Bypass New York and L.A. and Start Your Career in the Windy City!
By Wyatt Elling
Chicago is the city to live in as a working actor who cares more about the love of the game than about getting rich and becoming a star. The theater scene in Chicago is generally held as the best in the country, where serious actors hone their craft, as opposed to the increasingly glitzy and Disney fueled world of Broadway. Actors in Chicago have a better chance of making their living exclusively by acting than in either New York or LA. SAG and AFTRA earnings in the city are the third highest in the country. And with over 200 active theaters and performance groups and 900 live shows a year, there's sure to be a role waiting for you in the Windy City.
As the Off-Broadway scene in New York has become more like celebrity-driven Broadway, Chicago has increasingly become the "real" Off-Broadway. It's the main city where serious dramatic playwrights go to write and produce new plays. Chicago's city government is also uncommonly supportive of the arts, offering many incentives for theaters, actors, film production, and the like. New theaters and performance groups are popping up all the time, given the flexibility of zoning laws.
Some of the famous theaters that operate out of Chicago are the Steppenwolf, which was started by John Malkovich, Joan Allen, and Gary Sinise, the Goodman, Victory Gardens, and the Lookingglass, which was started by Friends star David Schwimmer. There are plenty of large and mid-size Equity theaters, but one of the best features of Chicago is that actors, directors, and critics consider non-Equity theaters to be just as professional and legitimate as the big leagues.
Chicago is also known for its comedy scene, with many stand-up clubs, comedy festivals, and improv and sketch comedy groups. Second City, one of the most famous improv groups in the country, has been supplying Saturday Night Live with cast members for decades. Additionally the strong drama programs at Colombia College, Northwestern University, and DePaul University keeps the theater scene young, intellectual, and progressive.
There is always a steady stream of film productions a year that take place in Chicago. This is partly because of the city's charm and the large percentage of entertainment professionals. Movies like The Break-Up, Stranger than Fiction, Flags of Our Fathers, The Fugitive, Batman Begins, I-Robot, and Oceans 11 have been filmed completely or partially in Chicago, and the list goes on and on. Production is expensive there, (Chicago was actually filmed in Toronto), so the amount of major Hollywood films is limited, but independent film production is off the charts.
There is always a lot of TV production going on in Chicago, but it tends to be non-fiction. There are some exceptions, like ER or Prison Break, which are partially produced there. Most of the programming is either reality TV, talk shows like The Oprah Winfrey Show, or non-fiction productions for channels like The Food Network and HGTV. The bulk of paid job opportunities for actors come from the massive amount of commercials, training films, industrials, and voice-overs. Chicago is the third largest market in the country for these projects. Most stage actors make a living by working these jobs during the day a few times a month and acting in theaters at night.
While the acting world in Chicago is not based on celebrities or marquee stars, the city is a major recruitment spot for TV productions in New York and LA. Agents send out tapes of their clients to major casting directors on both coasts during pilot season. Casting directors in LA and New York will also aggressively recruit talent for sitcoms, soap operas, episodic dramas, major commercials, and TV movies. Because of this Chicago has grown a reputation for nurturing talented actors and sending them off to careers as television and movie stars in different cities.
If you can stand the bitter cold of a Chicago winter, and more importantly learn not to complain about it out loud, then the Windy City just might be the place for you!
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