Believe me, that is not a question I ever thought I'd be asking myself. Meredith Scott Lynn was one of the very funny actors who played Elle Woods' insanely competitive law school classmates in Legally Blonde, and I probably never would have given her a second thought except she showed up as Fred Armisen's mother in this Funny or Die video:
All of which is really an excuse to muse on the strange nature of acting as a profession. The payment rates negotiated by Screen Actors Guild certainly make it possible for someone to live on very sporadic work. Day performers earn at least $782 hours a day as of June 10, 2009, and weekly performers are guarantees $2,713. Lynn appears to have had a couple of credited gigs a year since Legally Blonde, which I'm guessing means she does something else to make money on the side. As someone who really enjoys working and gets bored easily, I'd imagine it's really frustrating not to be able to work consistently, not to mention kind of financially terrifying if you're working job-to-job, as I'd guess most actors are. And I also wonder how, if you're an actor, you decide what level of work you're okay with before making the choice to move into something else full-time. If you're working short arcs of Law & Order, or CSI, with the occasional guest gig and voice work in other places, do you stick with it? Decide acting's a fun way to pick up some money on the side? If you really love acting but just aren't making it, how do you reconcile yourself to that?
I suppose a lot of professions are like this--after all, I know a fair number of full-time freelance writers, though most of them are looking for some kind of full-time employment. But acting seems like a profession where the gap between the top and the bottom are insurmountably large, both in what you make, and how secure you are that you'll get to keep working. And acting, for a lot of people who do it, seems like a real core passion. So how do you make the choice to stop trying? Or to be happy where you are?
(Also, sorry for the slow posting today, guys. The internet has been broken for a lot of people, but even more broken for me, and I'm still playing catch-up.)