Of "Blue-Collar Actors"

When I first heard Chris Pine speak of his family as a "blue collar acting family" he was being interviewed by William Shatner for the latter's documentary, The Captains.

The word choice jarred--so much so that one might suspect a Josiah Bounderby-like downplaying of personal advantages on the part of someone who became about as close as any twenty-first century person does to being a "movie star," while in the process also trivializing the difficulties of a genuinely blue collar existence (to all evidences, a thing quite remote from his experience).

All the same, he called attention to a reality oft-overlooked, namely the reality that while we think of actors as either waiting tables in anticipation of their big break, or huge stars, with little thought given to those who are working, and maybe even making quite a decent living, but not quite so visible or so lavishly rewarded. Actors who, if they land a regular spot on a show may see it canceled after a mere few episodes, and not get anything like it again; and maybe rely on a lot of guest appearances on shows and bit parts in movies; and do not get ten figure paydays and have their own production companies, and may have to go on working in old age for inability to retire financially. They, too, are part of that world, the bigger part of it, just like their counterparts all across the arts--even as they, in relation to the vast number of people whose ultimate choice will be to give up or go on waiting tables until they are retirement age, can seem to constitute the fortunate few who got to have such a career, whatever the terms.