'It looks easy, but that's the art of it': Zoë offers advice to young actors on AllCreative.com

26 November 2016 01:53

A short film in which Zoë shares her insights into the theatre industry is featured on All Creative, a new careers advice website for young people keen to learn from the UK's creative professionals. As well as summarising some of the career opportunities the industry provides, Zoë discusses the ups and downs of life as a professional actor.

'It's hard work, and it's finding the work, and it's finding the script that fits you,' she says of the challenges of being a performer. Acting is a vocation, entails a great deal of rejection and isn't always well paid. As a result, Zoë emphasises that it's important 'to have another skill, so that when you're not working as an actor, you can support yourself'.

She recalls her father, Sam Wanamaker, giving her the Complete Works of Shakespeare in order to deepen her understanding of theatre. 'It still is an inspiration now; people love it. I love it.'

The video suggests that if you want to succeed as an actor, you need talent, dedication and the willingness to study hard and hone your skills. '[Acting] looks easy,' Zoë observes, 'but that's the art of it.'

You may recognise the elegant dress she wears in the video, which was filmed around three years ago. Appropriately enough, it's one of her costumes for a stage role: that of Ranevskaya in the National Theatre's 2011 production of The Cherry Orchard.

All Creative is the brainchild of ad agency executive Paul Brazier. In his words, the website aims 'to help young people understand how to get a creative job'. Other well-known individuals appearing in its videos include architect David Adjaye, animator Nick Park, photographer Rankin and the artist Bob and Roberta Smith.

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