How Lon Chaney and
Sally Field Can Get You Acting Jobs

by Susan Dansby

Lon Chaney was portrayed brilliantly by James Cagney in a movie called MAN OF A THOUSAND FACES. It is the “Hollywood version” of the story of the life of Lon Chaney, Sr. – a great silent film star. (For the real story and great Lon Chaney footage, check out THE LON CHANEY COLLECTION.)

Well, in the Hollywood version, stage actor/performer Lon Chaney, Sr. arrives in L.A. and sets about working in the movies. He shows up at the studio gate with all the other out-of-work actors, and sees that only specific “types” are being cast that day: guys with tattoos, island natives, etc.

And Lon, being your every day, average guy (think James Cagney), doesn’t fit any of these types.

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He’s kind of discouraged... for like a minute. But Lon is highly motivated and gets an idea. And the next day he shows up at the studio with a secret weapon - his makeup case.

When he sees that the casting folks are looking for a pirate with a scar, he whips out his tools, gives himself a ruddy complexion and a fake scar. Voila!

They weren’t looking for Lon, so Lon became what they were looking for.

Your Acting Jobs

• Michael J. Fox is definitely too short to ever be considered a Hollywood leading man – and yet, there was BACK TO THE FUTURE.
  
  
• Julia Roberts is too tall to be a viable leading lady – and yet, there was PRETTY WOMAN.
  
  
• Reese Witherspoon? Way too bright to play a ditz – and yet, there was LEGALLY BLONDE.
  
  
• Charlize Theron is way too pretty to be taken seriously – and yet, there was MONSTER.
  
  
• Jamie Foxx – a lightweight sitcom star – and yet, there was ANY GIVEN SUNDAY, COLLATERAL, RAY.

You are in charge of your career. You need to decide what that career is going to be. You need to figure out what to change about yourself (more training, more glamour, more acting chops...) in order to get what you want. No one can do this but you. And no one can stop you but – yep – you.

Which brings us to Sally Field - one of my favorite examples of changing Hollywood's mind.

From Flying Nun to Best Actress

But Sally Field wasn’t satisfied with being “just” a sitcom star. So she went to New York to study with Lee Strasberg. Three years later, she starred in a TV movie, SYBIL, about a woman with multiple personalities - and won an Emmy® for that dramatic performance. And then there were the Oscars® for NORMA RAE and PLACES IN THE HEART.

And she directs, and produces...

What would we have lost if Sally Field had settled for being what other people had decided she was?

Sally Field “made herself over” just as Lon Chaney did. What’s important to recognize is that neither of these actors sacrificed their integrity to be who and what they needed to be to succeed. Instead, they used what they already were, studied what interested them, and pursued work that fed them.

How Lon Chaney and Sally Field Can Get You Acting Jobs is by doing what they've already done: offered sterling examples of how to rise above perceptions.

Your future employers won't see you differently until you see yourself differently. If they won't think outside-the-box, do it for them. Show them - not by aiming to be an okay actor; but by being driven to be the best.

Learn from the other successful actors who didn’t settle. Keep working, keep growing, stay determined; and you’ll earn the career you want.

To your success... scene by scene...