Marvel, DC and ‘Planet of the Apes’ Actor Kirk Acevedo Had to Sell His Home Because ‘Middle Class’ Actors Are Getting ‘Squeezed Out’ of Hollywood
Kirk Acevedo, a working actor who has appeared in series for Marvel (“Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”) and DC (“Arrow”) and in movies such as “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” and “Insidious: The Last Key,” gave a stark breakdown of the difficulty of being a middle-class actor since the pandemic.
Acevedo appeared on the March 23 episode of Ryan M. Perez’s podcast “An Actor Despairs” and spoke about how Hollywood’s “middle class” has been “squeezed out.”
“2021 comes, and I’m up for some TV shows; it just goes one way, this way, and that would have saved me. That would’ve saved me. That doesn’t work, and I keep coming in second place, and the reality is second place, you’re the first one to lose.” he said. “So, I went from working non-stop, to now I got to sell my house. I got to sell my house, and everyone’s going through this. I have so many friends, people you know, actors you know, that had to sell their houses.”
Acevedo said that fewer overall roles are becoming increasingly competitive as different levels of actors head to television and other projects.
“In TV now, all the movie stars — since there’s no more films, not the way it used to be — they’re all in TV. Every Oscar winner is doing some eight- to 10- to 13-episode show multiple times,” he said. “I’m competing with Oscar winners. It’s like, ‘OK, should we pay Kirk his quote, or this guy that was nominated for an Oscar seven, eight, 10 years ago?’ See the problem?”
Acevedo also broke down how recurring television roles that might seem to pay well can’t cover many lifestyles once expenses are removed.
“Let’s say you do 10 guest spots,” he said. “That’s $100,000, right? You have an agent and manager. So, we take 20% out. That’s $80,000. We got taxes, too … $45,000. Let’s say your rent is … let’s go on the low side, we won’t even go on the high side, say $3,000. That’s pretty low. That’s $36,000. Can you survive off of 10 episodes? You could if you’re just starting out.”
Watch the full podcast below.
