Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media · Holland code ASE

Actors

Play parts in stage, television, radio, video, or film productions, or other settings for entertainment, information, or instruction. Interpret serious or comic role by speech, gesture, and body movement to entertain or inform audience. May dance and sing.

Also called: Actress, Comedian, Community Theater Actor, Voice Actor, Entertainer, Film Actor, Motion Capture Actor, Role Player.

O*NET 27-2011.00

At a glance

Preparation needed: Job Zone 2 of 5; Some preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
US employment outlook, 2024 to 2034: 0% · Little or no change; 57,000 jobs in 2024, projected 57,100. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which groups this with similar roles as "Actors".

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Attend auditions and casting calls to audition for roles.
Work closely with directors, other actors, and playwrights to find the interpretation most suited to the role.
Portray and interpret roles, using speech, gestures, and body movements, to entertain, inform, or instruct radio, film, television, or live audiences.
Study and rehearse roles from scripts to interpret, learn and memorize lines, stunts, and cues as directed.
Collaborate with other actors as part of an ensemble.
Learn about characters in scripts and their relationships to each other to develop role interpretations.
Perform humorous and serious interpretations of emotions, actions, and situations, using body movements, facial expressions, and gestures.
Read from scripts or books to narrate action or to inform or entertain audiences, utilizing few or no stage props.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Reading Comprehension4.0 / 5
Speaking4.0 / 5
Active Listening3.9 / 5
Critical Thinking3.1 / 5
Active Learning2.9 / 5
Monitoring2.9 / 5

Knowledge areas

English Language4.4 / 5
Fine Arts4.0 / 5
Communications and Media3.7 / 5
Psychology3.0 / 5
Sociology and Anthropology2.8 / 5
Sales and Marketing2.5 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic22
Investigative19
Artistic100
Social51
Enterprising50
Conventional14

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

actor/actress · DE Schauspieler/Schauspielerin · FR acteur/actrice
voice-over artist · DE Voice-Over-Sprecher/Voice-Over-Sprecherin · FR comédien voix off/comédienne voix off
performance artist · DE Performance-Künstler/Performance-Künstlerin · FR artiste d’art-performance
puppeteer · DE Puppenspieler/Puppenspielerin · FR marionnettiste
stand-up comedian · DE Stand-up-Komiker/Stand-up-Komikerin · FR humoriste
variety artist · DE Variétékünstler/Variétékünstlerin · FR artiste de variétés

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Actors, entertainers and presenters (3413)58,500 employed
Arts officers, producers and directors (3416)113,500 employed
Artists (3411)64,500 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Japan

Japan classifies jobs in its own way. The closest category that names the same work is “音楽家，舞台芸術家”, which may be narrower or broader than this occupation.

Median monthly pay: ¥318,100; Middle half earn ¥262,200 to ¥449,900 a month.
Workers in the category: 31,660; Regular employees in firms of ten or more.

Scheduled monthly pay before tax, excluding overtime and bonuses, so it is not comparable to the annual figures above. Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025, via e-Stat, under the Japanese Government Standard Terms of Use. The category match was made by hand.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Professionals, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€61,714
Germany	€59,529
Ireland	€56,877
Austria	€55,374
Netherlands	€53,595
Sweden	€43,567
France	€41,515
Spain	€35,735
Italy	€33,649
Portugal	€26,072
Poland	€14,380

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the middle third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +0.16. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (27-2011).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

Take the career interests test