It’s Always Too Soon To Quit.

We all know this business can be brutal. It’s a love-hate relationship. I love creating thought-provoking art and making a character come to life. However, I don’t care for the “biz” end of showbiz. I can’t imagine my life without acting. It has been my passion since I was 3 years old.

Sometimes I just need to remind myself not to give up. They always say most people give up right before they strike gold!

Here are some inspirational quotes from actors who ALMOST gave up right before they “struck gold”, but luckily they didn’t! Note: These are only a few of the actors who almost quit. There are many others. Most artists have doubts at some point in their career.

“It was confusing. I got a lot of plaudits, and it didn’t translate into more work. Two years of not working was brutal. It was grim. I was very hurt. A point came where I thought- ‘I really like interior design’.” ~ Claire Danes

“I almost quit acting right before getting Modern Family.” “I’m not burdened with another skill set. I really can’t do anything else. But that winter before pilot season, my wife and I were talking seriously about how or if I could do something else. Auditioning was just getting the better of me. I had used up all my toughness getting to 40 and auditioning. You go on five or six auditions a week, and most of them are all rejections. My wife got out early on. She still loves performing, but the business is so weird and hard. I was in a similar boat, where I didn’t know if I could keep it
up.” ~ Ty Burrell

“I must have been 37 or 38 at the time. Don’t get me wrong, I had a pretty nice career going. I was making a good living doing a lot of voiceover work for radio- guest spot here and there on television. But I just wasn’t able to break through to the next level.” Jane remembers having thought, “I think I’m done. I don’t know where I’ll go or what I’ll do. Maybe I’ll just go somewhere and teach theater.” ~ Jane Lynch

“It was really tough, and work started to slow down. From the time I was 16 to really up until turning 21- the roles were really, really few and far between. I had people say that I just wasn’t a good singer. They didn’t know what to do with me. I would never fit in any markets. I almost quit acting altogether.” ~ Naya Rivera

“I’d had it with L.A., and I really had it with the business side of acting, the machinery of it all.  You’re an artist, but then all of a sudden you’re a product at the same time, and there’s this company that’s sprung up around you.  I got depressed.  I was losing my love for it. So I said, ‘I’m done.’ I fired everybody and moved my family to Callicoon, NY. I had to make a radical move. “The Kids Are All Right” was my swan song.  I didn’t know what I was doing next- It was brutal. The years are stripping away, but when you talk to anyone from home, you’re saying something like, ‘Well, I’m just working on my craft right now,’ when the truth is that I can’t get a f***ing job, because no one will hire me. It was humiliating.” ~ Mark Ruffalo

Don’t give up, fellow thespians!