Smart Actors, Foolish Choices: A Self-Help Guide to Coping with the Emotional Stresses of the Business (Paperback)

by Katherine Mayfield (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Here is the first and only book entirely to the emotional side of the performing arts. Smart Actors, Foolish Choices is a resource for anyone who needs to know how to deal with ego-bruising rejection, with anxiety and fear, and with the numerous other challenges of staying happy--and sane--in the turbulent world of show business.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Back Stage Books (April 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823084248
• ISBN-13: 978-0823084241
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #888,956 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars honest,insightful guide to the acting profession, April 16, 2000

By	Linda Bowden (Hadley, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

Judy Garland could have used Katherine Mayfield's book. She,like so many unique,talented and sensitive actors allowed the business of acting to define them, with tragic consequences. Smart Actors, Foolish Choices is not an artificial feel-good book;it is an honest book about the necessity of knowing and accepting yourself so that you can deal with the business of acting in which actors are product. The interviews with actors are excellent in bringing, in 12 unique personal stories, this reality to light. As one interviewee observed, Who you are as a person, how good you are as an artist, and how well you do in the business seem to be completely unrelated." (Johnny Kline) Katherine Mayfield's extensive experience with acting herself makes this a credible and insightful guide for actors. I would also recommend this book to non-actors in its ability to make you appreciate the human being behind each actor and the courage it takes to choose acting as a profession. The paricularly mean-spirited review she recieved from the actor in California discloses the depth at which an honest critique of the business is offensive to those needing a feel good fix. I highly recommend this book for its unflinching look at the realities of choosing acting as a career.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing; browse before buying, January 25, 2000

By A Customer

The title of this book caught my eye at the bookstore, and after leafing through it for a few minutes I bought it, thinking it would help prevent me making more of the "foolish choices" as an actor I had in the past. Upon reading it, the author gives a few anecdotes of the masochistic nature of being an actor (such as standing out in the cold all night in period dress to audition as an extra for a movie.) However, I found very little solid advice as to what mistakes to watch out for and more importantly, what to do to avoid being a foolish actor. Instead the author makes general comments of enjoying what you're doing, not to be masochistic, which is basic advice actors should learn by themselves after taking a few hard knocks. I read the book from cover to cover, and can't remember a single piece of advice that was specific to help me avoid the pitfalls of acting. The chapters ramble aimlessly and appear to have almost no organization.

The title is great, but the interior is disappointing. I am at a loss as to why it got such a high rating from the other reviewers. My advice is to search for this at the bookstore, sit down with a good cup of coffee and really look through it. If you buy it sight unread, you deserve the title of "foolish actor."

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An essential read for anyone in the performing arts!, November 2, 1998

By A Customer

The most useful and informative book ever put to press! Anyone working in the "business" should make this their personal bible. Ms. Mayfield's insights speak directly to the struggling actor with a clarity only made possible by her intense personal experiences within the acting field. Don't miss this one!