Growing Up Geek: Why a Lot of Child Actors Are So Screwed Up
This Growing Up Geek column kind of gets into some dark territory. I always try to keep things light and funny in these articles, but this is a crazy experience I had that I feel I should share. It might give you some insight into why a lot of child actors grow up to be so damn screwed up.
When I started auditioning for movies, I was told I should start taking acting classes to hone my skills and make connections. There was a place I was recommended to go, and it was there that I was introduced to the insanity of being a child actor. If you ever wonder why or how some child actors get so messed up, it's because Hollywood is a place where drugs, alcohol, and sex run rampant. These things aren't just for adults, they were made available to kids as well. These are things that are introduced to child actors at a very young age.
As a young innocent kid, I had never really seen this side of the world before. The first time I went to acting class was a very strange, surreal, and overwhelming experience. It was at a condo down in Studio City, CA, and when I walked in, it seemed like the kind of crazy college or high school party that you would see in the movies, but with kids and adults. I was incredibly reserved and didn't know how to process the things I was seeing.
It was the first time that I ever saw kids my own age drinking, smoking, and doing drugs, and it was all being done with adult supervision. Or at least the adults were the ones offering this stuff to these kids. I was offered all of the above, but I declined like a good boy and stayed away from them. It wasn't easy, though! The peer pressure was intense, and I was told these things would make me a better actor.
On top of that, porn was being passed around like candy. Kids, both boys and girls, were involved with all this stuff, and there were adults taking kids into back rooms with closed doors, and I just remember thinking how weird it was. I wasn't really comprehending at the time what was really going on. I just wanted it to be over with.
Other than all of that crazy stuff, they actually did do some acting improv techniques. We were given certain hypothetical situations that we had to act out in front of everyone, and I remember the one I was given included four other guys, and we were supposed to be standing at a line of urinals in a bathroom taking a piss. Then a girl walks in to take a pee at another urinal and we were supped to react to that. It was the strangest damn thing! I just stood there wondering what in the hell was going on. I imagine my facial expressions looked like a mess of perplexity.
As I write all of this, I honestly don't think I ever told my parents what went on that night. My dad dropped me off and picked me up, and I just remember telling him afterward that I didn't want to go back, and I didn't. I seriously wasn't going to learn anything of value there, and it was uncomfortable as hell. This was the beginning of the end for my short-lived acting career.
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