The Morality Of The Acting Profession Essay Samples

The strange thing about actors (male and female) is that the few that misbehave and give the profession a tarnished image are the ones that seem to get all the media attention. Wild parties, rude and offensive behaviour, assaults, infidelity, drug taking, including overdosing, and alcoholic binges are headline news. A famous actor living the ordinary life, happily in a relationship, grocery shopping, raising a family, paying taxes and appearing for charity is simply not newsworthy. We, the public, idolise these usually ‘normal’ people for the wrong reasons. A more disturbing aspect of being a famous’ actor is that they seem to be above the law. Step forward O.J Simpson, please.
One aspect of the acting profession over the past 25 years is just that – it’s a ‘profession’. While the discovery of an untried, uneducated, untrained and unqualified star hasn’t completely disappeared, in the majority of cases actors today are educated and qualified professionals, graduated with a degree in acting.
Leonardo DiCaprio (Image from IMDb) is an excellent example of a very talented actor, who has played a diverse range of characters, made millions of dollars from his movies, gives of his time to charities and worthy causes, and somehow is able to keep a reasonably low profile living his personal life. He is a board member of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as well as being an environmental conservationist. He won the 2010 ‘Do Something Award’ for his Haiti relief efforts. Di Caprio has won a multitude of acting awards although the Oscar has eluded him, even after 6 nominations.
Reference: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000138/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
He takes his profession of being an actor very seriously and studies the character to the nth degree and it’s this dedication to his art that makes him able to impressively play the parts so convincingly. His portrayal of Howard Hughes in The Aviator is a fine example of an actor ‘living’ the role. His female admirers came from earlier movies such as Titanic and The Beach.
While you wouldn’t consider DiCaprio to be ‘without sin’, when you compare him to actors such as Lindsay Lohan, Chris Brown and Kanye West, the latter whose arrogance and stupidity seems to know no bounds, then he is a veritable angel! Bad press about so-called celebrities has the psychological ability to paint all performing artists with the same brush in the eyes of the fans. Some performers are so filled with their own importance that nothing they do is ever wrong. And, it’s never their fault. A splendid example of using your star status to misinform is when Russel Crowe vowed never to use Virgin Airlines again because they would not allow him to carry his son’s hoverboard onto the aircraft. Never mind that these boards explode into flames and Virgin was ensuring the safety of its other passengers. Crowe elected not to take the flight. The remaining passengers arrived safely at their destination. Russell Crowe might consider buying his own plane, he can afford it. In the meantime, Virgin is waiting for an apology. It’s suggested they don’t hold their breath!