The 405 July 14th -- Move to L.A. to Become a Child Actor? Getty Images@daylife
Moving to Los Angeles for Your Child to Become a Child Actor
I’ve previously talked about the topic of moving to Los Angeles for your child to become a child actor (see “Should You Move to Los Angeles for Your Child to Become a Child Actor?“, “Will You Miss Your Family If You Move to L.A. for Your Child to Become a Child Actor?“, and “What Should You Do If Your Child Wants to Become a Child Actor?“). I always start thinking about this again in the summer after I take a trip back to South Carolina to visit my family.
Carmageddon
We just flew back into L.A. during Carmageddon (see the links to some articles on this topic below). We thought we might have to stay in a hotel near the airport because they predicted that the roads would be gridlocked and no one would be able to get anywhere all weekend.
A ten-mile section of the 405 Freeway was closed for much of this past weekend (July 16-17). This is a very heavily used section of freeway in the Los Angeles area, and it is particularly important for people going to and from the LAX airport in Los Angeles. Due to the closure, people had to take alternate routes to get to and from the airport (and of course to and from many other locations in the area, jobs, etc.).
After driving around on the rural SC roads and interstates that often seemed almost eerily empty, I really dreaded returning to the L.A. traffic, particularly during Carmageddon. It is times like this that I really miss the Southeast and wish we had not moved to Los Angeles for our child to become a child actor.
Well, it turned out Carmageddon went much better than everyone expected, and we got back from the airport in an hour. We took an alternate route, and there was not very much traffic. Our worst traffic was in the line to get out of the LAX parking lot (not kidding), and it took longer than an hour for our baggage to come out in baggage claim!
(The traffic may seem a little off the topic, but it is something you have to think about if you move to L.A. or NYC)
In The Past, If Your Child Wanted to Become a Child Actor
Anyway, in the past, if your child wanted to become a child actor, you just picked up everything and moved to L.A. or maybe New York City. Hollywood was where the action was, so that was where you went if you wanted to help your child succeed in the entertainment industry — either there or New York City.
We Thought We Needed to Move to L.A. or NYC for an Acting Career
When my daughter attended a talent convention in Charleston (not that many years ago), we were told that we needed to move to either Los Angeles and New York City to pursue a show business career. Honestly, the last thing I wanted to do was to move from our comfortable home in South Carolina to go to L.A. or New York City.
Sure, we had some auditions in South Carolina and had an agent in Charleston and one in Atlanta, but everyone said for the really good auditions, the place to be was Los Angeles (with New York coming in a close second). And that is somewhat true.
We visited both L.A. and NYC, and while I thought the prospect of moving so that she could become a child actor sounded very exciting, I also had a lot of reservations about leaving my home and family. I would have loved it if someone had said to me, “You don’t need to move for your daughter to become a child actor.”
But no one said that to me. And here we are now in Los Angeles, a little over 2500 miles away from where we were in Charleston, SC. And I really do miss my family and I miss our family reunions and birthdays and weddings and even funerals. I miss my high school reunions and my college reunions and all those things because we now live so far away.
So, in case you are really wondering, “Do You Need to Move to Los Angeles if Your Child Wants to Become a Child Actor?”
