Surviving as a Child Actor

Having taught acting school Los Angeles youngsee as unprofitable. A child has to be made to see
people for over twenty years now, it has beenthat their worth as an artist and as an individual is
one of my main aims to prevent them fromabsolutely unrelated to what they are
following the same path that I did as a young‘worth’ to their agents.
actor. On the face of it, this may sound a littleThe second is to make a child understand that
odd coming from someone who had his ownthere is nobody at all who can bring what they
series on TV at the age of 9 and spent a hugelycan bring to any role. It is ultimately any
successful period of life from the ages of 9actor’s individual traits, mannerisms and
through to 16 booking commercials, performingpersonality that make him or her interesting to
radio voice-overs and advertisements, andwatch – and those are unique to any individual.
generally acting with a degree of successActing is completely and 100% noncompetitive in
designed to make any parents (including my own)that sense. Central to any acting school’s
very proud. My main problem would not becomephilosophy should be the ability to make shy kids,
obvious to me until it was slightly too late toboisterous kids, nervous, awkward, confident and
sustain the earlier success. The problem is thatterrified kids, all realize that those wonderful
being cute and photogenic will only take you to apieces of individuality are vital in making them who
certain point and more specifically a certain age.they are and making them the artists that they
Beyond that, no career can expect any sustainedare.
success without a solid foundation of acting skillThirdly, parents and kids alike need to understand
behind it.and respect the patience and dedication that is
In fairness to the parents, mentors and guardiansrequired to succeed in any field of the arts.
of young would-be actors who have attendedNo-one would ever imagine that they could play
acting schools, all of this can come on very fastan instrument in a concert, or crochet a pattern
and very early in contrast to other potentialunless they’d been given training in how to do
careers. Parent of kids who decide to becomeit. Acting suffers uniquely from the fact that
lawyers, doctors or accountants need to starteveryone knows how to act a bit, and therefore
taking good decisions about those careers as highpeople imagine that sheer willpower combined with
school draws to a close. In the case of younga lucky break or two just might see them
actors, a great deal of damage can be done wellthrough. Having raw talent and a sense of the
before then unless good decisions are taken earlydrama (be it stage or screen) are both wonderful
on.things and certainly carried me through the first
I suppose that I was about eight when I decidedseven years of my professional life, but at the
that I wanted to act and I told my parents asend of the day, a solid foundation and technique
much. Needless to say, they had no idea that Iwill carry any artist over the course of an entire
was making a statement about what I was goingcareer, be it long or short.
to spend the rest of my life doing, any more thanNo parent can ever know any more than mine
I suppose I did. However, when the first thingdid, whether when a child says ‘I want to be
that happened to me was an open-call auditionan actor’ they are referring to the rest of
resulting in me becoming the lead in my own TVtheir lives, or merely for the next week. Plenty of
show, it seemed that we were on the right track.children get drafted into school plays and get
None of this had come about through actingfrom one end of the experience to the other
classes– I simply had the same ability thatwithout any ill effects. However, the sense of
countless kids had and have at that age – theself-worth, pride and achievement that I have
ability to look cute, do what the director wantedbeen lucky enough to see pass through my
and make the imagined real.school over the last ten years, leave me in no
In fact, the success continued almost unabateddoubt that the training we offer can only be of
until I was about 15. By this time, my family and Ithe greatest benefit to any young actor. It sets
were commuting back and forth from New Yorkup those who decide to continue the art of acting
City for auditions with some regularity. Itinto college and beyond, and it guides those who
wasn’t until after a short stint on a seriesdecide not to pursue it into understanding that
that I was forced into the awful realization that Itheir own uniqueness is wonderful and something
was no longer being hired despite the fact that Ito be cherished.
still desperately wanted it. Most people aren’tJeff Alan-Lee wanted to be an actor his entire life
forced into the horrors of this sort of realizationand began bugging his mother at age 7. At age
at such a young age, but in the world of childhoodnine, he auditioned for a role in a local TV series in
actors it is quite common.Detroit called, JERRY IN THE CIRCUS and landed
It wasn’t until years later that I was able tothe title role. He continued to act in a Television
properly analyze where it had begun to go wrong.special called THE MAGIC BALLOON, and booked
As it happened, I did not join the long list of childan agent in New York City. As a child actor he
actors who simply stop acting and move on, andflew back and forth from New York and Detroit
four years at NYU resulting in a BFA degree into audition and booked commercials and acted in
acting made the problem clear to me. I had simplytheater, film and television.
become mechanical or robotic. I was able to standAt age 18, he moved to New York City where
on the mark for hours on end, follow thehe studied at NEW YORK UNIVERSITY and with
director’s lead, jump through the hoops, sayJack Garden at the Harold Clurman Theatre on
this and move here – but in the end I foundNew York’s Theatre row. After a year in
that I knew nothing about acting. Much moretraining, he landed the lead in WARNER
frustratingly, my time at NYU made it clear to meBROTHER’S feature film called THE BENIKER
that there was nothing in what I had learntGANG, which played theatrically and on Network
between the ages of 18 and 22 that I could nottelevision. In addition he did over 20 commercials
have been introduced to at the age of 8.and played the lead with Broadway legend
Certainly I had undergone various bits ofJOSHUA LOGAN for his final production of HUCK
‘coaching’ designed to make meAND JIM ON THE MISSISSIPPI and starred in THE
marketable, but actual acting technique had beenROOT OF CHAOS and LOSING IT, off-Broadway.
the missing piece of the puzzle.His regional theatre includes, “BRIGHTON
Central to the acting technique orBEACH MEMOIRS, the lead with ANDREA
‘method’ formalized by Stanislavski andMCARDLE in “SNOOPY,” “LION
later taken up by such giants of the actingWINTER, THE NERD, BROADWAY BOUND,
classroom as Lee Strasberg, Jack Garfein and Utaseveral original plays with THE PLAYWRIGHTS
Hagen, is the belief that being true to yourselfTHEATRE OF NEW JERSEY, as well as a recurring
– your own emotions, instincts and ideas,role on AS THE WORLD TURNS.
must be central to a great piece of acting. IHe began teaching acting to kids and teens at
began to understand that my success as a youngvarious schools in New York City , produced tv
actor had been largely because I was beingshows on Manhattan Cable and was invited to
myself and not anticipating or second-guessingteach at The Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in
what the casting directors and directors wantedNew York City. He trained young Scarlett
me to be. It had not occurred to me before thatJohanson at this time among many others.
acting was not pretending or faking emotions onUpon moving to Los Angeles, he continued acting
stage – rather it was having the courage toand teaching at Lee Strasberg and later opened
discover them and live them truthfully on stagehis own Los Angeles acting school called THE
or in front of the camera. As soon as my mainYOUNG ACTOR’S STUDIO. Most recently,
objective switched from ‘Be yourself’ toJeff received critical acclaim for the role of Jerry
‘Book the job’, my desirability and muchin Edward Albee’s THE ZOO STORY w. THE
more importantly my sense of self-worth, shiftedMARK TAPER FOUNDATION and DEAF WEST
dramatically in the wrong direction.THEATRE.
The most important thing that the parent of anyJeff’s acting school, CLASS ACT...THE
young aspiring actor can do is to make sure thatYOUNG ACTOR’S STUDIO, is one of the
they don’t get hurt along the way –foremost schools for acting in Los Angeles, which
either along the way to becoming an adult actor,teaches method acting to kids and teens. The
or along the way to discovering that this isn’tstudio teaches young people to use their own
really what they want to do. There are varioustraits, personalities and mannerisms in the scripted
important aspects to this.role and therefore stand out. The studio
The first is to lead a child to understand that theirspecializes in helping the young actor develop a
value as an artist is in no way linked to their famesolid technique that he or she can take into any
and / or fortune. There are (of-course) people inmedium, stage or screen. He has directed over
the entertainment industry who’s business it40 productions and commissions new works from
is to market and sell talent – to push whatgreat writers to originate at his theatre.
they view as profitable and to drop what they