So, love the advice in your columns. I just discovered you a few months ago and have caught up with all the years. Great stuff. My question is the other end of the name change question. What if your name is so incredibly generic that it is boring and extremely popular? Let me clarify that currently I am an actor in Atlanta, so the pool of actors is considerably smaller than in LA, but I do hope to make the move someday and wonder when, if ever, I should concern myself with a name change. My first name has consistently been one of the most popular female names for decades, and many current stars have this name. My last name is the absolute, most common name in the entire country. Those two together create an incredibly boring, forgettable name. Any thoughts?
Ooh, great question! Thanks for writing (and for going back and reading the archives. Love that)!
Okay, so let’s look at a couple of things, here. One is the question of when to make the change, if you’re pretty sure you’re going to.
Definitely make the name change before everyone gets to know you by your current name. And definitely do it before joining the various actors’ unions. Because once we get to know you by your “first” name, it’s going to be very tough to get us to unlearn that and start associating you with your “second” name. You’ll potentially lose the momentum of the hard-earned reputation you’ve built up as the actor by that “first” name, when you have to remind everyone to connect the “second” name to the work of the actor by that “first” name they knew. So, if you’re gonna do it, do it early. And definitely before moving to LA, since you’re going to want to have folks check your “cred” and they’ll do so by asking people they know what it was like to work with you.
“What was it like working with [new name]?” “Who?” Uh-oh. It may just be that they’re not aware of the name change, but it comes off as a faked credit. That’s not good!
Now, the bigger issue: How do you decide if it’s important to change your name to something more unique? I just went through Breakdown Services and Actors Access and did a search on your name. A total of 17 accounts exist (and that includes duplicates, of course, as some actors are repped by agents and managers and have their own Actors Access account as well) in LA, NY, GA, TN, ON, and areas unknown. So, that’s not a lot of you! As for what the others “of you” are choosing to do, looks like many use a middle initial or middle name to distinguish themselves, but honestly, until you find that you’re showing up for auditions that were meant for another actor by the same name, I wonder if that’s even necessary.
Do you have an idea of what name you’d want to use? Could you just add in your middle name or initial and feel different enough? Or would you want to “go nuts” with it? How about using your first and middle name only (and dropping your last name)? Would that work for you?
I just don’t know whether it makes a huge difference to have a more special name. I’ve known actors with shared very common names and I have to be sure which one I’m dealing with, when getting an agent’s pitch for one of ’em and scheduling appointments, but when I think about actors with common names, in general, if I know their work, that name becomes associated with that work. And I don’t think having a less common name would help or hurt that association.
So, my advice would be: If it’s causing frustration and miscommunication because of the fact that your name is shared with other actors, make a change that will help cut that down (and do it soon). But otherwise, just brand yourself as you are! (Oh, and tell your agent I said HI! That was one of my agencies when I was an actor by another name in Atlanta. Oh, wait… if you tell ’em Bonnie Gillespie said hi, they might not recall their former client by another name. Ah… see how that works?)
Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!
Originally published by Actors Access at http://more.showfax.com/columns/avoice/archives/000721.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.