Kirk Acevedo may not be a household name, but the veteran Hollywood star has one of those resumes that would make any aspiring actor drool.
The New York native, who grew up in the South Bronx, cut his teeth on stage before moving on to a featured role on the seminal HBO series geese. He went to work with authors Terrence Malick The thin red line) and icons (Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg Band of brothers), make a mark with franchise fees (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes(and worked in superhero shows)Arrow, Agents of SHIELD). All those popular actions? he has a lot (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Jury trial, cold case, blue blooda couple of International Christian Solidarity Organizations and A person of interestetc.).
Since the late 1990s, Acevedo has remained a constantly in-demand talent, achieving that often elusive acting feat. But even with a good IMDb profile, Acevedo hasn’t been immune to Hollywood mergers and cuts. In a candid new interview with Ryan M. Perez on his podcast Actor’s despairAcevedo spoke about how the changing economics of the industry and the loss of creative jobs affect “middle-class” actors like himself.
Acevedo revealed that he had to sell his house to stay afloat, and now has to navigate scraping together a living with low salaries and fewer opportunities for actors of his stature. Acevedo recalls how he went from “working nonstop” in the late 2000s on shows like Arrow, 12 Monkeys and the Kingdom And movies Planet of the Apes and Insidious: The Last Key To a drought amid the Covid-19 pandemic. He also missed some key opportunities, coming in at No. 2 for 2019 by missing out on exciting parts in films like Birds of Prey and the Fantastic Emancipation of One Harley Quinn and Don’t breathe 2.
He explained: “The year 2021 comes and I am ready for some TV shows. It is going in one direction, and this direction, and this would have saved me. This would have saved me. This does not work, and I keep coming to second place, and the reality is second place. You are the first to lose.” “So, I went from working non-stop to now having to sell my house. I had to sell my house, and everyone goes through this. I have a lot of friends, people you know, actors you don’t know, who had to sell their houses.”
He’s not alone. The impact of what the industry and its insiders have overcome in the past few years from cutbacks and mergers to COVID-19 and double whammy has been much talked about, though not many actors, writers or filmmakers have come forward to detail the heartache. Billy Porter revealed in 2023 that he had to sell his house. Asked by Hollywood Reporter To expand on his interview with Perez Actor’s despairAcevedo chose to let the podcast interview speak for itself. When he shared the clip on Instagram, his comments section was filled with his teammates who honestly showed their support for him. “The facts,” fellow actor Neil Brown Jr. wrote.
Acevedo said his new reality is trying to focus on making a living on the small screen. Because of increased competition, he said, “TV is really the only place to make a living now, because it’s not in the movies for people like me.” “I can’t even tell you what they want to give us. It’s not even a livable wage. And in television now, all the movie stars — because there’s no other movies, not like it used to be — are all in television. Every Oscar winner does about eight to 10 to 13 episodes multiple times. I’m competing with Oscar winners. Yeah. It’s like, ‘Well, should we pay Kirk for his quote or this guy who was nominated for his seventh, eighth, Oscar in 10 years?’ Do you see the problem?”
Acevedo then summed it up this way: “As in any economy in any country, the middle class is always being squeezed. We are being squeezed.” The actor reveals that he was able to book some gigs, including an appearance The show, Star Trek: Picard And a bow of four rings Lioness. But the economics of those gigs have changed, too.
“Let’s say you book 10 guest spots. That’s $100,000, right? You have an agent and a manager. So, we took 20 percent. That’s $80,000.” [left]. We got the taxes too. [Let’s say 38 percent, leaving you with] $45,000. Let’s say your rent is, I don’t know, let’s go on the low side, we won’t even go on the high side, say $3,000. This is very low. That’s $36,000. Can you survive 10 episodes? You can if you’re just starting out.
This is the problem for “older, middle-class actors,” Acevedo continued, because they can’t make a living competing with younger actors and still get their bids. “We’ve been in business working steady, and then all of a sudden it stops. They don’t pay you a quote. They make the top two on the call list regular. Everyone is repeating. And because everyone is repeating, they can underestimate you,” he said, adding that it’s easy to do because everyone needs jobs right now. “There are actors who can do this for free. We don’t have any leverage.”
Complicating matters further, Acevedo faced a shocking health scare when he suffered a hemorrhagic stroke amidst losing a home and facing extended unemployment. “No one knows why it happened,” Acevedo said of the rare stroke, which occurred just before his 50th birthday. “All my vitals, everything was perfect.” The good news: Acevedo has recovered and received a clean bill of health from his doctors.
To watch Acevedo The desperation of the actors The full interview, including career insights and how he broke into the business, see below.
