Mark Evans Studio

Being a professional actor asks a lot of you, right?! It demands flexibility, passion, sacrifice, and resilience. It’s not a typical job - it’s unpredictable and personal. That’s why it’s so important to find the balance between staying ready for your career and also making space to live your life.  This industry moves fast. Auditions can pop up with barely any notice. Being available is important. The more often you show up, the more chances you give yourself to grow, work, and be seen. But you can’t guarantee that getting the job is going to make you happier. When your entire identity and level of self acceptance revolve around being an employed actor, it’s easy to lose perspective. You start saying no to relationships, hobbies, travel, rest so that you’re available. I, myself, have travelled SO much more of the US than Europe (where I lived much longer) because in my early career I was too afraid to travel in case I missed an audition! If life becomes a game of simply waiting...

Courage is often associated with grand gestures - running into danger, speaking truth to power, standing up for what’s right. But for us actors, courage takes a quieter, more intimate form. To be fully present in the uncomfortable, messy, and often painful parts of being human - the very parts most people spend their lives avoiding. In everyday life, most of us were unconsciously conditioned to manage or suppress difficult emotions. We distract ourselves from grief, deflect vulnerability, and avoid conflict to stay safe and comfortable, which makes sense, right? But acting demands the opposite. To bring a character to life with honesty and depth, an actor must dive straight into the emotional terrain most people tiptoe around. That’s not just a skill - it’s a deeply courageous act. The hardest part? When the character you’re playing behaves and lives in a way that is vastly different from how you live. Maybe they make choices you’d never make, hold beliefs that feel foreign, or expres...