Actor: what the job is, what it pays, and how to get hired.
The work, the skills that matter, the tools in demand and the pay range, from U.S. government data, plus every TryHired page for the role.
Actors play parts in stage, television, radio, video, or film productions, or other settings for entertainment, information, or instruction. The median pay is $29.05 an hour (BLS, May 2025).
- Median pay
- $29.05/hr
- BLS May 2025
- Employed in the U.S.
- 55,000
- BLS May 2025
- Preparation
- Job Zone 2 of 5
- some preparation
Every page for Actors
What actors do day to day
Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).
- 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.
Ranked by importance to the job
Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.
Knowledge areas: English Language, Fine Arts, Communications and Media, Psychology.
Software actors use
Data Examples reported for the role; employer demand flags from O*NET.
- FacebookWeb page creation and editing softwareHot technology
- TikTokVideo creation and editing softwareHot technology
- Apple Final Cut ProVideo creation and editing software
- InstagramWeb page creation and editing software
- LinkedInWeb page creation and editing software
- Motion capture softwareVideo creation and editing software
- Website development softwareWeb page creation and editing software
- YouTubeVideo creation and editing software
- LinuxOperating system softwareHot technology
- Microsoft ExcelSpreadsheet softwareHot technology
- Microsoft Office softwareOffice suite softwareHot technology
- Microsoft OutlookElectronic mail softwareHot technology
Also called: Actress, Comedian, Community Theater Actor, Entertainer, Film Actor, Motion Capture Actor.
How this page is built
Tasks, skills, tools, education and related roles come from O*NET 31.0. Pay and employment come from the BLS OEWS May 2025 national estimates. The skill-match score is our calculation: Skill match is the correlation between the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level, subtract the average across all occupations, and correlate the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 or below means unrelated. Only occupations that O*NET itself lists as related are compared.
- How a specific employer defines the job.
- Pay for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
- Your own chances: data describes the occupation, not you.
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. TryHired selected, ranked and combined the data; O*NET is not responsible for these pages.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).