If you have ever watched one of your performances, chances are that you were probably distracted by something that plagues most actors...

I’m talking about your hands and why they seem to have a mind of their own on screen.

Because we rarely ever think of what to do with our hands, off set, actors tend to think that what to do with your hand, on set, is a small enough detail that doesn’t really require much attention.

So, when you watch one of your performances, you probably end up cringing a bit and wondering why you were rubbing your forehead to show that your character was deep in thought.

You might watch a scene where your character was angrily pointing their finger at someone, but it didn’t quite look right.

How natural is any of that?

Seriously, think about it. When you are deep in thought, do you rub your forehead? Not many people do. It’s a lot more natural to just sit and think, usually looking, blankly off into the distance or at whatever is in front of you.

These subtleties are what separate professional actors from everyone else.

Thinking about the little things is what helps them deliver powerful performances and If you want to be a professional actor, you have to think about them and a lot more too...

How successful an actor becomes is directly tied to their relationship with their agent.

Actors that have a solid relationship with a quality agent have an incredible advantage over actors who have a more common relationship with their agent.

Most actors know that and it’s something that is on their mind constantly.

Whenever I have spoken with actors over the years, their most common questions are along the lines of how to get an agent or how to get a better agent.

That’s something that has probably been on your mind quite frequently too.

Successful actors focus on signing with the right agent as early in their career as possible. If you want to build a career as a professional actor this is something you have to do sooner rather than later...

Whether you have spent years rehearsing your acceptance speech, or even if it’s something that has never crossed your mind, the SAG awards should be something you pay attention to every year.

As an actor it is an opportunity for you to see what the industry is responding to and identify the coming industry trends.

Leading up to the awards show, there will be more and more speculation about who the winners will be.

Some actors and projects that everyone thought were sure to win will go home empty handed, while some of the underdogs will go home as big winners.

Why the winners take home the awards and why others, who might be seemingly more deserving, will go home empty handed is something you should pay close attention to because it goes hand in hand with becoming a professional actor...

Over the years, I’ve worked with more actors than I can count and I’ve seen many patterns emerge. Without fail, the most passionate actors are always the most successful ones.

What may come as a surprise is the reason why they are more successful.

It’s not because they are more talented or because they have better connections. That’s what most actors think makes the biggest difference, but in reality being passionate about what you do is what really moves the needle.

Of course, I’ve never met an actor who said they weren’t passionate about acting but the difference is that successful actors follow through on everything that’s required to build a career and they do it with the same passion they have on set.

Most actors don’t.

They love the creative side of the industry, but when it comes to everything else they sort of draw a blank and put things off for “another time.”

In fact, many actors think their talent alone is justification for avoiding those things, so they end up not making very much progress since they never really get around to putting the building blocks of their career in place.

On the contrary, that’s where successful actors start and if you want to build a successful acting career that’s where you should start too...

What I’m about to ask you will only seem like a trick question... Has the industry changed over the last 50 years?

You would be crazy to think it hasn’t changed...right? I mean, in that time, the industry has gone from drive in pictures and nightly radio shows, to television series, to streaming content, to absolute content chaos with so much available at the click of a button that no one could ever consume it all.

So on the surface it would appear that the industry is very different today, and it seems that it’s changing pretty quickly.

But, has the core of the industry really changed and what does that mean for you as an actor?

See, successful actors know that there’s more to the industry than meets the eye and they have learned to dig deeper and uncover the parts of the industry that almost everyone else ignores.

If you want to be a successful actor this is something you have to do too, or you will risk ending up like the 99% of other actors who are stuck, spinning their wheels in their career.

If that’s something you would rather avoid and if you want to figure out how you can finally start making the kind of progress you should be making...

Not a single actor has ever made it by relying on their own efforts alone. The most successful actors have all had something in common...

They don’t go it alone.

They understand that building an acting career goes way beyond what happens on set or during an audition.

It’s a team effort, because there are so many things that have to happen consistently to build a successful acting career.

Professional actors know this and they are really good at building a team of people around them that are all striving to make it in the industry.

While this is something that most actors think should happen one day, those that go on to build a career as a professional actor know it’s something they have to get started on sooner rather than later.

In fact, if you’re not at least putting the pieces together to start building a team regardless of what stage your career is in right now, you are making things a lot harder on yourself and it could be keeping you stuck in your career.

Here’s how to get unstuck and take things to the next level...

The first month of the year is already half over. Around this same time every year, I start hearing from actors that are starting to feel hopeless when it comes to trying to take their career to the next level.

Everyone starts off with big plans and even bigger hopes, only to find that they don’t really know what to do, so they just continue doing what they did the year before.

In the new year, you need to have a new strategy if you want to get new, different, and better results in your acting career.

Before planning your new year, you have to first take stock of what happened last year.

Successful actors are incredible at this. It’s how they are able to move from one career stage to the next so quickly.

While most actors stay stuck in one career stage, spinning their wheels for a long time, successful actors are able to identify what may be getting in the way of their progress and change things up accordingly.

If you want to be a professional actor, this is something you have to get really good at too. Here’s where to start...

Have you ever wondered why Dwayne Johnson continues to be one of Hollywood’s most in demand actors?

Sure, it’s easy to look at the success he’s enjoying at the moment and forget about the journey to get there but for Dwayne Johnson the journey is what makes his story so compelling and relatable.

What does any of this have to do with your own acting career?

If you’ve been around Boost My Star for any length of time, you know that I’m a big proponent of studying the careers of successful actors and mapping out the moves they made that helped take their careers to the next level.

Dwayne Johnson is a great one to study because of the roller coaster that his career has been.

His acting career was basically dead on arrival, much in the same way his wrestling career began. It too almost fizzled out before ever really getting off the ground.

Now he has built a powerful brand that transcends the screen, which in turn makes audiences want to see more of him.

See, it’s easy to look at someone who’s at the top of the industry and imagine that they were always there.

However, if you want to build your career as a professional actor you have to be able to identify the next best step to take.

A lot of that is also knowing which steps not to take.

Here's where to start...