Skip to main content

Jobs for Aspies: Acting


People with Aspergers Syndrome often spend their whole lives trying to fit into society.  They copy mannerisms, accents, expressions and dialogue.  They also often enjoy making noises such hums, clicks, whirs and other sounds.  It's a stimming thing.

In short, people with Asperger's syndrome often spend their lives practising acting and they can become very good at it.

There are many people in Hollywood with Asperger's Syndrome or suspected Asperger's Syndrome. The lists includes; Daryl Hannah, Dan Aykroyd, Tim Burton, Woody Allen, Michael Palin, Alfred Hitchcock, Jim Henson and Michael Jackson. I doubt that we'll ever know the truth about these actors for sure but one thing is clear, children with Asperger's syndrome often make good actors and they can benefit significantly from acting classes;

There's a video on YouTube where a boy with Asperger's Syndrome; Zach Henry and his family discuss the impact that acting has had on his life.

It's well worth a watch.

Click here to watch the video


Other Posts in this Series
Jobs for Aspies - Project Management

Related Posts
How does Aspergers Affect Employment Prospects?
Improving Employment Prospects for Aspies - Part 1
Improving Employment Prospects for Aspies - Part 2 (What the Aspie can do)
Improving Employment Prospects for Aspies - Part 3 (What the Employer can do)
Aspergers Syndrome and Acting

Labels

Labels:

Comments

SmiggzYh said…
Hey! Just wanted to drop by and say how awesome your blog is.

I've had very minor aspergers for as long as I can remember (longer than, probably) and it's a difficult condition to have, especially when it's weaker, because you get less help to cope with it, you have to do a lot of it yourself, and it's draining, which is why it's so great to have blogs like this one which provide help that's so useful.

My main comment is why I was brought to this: I'm an actor myself! I do improvised comedy mostly, but I do voices, and characters all the time. It's just such a shame that the job is hard to make money in, but it's such a fantastic opportunity to have. I can't count the amount of times I've been to an audition, or just hanging around a theatre and thought "He's one of us." It's fantastic!

Thanks again for your awesome blog! Take care!
April 26, 2013 at 10:40 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why do Aspies Suddenly Back Off in Relationships (Part 2)

In part one, we looked at the role that Change Resistance plays in causing aspies to suddenly go "cold" in otherwise good relationships. This time, I want to look at self esteem and depression; Self Esteem The aspie relationship with themselves is tedious at best. People with Asperger's commonly suffer from low self esteem. As discussed in earlier posts, this low self esteem often results from years of emotional turmoil resulting from their poor social skills. Aspies are often their own worst enemy. They can over analyze situations and responses in an effort to capture lost nonverbal communication. This often causes them to invent problems and to imagine replies. Everything made up by aspies will tend to be tainted with their own self image. This is one of reasons that people with Asperger's will sometimes decide that they are not good enough for their partner and that they must let them go. Sometimes, the aspie will develop a notion of chivalry or self-sacrific...
134 comments
Read more

Aspie Myths - "He Won't Miss Me"

I apologise for the excessive "male-orientated" viewpoint in this post. I tried to keep it neutral but somehow, it just works better when explained from a male viewpoint. Here's a phrase that I've seen repeated throughout the comments on this blog on several occasions; "I know that he won't miss me when I'm gone because he's aspie" Today, we're going to (try to) bust that myth; Individuals I'll start off with a reminder that everyone is an individual. If all aspies were completely alike and predictible, they'd be a stereotype but they're not. Each is shaped by their background, their upbringing, their beliefs and their local customs. An aspie who grew up with loud abusive parents has a reasonable chance of becoming loud and abusive themselves because in some cases, that's all they know. That's how they think adults are supposed to behave. In other cases, aspies who grew up in those circumstances do a complete about-fa...
150 comments
Read more

Why Do Aspies Suddenly Back-Off in Relationships? (Part 1)

One of the most frequent questions I'm asked is why an aspie (or suspected aspie) suddenly goes "cold" and backs off on an otherwise good relationship. It's a difficult question and the answers would vary considerably from one person to another and would depend greatly on the circumstances. Nevertheless, I'll try to point out some possibilities. Negative Reasons I generally like to stay positive on this blog and assume that people are not necessarily "evil" but simply misguided. Unfortunately, I do have to acknowledge that there are some people out there who take advantage of others. I read a book a few years ago on "sociopaths in the workplace" and I was stunned by the figures. They suggested that sociopaths were so common that most workplaces (small business) had at least one or two. The fact is that there are lots of people out there who really feel very little for others and who are very manipulative. I'd like to say that aspies aren...
64 comments
Read more