Creative & Media

Actors

Play parts in stage, television, radio, video, or film productions, or other settings for entertainment, information, or instruction.

Sector: Creative & Media
Preparation: Zone 2 — some preparation needed
O*NET code: 27-2011.00

What you'll actually do

The activities O*NET rates highest for this occupation, most important first. Numbers are out of 100.

Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships

central to the job — rated 89/100 for importance.
Thinking Creatively

central to the job — rated 85/100 for importance.
Performing for or Working Directly with the Public

a major part of the work — rated 79/100 for importance.
Performing General Physical Activities

a major part of the work — rated 76/100 for importance.
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates

a major part of the work — rated 74/100 for importance.
Communicating with People Outside the Organization

a regular part of the work — rated 57/100 for importance.

Play parts in stage, television, radio, video, or film productions, or other settings for entertainment, information, or instruction. Interpret serious or comic role by speech, gesture, and body movement to entertain or inform audience. May dance and sing.

What it takes

Two numbers per line: the level the work expects, and how important it is to doing the job well. Both are O*NET ratings, already on a 0–100 scale.

Skills

Speaking

Needed at a solid working level (57/100), and rated 72/100 for importance.
Reading Comprehension

Needed at a solid working level (55/100), and rated 72/100 for importance.
Social Perceptiveness

Needed at a solid working level (54/100), and rated 69/100 for importance.
Active Listening

Needed at a solid working level (52/100), and rated 69/100 for importance.
Critical Thinking

Needed at a basic working level (43/100), and rated 50/100 for importance.

Knowledge

Fine Arts

Needed at expert level (84/100), and rated 92/100 for importance.
English Language

Needed at a high level (67/100), and rated 83/100 for importance.
Communications and Media

Needed at a high level (66/100), and rated 78/100 for importance.
Sociology and Anthropology

Needed at a high level (62/100), and rated 61/100 for importance.

Abilities

Oral Expression

Needed at a solid working level (57/100), and rated 78/100 for importance.
Oral Comprehension

Needed at a solid working level (59/100), and rated 75/100 for importance.
Speech Clarity

Needed at a high level (68/100), and rated 72/100 for importance.
Memorization

Needed at a solid working level (57/100), and rated 72/100 for importance.

How people get in

O*NET places this occupation in Zone 2 — some preparation needed. That is a statement about what employers typically require, not a rule about you.

Education

A high-school diploma is the usual starting point.

Experience

Some prior work experience helps but is rarely required.

Training

Expect a few months to a year of on-the-job training.

What it pays

These are typical creative compensation bands by employer tier — sector-level figures, not a measured salary for Actors specifically. Treat them as the shape of the market, then check a real posting for the number.

WPP · Pentagram · Google

$100k – $180k

Mid-size Agencies

$70k – $110k

Freelance & Boutique

$45k – $80k

How the work tends to run

Each line below is read off a single O*NET activity rating for this occupation — named, so you can disagree with it.

The work is physical — you are on your feet and handling things, not sitting still.From “Performing General Physical Activities”
You are in front of the public, so the job is partly performance.From “Performing for or Working Directly with the Public”
Long-running relationships carry the work; the same people come back.From “Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships”
There is real room to invent — the answer is not in a manual.From “Thinking Creatively”

How FlightWay scores your fit against this

No black box. Here is the whole method, factor by factor.

1. You answer a short quiz: Your answers build a profile across the same 161 O*NET dimensions this page is describing — skills, knowledge, abilities and work activities. Same axes, so the comparison is like-for-like.
2. We correlate the two profiles: Fit is a mean-centered cosine — a correlation between the SHAPE of your profile and the shape of Actors. Centering matters: raw similarity between any two occupations sits at 0.70–0.85 because all work shares a common profile, so without it every career would look like a match.
3. The number you see is personality fit only: "Would I want this work" and "am I ready for this work" are different questions, and averaging them answers neither. So readiness — what your résumé, coursework and projects prove — is scored separately and shown next to fit, never blended into it.
4. Every factor is visible: You can open any match and see which dimensions pushed it up and which pulled it down. If you disagree with the number, you can see exactly where it came from.

More in Creative & Media

See every Creative & Media career →

See your fit for Actors

Ten questions, about 90 seconds. You get your match against Actors and 782+ other real careers — with the reasoning shown.

Take the quiz Open in FlightWay

Occupational data on this page comes from the O*NET 30.3 Database, published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). O*NET is a registered trademark of USDOL/ETA. FlightWay is not endorsed by, and USDOL/ETA is not responsible for, anything built on that data — see our terms. What is ours is the comparison, the score and the plan.