I love what Denzel says in this quote. It’s so true. Yes, acting takes some luck, of course it does, just like success in anything else. But it takes so much more than that. You do need to be prepared because acting is a craft, a skill, an art. It may look super easy when it’s done well but the truth is you have to train and practice and know what you are doing. You wouldn’t just walk on and try to play soccer at the world cup, or show up at Carnegie Hall to do a piano concert if you’d never trained for either of those.
Denzel didn’t just jump into his acting career crossing his fingers it would work out. In fact he has kind of a fun story. He was a basketball player at Fordham University and couldn’t decide what to major in. So he took a semester off and worked as a creative arts director at a summer camp. They had a staff talent show for the campers, in which he participated. He did such a great job his colleagues suggested he try acting.
So returning to school he enrolled at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus to study acting. He did so well there that he went to grad school at one of the most prestigious acting conservatories in the country, American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. After that, after preparing himself and getting his chops up, then he returned to NYC and pursued his professional acting career.
Opportunity meets preparation, that’s luck.
What are you doing to prepare for your “big break?”
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