Actors across the world are united by one universal truth — you have got to fund your “habit” by working elsewhere. As long as there is enough money for two square meals, new head shots and a gym membership, it’s all good. Serving tables is an old cliché. In a theatre in Canada, someone had pinned a sticker to the board saying, “Hi I’m a graduate in performing arts. Would you like fries with that?”

In Bombay, being a struggler is almost a badge. At one time it was a mark of embarrassment, someone who has no work and is struggling to make ends meet. Today it is a promise of things to come. “I am an actor, and a struggler. But soon, I will be successful, because I come from a long line of strugglers.”
For theatre actors (yes film and TV has actors too, no matter how well disguised), the kind of jobs have changed over the years, particularly for people working in English and Hindi. In the old days, an office job meant a regular paycheck, medical care and fixed hours. So in the 50s, 60s and 70s, numerous stage actors were working at advertising agencies all over the city.
Come 5 pm, they would pack their bags and head to a six o’clock rehearsal. It was a convenient arrangement.
As our society moved from one of sustenance to one of greed (read capitalist), the concept of the work day has changed. A 12 to 18 hour day is commonplace. Suddenly respectable office jobs no longer suited theatre actors who preferred to learn lines, than burning the midnight oil in a cubicle. Many found new vocations — freelance work has been extremely popular, since the time frame can be set by the individual. The well paying performing media of films, television and advertising have also been much sought after. But not just as actors, also as writers, directors, designers and voice artists.
Recently, I happened to be in LA, the American equivalent of Bombay. I was surprised to find the new kind of jobs that people were trying while they kept their acting hopes alive — real estate agent, building contractor, financial journalist and the list got weirder and weirder. The only thing common in these professions was that you could set your own work timings. So if that ever elusive phone call came, you were able to make the time to be there.
In our own city too, jobs have changed but they remain in the zone of either having your own business (which you can blow off for rehearsals), or being a full time actor or even being a teacher, because there is never school in the evening.
The purists have always believed that if you are an actor, how can you give time and effort to some other profession? That is like cheating on your art.
Another view is that you are only an actor when you are “acting”. Otherwise you are just as ordinary as anyone else.
Therefore, it’s easier to be doing something else for you livelihood and at the same time be an actor.
A further view is that “doing something else” is essential for actors’ training. How can you experience life if all you do is spend time in a rehearsal room? How can you research different characters if you have never met any?
All very valid points. But deep down, an actor is an actor probably because s/he enjoys it; because there is nothing else they would rather do. There is not an actor I know who wouldn’t trade in his or her day job, in exchange to be paid to be in rehearsal all day, even at half wage. Those who don’t understand ask “What’s the point of the struggle?”
To that the answer comes, “The struggle is the point.”