The defining difference between amateurs and those who choose to

pursue it as a career isn’t talent, but simply that professionals are prepared to endure the daily ritual of humiliation, rejection, financial anguish and grinding unemployment. You have to be tough.

Getting into a good drama school is a great help – at least you have a chance of being noticed. But there are now hundreds of drama schools, and despite their sleek prospectuses, none but the top four or five will be of any use in furthering your chances. Nowadays many actors have a subsidiary profession they can fall back on – designing websites, working in bars, or even delivering sandwiches.