The best way to start is to use local opportunities and to build on them. Local and regional theater experience may help obtain work in New York or Los Angeles. Modeling experience may also be helpful. Actors need talent, creative ability, and training that will enable them to portray different characters. They must have poise, stage presence, and the ability to follow directions.
Physical appearance is often a deciding factor in being selected for particular roles.
Many professional actors rely on agents or managers to find them performing engagements, negotiate contracts, and plan their careers. To become a movie extra, one must usually be listed by a casting agency, such as Central Casting, a no-fee agency that works with the Screen Extras Guild and supplies all extras to the major movie studios in Hollywood. In recent years, only a very small proportion of the applicants have succeeded in being listed. Extras in a film have very little opportunity to advance to a speaking role in that film. There are no specific training requirements for directors and producers.