What Do Background Actors Do

My typical day can vary a lot, but generally, I will have a very early start, drive to the unit base, then we get into costume and go through hair and makeup. How long this takes depends on whether the production is contemporary or a period piece. Then comes the waiting! As a background artist, you need to have loads of patience and have plenty of things with you to keep you occupied. In my case, I bring my laptop and work on my website.

Some days we can be used quite a lot and can be on set most of the day. Because the hours are so long (often 12 hour days plus travel time) this can be really tiring. However mostly we are used in certain scenes, then go back to our ‘holding area’ or ‘green room’. Some days I’m not used at all. A lot of the time we are out on location rather than in a studio, and because I’m based in the UK, we have the British weather to deal with. Again, being a background artist isn’t glamorous and you need to be ok working in crazy weather.

A lot of my work as a background artist is me walking around behind the actors, I could be sitting in a pub, waiting for a bus, etc. I’ve also had more interesting roles where I’ve been a Druid fighting Roman soldiers, learned how to march like a soldier in the army, played a forensic investigator and been a prostitute in 1800s London! It really could be anything. Sometimes I’ve had more featured roles where I’ve interacted with the actors, or even had a few words to say. This is great fun, but also nerve-wracking as I’m certainly not a ‘proper’ actor.

Auditioning

I’m based in the UK so it may be different from the US but this is how it works:

Background actors here don’t need to go to auditions. I have a few agents that supply background artists to all sorts of productions. The production company goes to the agent with their requirements for background artists. If I fit the description, then my agent will call or email me to see if I’m available. If I am, I am either booked, or my photos go back to the production company that they choose who they want.

Sometimes I am booked a few weeks in advance, but most often there can be just a couple of days notice or a ‘can you work tomorrow’ kind of job!

Pros

The pros for me is the flexibility and the fact that no two days are the same. Because I am self-employed I can work when it suits me. It means I can work on my website during breaks in filming.

I just adore the job, the lifestyle, and meeting so many interesting people on set.

Cons

The cons have to be the early starts (sometimes my alarm goes off at 4am) and the lack of job security. Because I’m self-employed and the work is quite sporadic, it can be an unreliable source of income.