Actor
Also known as: Actress, Performer, Thespian, Film Actor, TV Actor, Stage Actor
Portray characters in theater, film, television, or other media, bringing scripts to life through emotional expression and physical performance.
Salary Range
The highest-paid specialization or seniority level for actors.
About 1 in 250 reaches this level
About 55,000 actors (BLS 27-2011, May 2024); the median is ~$23/hour and most earn little. The ~0.4% (~220) who become working leads or series regulars can earn ~$3M in strong years; the ~25-30 A-listers commanding $20M+ per film (Dwayne Johnson up to $50M) are a tiny outlier.
Salary data based on 2025 BLS, Glassdoor, and industry reports. Actual compensation varies by location, experience, and employer.
How to Become One
No formal certification required. Train through acting classes, workshops, or conservatory programs, and audition for roles. SAG-AFTRA membership opens access to union productions.
For more information: SAG-AFTRA↗
A degree isn't required, but these programs can strengthen your career prospects:
AI Risk Assessment
Acting sits firmly in the high-risk bucket because AI is eating the bottom of the pyramid even as the top remains human. Entry-level work — background/extras, motion-capture, ADR, voiceover, low-budget commercial — is the most exposed slice, and digital crowd generation plus body-scan-derived digital doubles are already being deployed on major productions. The "Tilly Norwood" synthetic actor in late 2025 was a watershed moment: in January 2026 SAG-AFTRA was reduced to floating a "Tilly Tax" — a royalty on studios for using AI performers — as a fallback, and the four-year SAG-AFTRA / AMPTP deal reached in May 2026 added digital-replica consent rules but accepted AI performers as part of the landscape. Adjacent voice acting is further along the curve: an NAVA survey reported 21% of voice actors lost work directly to AI in 2026, up from 14% a year earlier. This is layered on top of an already-contracting industry. Los Angeles County lost roughly 41,000 film and TV jobs (about a quarter of the entertainment workforce) in the three years to early 2025, driven by post-strike recovery failure, the streaming pullback, and runaway production — and the BLS projects "little or no change" in actor employment through 2034. Star turns, live theater, and the nuanced lead performance still command human-only premiums, which is what keeps this a 4 instead of a 5. But for a new graduate trying to break in, the floor is thinning fast.
Sources
Ratings reflect a 10-year outlook based on 2025-2026 research, weighted toward entry-level impact. Individual outcomes will vary.
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