careers, and weight issues.
 

this is more of a starting topic i wanna get some opinions on.
DO PEOPLE FEEL THAT THEIR WEIGHT HOLDS THEM BACK EITHER EMOTIONALLY OR PHYSICALLY IN THEIR CAREER?

one reason i ask is because im doing a degree in the most cut-throat, judge you on what you look like thing ever, film tv and theatre.
since starting uni i have decided for fun to go along to auditions to have fun and not think much of it. But when you get told you have talent, and yet dont get a call back, i cant not take it personally.
especially when i watch what i eat, try very hard to stay active.

in my head i know that it was my choice to go into tv film and theatre, and unfortunetly if u wanna be infront of camera/audience , thats the way it is. But man it gets to you in a whole new mental way.....and makes u feel your actuall talent is worthless aswell as your own appearance.

anyway, im a bit more happy today because im gonna try and focuss on the production side of my degree more

but does anyone else feel or get like this is different carreres?
can anyone else sympathise?

Yay! Actresses unite! Interesting topic, by the way. :)

I'm an actress myself, and I've also fronted bands. I did quite a bit of print, commercial, and alternative modeling when I was thin, though once I packed on the pounds, my entertainment career died along with my social life! Once I lose these last 13-15 pounds (I've lost 35-37 already), I will make some attempts to get back into the spotlight.

I currently have a day job doing technical writing and editing for the municipal department, so my main source of income is obviously no longer appearance-based. In addition to this, I design/develop web sites and repair computers, both which relyon looks no more than editing does. ;)

Your weight doesn't have to hold you back forever. That's why you're here, right? :)

Well, I am studying for my certification for Personal Trainer, so my looks will play a HUGE part in my profession. I have to lose the weight, tone up and look good, or no one will believe anything I say. But, that's partly why I chose this. It will help me out, if nothing else. Talk about being under the gun, huh? LOL

The other reasons for doing this is that I want to help other people feel good about themselves and get healthy.

Great topic by the way.

Kathy

As a contract archaeologist, being in some sort of shape is a requirement. You constantly (okay, every day) have to dig or survey through muddy fields on a really tight schedule. I could keep up, I couldn't lead the pack, but I was never last.

One time my boss, two 20 year-olds and I were waiting at the end of an overgrown soybean field for one of the other crew members, a girl who weighs about what I do now. Mind you, I weighed 40 pounds more than her. My boss just looks over at her in disgust and tells me to "remind him not to hire any more fat people". Ha!

Does my weight really affect my career? At my level, it doesn't as much, since I am more expected to lead and write reports than have to go trudging around America's muddy heartland. But bosses can look at me and assume that I am going to be the one at the back, holding everyone back.

I just finished law school, now I´m studying for my final exam (BAR? I think it´s called that in US).
Of course to be a lawyer it´s not a requirement to be thin, but when you go to interviews your looks DO MATTER A LOT! All my overweight friends get called less than the thin good looking ones, it´s a fact, we´ve talked about it many times and overweights and thins agree in that.

A SkyWest Captain told me that she would never be hired by United Airlines because she was overweight. She wasn't very much overweight, but I guess United considers weight part of the package their pilots have to present. Doesn't seem fair to me, but then life isn't sometimes.

Because thin people who are not fit & healthy should still be hired. :mad: Remind me never to hire your boss :lol:


This is an interesting question. Being obese affects me everyday. However, my job is cubicle focused, so it hasn't kept me from moving up the ladder (that I know of). I think that my work shines through, but one can't know exactly. And there maybe are people higher up the chain that will look at me and say "No" and their reason might be because I weigh more, but I can't do anything about how other people see me.

On a day to day basis for work, however, no it doesn't affect me much beyond what I wear. ;)

the think is, although im trying to loose more weight, never in my life have i ever wanted to be somthing im not, and i dont see why ,y career should justify this, i hate it. I hate knowing that if i wanna do what i know im strong at i have to be a certain size, and if i got into that mind frame, and because a size 10-12 at 5ft 11 id still look weird cause im tall, and i would not be me!

id not be who my family and boyf no and love, and id hate that i accustumed my belifes just for society.I know im fairly intelligant, and im on a scholorship, but that wont mean i get to do what makes me really happy. so is changing my size going to make me happier in the long run?
propably not. just means i cant be in real plays/films as an actor, but ill have to rely on my mind,education, and creative talent to push my production career.....and a good suit!

There are overweight actors and actresses. They are just often cast into "fat" roles. If you're willing to play a "fat" role, there are parts for you out there. It won't make you a big time Hollywood celebrity, nor will it make you a broadway star, but it will not completely limit you.

I let myself be limited at my highest weight and refused to even attend a casting call, but since you seem much more comfortable with your weight than I was, maybe you should just focus on good health and getting down to a size that makes you feel good about yourself?

It's funny that I found this topic today.
There was something on 20/20 or 60 minutes or some such once were they proved that thinner and more attractive people get hired over heavier people.
I had to go to a work summit yesterday lead by the 10-15 directors in my area. I noticed that only one of them was overweight and not by much (maybe a size 16 at best). So is this true? Who knows? But looking at it like that is seems it might be. Also, buth of the "real" "adult" jobs I have had in my life I was hired by men who's wifes were bigger. This is all just speculation on my part, but interesting!

I think the problem is that these "fat" roles need to be expanded. Not everyone is 5'10" and 110 lbs. Not everyone is 5'2" and 250 lbs. So, why should every main character be built up in only one way?

However, to be fair, they aren't all built that way. Hairspray anyone? (Both movie & broadway... Heck... anything John Waters is involved in...) There's no logical reason why a larger than average actor/actress can't be famous. It appears there are more options for actors in that regard, but that's beside the point.

Of course in any form of film/theatre the "look" of the characters are important. After all, casting is a huge part of it all. So, yes, there are going to be times when someone walking in for a part just is not going to get called back no matter how amazing they are or how much talent they have.

I have no basis for the following other than my own observation so feel free to disagree, but I feel that lately roles have become a little broader. Not every actress/actor looks the same, though most are attractive... doubt that'll change, but that's human nature & another topic.

Freethetoys - You feel strong about what you do. You are merely trying to be a healthier human being. Regardless of how you end up looking, you may have to struggle for roles (or not, i'm not psychic) but perhaps this is something you want to fight for. I don't mean protests. I mean to keep getting up and going to casting calls no matter what. It's quite possible that you could be the actress to change their minds about how a character they're casting should look. (It's happened before.)

All in all, if this is what you're passionate about, then you need to make sacrifices. And those sacrifices might just be rejections. A lot of them. You'll know whether it's worth it for you to continue or not.

i dont think its a matter of being comfortable in your size to be an actress, im sorry i really disagree with you, and i think that if your TALENTED, it speaks miles, its just a shame that there are mainly roles for chorus members, small little girls who all look alike, or a role where the director knows exactly what he wants in an actress, and so he will go for that, and he will not cast someone talented over someone who looks right and is not as talented..... that for me, is just disturbing.
but hey hoe, ill follow the production route and hopefully be more guarenteed work anyway due to there being to many actors and not enough crew in all elements of media.

thanks ferie sweet words :-)

I agree that the "fat" roles need to be expanded. There isn't too much demand for actresses to be tall (it's a movie, not the runway, you know? - so I don't think that 5'10" and 110 pounds is necessarily the requirement) but perfectly fit, healthy actresses have been told repeatedly by managers that they need to "drop a few pounds for the camera" because it really does add 10-20 pounds.

As I've said countless times before, I think Hollywood actresses need to conduct some kind of societal rebellion and just reject the silly "you must be a size 2 or under!!!" standards and replace them with realistic ones... you know, guidelines that will allow them to be fit and healthy. ;)

I live in Chile and last year Canal 13 did a program on fat people and how being fat affected their lives . There was a section dedicated to "work issues" and ALL of them said it had affected their working life in one or other way. Some people were morbidly obese (is that how u say it?) and some just overweight and some had had more problems than others but ALL had suffered in one or other way. Of course getting the job is much harder and one woman said that it was like she constantly had to prove she was good enough.
I don´t work but I really think it affects you. Of course if you´re a model or work in tv or personal trainer it affects more than if your a dentist or doctor but it still does!!