You've been bitten by the acting bug, and there is apparently no cure. Nothing else seems to matter to you other than seeing your name on the marquee/conquering Broadway/making it onto a TV series.

Okay, since we've established the goal, here's several things I've learned in my years in the business that may help you to avoid the traps many beginning actors fall prey to.

The acting business is notorious for one trap - dependence on the luck of being in the right place at the right time, and serendipity does play a role. But invariably I know that planning and preparation of your individual ingredients or qualities and knowing how you come across as a performer avoids the trap of hoping that providence will take over your fears and doubts and assure your success.

In my book "The Actor's Menu" I encourage actors to examine the character ingredients they bring to the table, instead of trying to fit someone else's idea of how the role should be presented.

You bring the unique blend of experience and life that is you, and that will be ultimately more real, more affecting and more alive that any impersonal performance.

Get involved as much as you can in live performing to discover how your character ingredients come across to others. From even the smallest performance in class to a paid gig, you'll learn things about your acting that you'll get in no other place. Nothing beats feedback. You'll need to develop a thick skin, and learn who's opinions truly reflect your effectiveness, but once you've identified your reliable advisors, humble yourself and listen, and thus avoid careening down a path to obscurity that you might have otherwise taken.

Once you've found an acting class or teacher who challenges you, stick with them awhile. It takes a little time to bring out the genius lurking inside you. Ask them to help you identify acting problems, and keep you accountable resolving these.

I've seen many hundreds of people much more innately talented than many who succeed, but who lacked the skill to understand who they were, how they affected others and the persistence to get to where they wanted to go.

Acting is taking a risk. Aside from risking in front of casting people, a huge risk is discovering and presenting your unique character ingredients in front of others wanting to hear how you affected them.