon as the scene is over.

“The fear that people experience when they’re standing on the edge isn't the fear of falling. It's the fear that they might actually jump off.”

He delivered the line while standing on the edge of a skyscraper looking down.

We’ll get to what that means for your acting career in just a moment. First, take a second to really think through what that means.

With well written scripts, entire characters can be summed up with a single, punchy line that drives the entirety of their actions.

This happens with characters like Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Rose (Kate Winslet) in Titanic saying “I’ll never let go.”

It seems minor but you can tie every one of their choices in the film to that one line. We’ll come back to that in a sec.

First, I want to come back to what it means for you and your acting career.

If you want to be a successful actor, you have to be able to deliver incredible results on set and build amazing characters.

We’ve talked about this considerably in the past but we’ve never gone over this point, which is probably the most important one.

So, if you want to be a successful actor this one thing you must do...

Have you ever stopped to think about what makes the difference between successful actors and everyone else?

If you were to ask 100 of your industry friends this question, you would probably get 101 different answers.

The industry is a fast moving machine with many different parts, so there is no 1 way to become successful as an actor. On top of that, most actors only focus on one part of the industry and ignore the rest.

If you have been around Boost My Star for any length of time, you know that I’m a big proponent of running in the opposite direction of the crowd because doing what everyone else does will get you the same results as everyone else.

So if what you want is to become a successful actor, you have to do things differently.

Most actors are right on the edge of making huge career progress and sending their careers skyrocketing.

If you want to be one of the few that actually makes it, here’s where to start...

This may be the worst time for it to happen...but I get it!

I always like to take the most practical approach and share with you what you need to be doing right now to advance your acting career and make it in the industry.

I like to give you the A-Z, instead of just rehashing the same stuff you’ve heard over and over again.

Lately I’ve been getting a sense about something that actors are lacking, and it actually goes beyond the A-Z processes we normally stick to.

In fact it may even be the difference maker between sending your acting career skyrocketing or admitting that it’s better off being a hobby.

It sounds harsh but if you truly want to make it as a professional actor, you can’t afford to let this time of opportunity pass you by.

Here’s why...