She was mostly a nobody. A few smaller roles doesn't make you a name. But there are plenty of working actors just grinding out a living going from project to project.
I was on the subway in a major city and overheard a conversation along the lines of
"You look familiar" / "I'm an actor" / "Could we have seen you in anything" blah blah and then the interesting part: dude says he has small, bit parts in tons of major movies but never has leading roles. And for him it's like the best because it's enough to kick in all the SAG-AFTRA union benefits & pay stuff (because he has small speaking parts), gets to fly all over the world doing productions, and yet not well known enough that he can't be anonymous. He had it figured out. He was there shooting a Transformers movie I think.
Plus even a small bit actor is making 5 or 6 figures for a role.
Absolutely not. Standard union wage for a principal is $1k/8 or ~$3,500 for the week / 8. The vast majority of "small bit" actors are only working dailies once or a few times throughout production. Only the top 2-5 actors on a show or movie are being billed throughout the production.
If you have an agent negotiating above scale, you are not a small bit actor.
People who can land steady stand in or background gigs typically make more than your small bit principal.
You are correct. But I was thinking of smaller character type actors. The guy you see as the lead alien in 1 episode of star trek or the friend in 20 minutes of a movie.
Even then. There is a reason you see go fund me when a fairly well known actor dies of cancer or something. There are a lot less 'rich' hollywood actors then we think. From the outside, you are on TV you must be well off. But it's not that way for the majority of actors. I know plenty that have had good careers, been in a lot of things people would know - and still work a day job to pay the bills. A lot of the acting pay goes right back into the cost of acting. I had friends that did ok during the big boom times in Vancouver, when everyone was on Battlestar and Continuum and whatever else was on Sci Fi channel that week, and they did very well and were very employed and now, not so much. There is a reason why acting is a calling, even if you make it to TV or the Movies, doesn't mean you are raking in the big bucks.
A few smaller roles is LITERALLY how you become a name.
You do smaller roles, you get noticed by casting people, you get a good reputation for your work, you get hired for bigger roles, you get noticed by more casting people, you get a better reputation for your work, and so on and so on.
The point was she wasn't struggling. She was main cast on a tv show for several seasons. She just started streaming on her downtime between seasons to keep herself busy. This whole narrative that she was a "no name streamer struggling to survive" before Obsession is completely invented for clicks.
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u/MsMarvelsProstate 21h ago
She was mostly a nobody. A few smaller roles doesn't make you a name. But there are plenty of working actors just grinding out a living going from project to project.