Five Sitcom Characters Who Wanted to be Actors

I’ve talked before about how sitcoms have universal occupations that it seems like every show has at least one character who fills it. While Mike Brady as an architect was unique, how many teachers have there been in sitcoms? Or nurses? Or lawyers? But by far one of the most common careers we seen on these shows is the actor wannabe. You know, someone who has decided he would be the best actor in the world even though they have no talent or training. Then we spend a large majority of the series laughing at their exploits. This is so common it goes all the way to I Love Lucy, where Lucy did anything to be in Ricky's show despite her lack of any talent. Or how about on “Coach”, Hayden’s daughter tried to become an actress (subconsciously trying to get Hayden’s attention) but was so awful she ended up giving up and going into advertising in New York. And of course on “Head of the Class”, Mr.Moore was a substitute teacher who really wanted to be an actor. When he left the show the reason given was he finally got his big break (in real life Howard Hesseman was fired). 

I guess it makes sense, it makes for better stories if a character is struggling at their job and there’s no profession that struggles like would be actors. Here are five characters who really thought they’d be great actors…..


Bobby on Taxi

I loved the lime in the pilot when Alex explains to Elaine that he is the only cab driver in the place. Everyone has other jobs or wannabe jobs like Tony was a boxer and yes, Bobby wanted to be an actor. The only episode about that I remember is one where he played Louie to impress all of Louie’s friends at a reunion. I guess he did land a soap opera and there was another about episode him trying to making it big within 24 hours or give up per a vow he made. Jeff Conaway left in Season 3, and in his last appearance Bobby had lost a role on a TV show but was going to stay put in LA to pursue his dream.





Mike on Growing Pains

Some who aren’t as familiar with this show may not remember this, but there was a period when Mike seriously tried to pursue acting. Despite the fact that his parents didn’t approve and it was abundantly clear he had no talent in that field. But he kept plugging along in acting classes for a couple seasons. Which is where he met Kate, so I guess it wasn’t all a loss. I remember he did land a role on a cop drama..where he ended up getting cut of the episode. In the last season he moved on to youth counseling and pretty much abandoned acting though it did come up once or twice that year.





Joey on Friends

Joey sort of owned this cliche, as he managed a few actual successes. More so than any one else here. But we saw him struggle also, even having pointless jobs totally outside of acting from cologne sprayer to waiter in Central Perk.  Including acting on soap operas. But it seemed every success led to disappointment. His appearance on a health clinic poster was embarrassing. He did get on a soap opera, and was killed off. He starred in his own (awful) TV series, which was cancelled. He was in a play which was awful. He got a movie, only to see it shut down for lack of funds. He got a role on Law & Order..only to be cut from the episode. Though to be fair he worked the hardest taking acting classes all the time. Though he may have embellished his resume a little too much! Finally he got back on Days of our Lives and stayed, so stories were more about him as moderately successfully than struggling. So credit for this show for letting the character grow, a bit. And yes the spin-off “Joey” was about him being successful In acting…but I don’t like to remember that happened.






Jack on Will & Grace

Anyone else who always wanted to see the crossover where Jack met Joey in some acting class? Anyway, Jack was also an actor wanna be but unlike Joey he had pretty much no talent. And yes he bounced around with other jobs from dancer to magician to playwright. And jobs that had nothing to do with entertainment at all. He definitely wanted to be famous, and did managed to put some one man shows that no one ever saw, like “Just Jack!” In fact he almost gave it up until Cher came to him in a dream and told him not to. Eventually he would get a talk show and even head some obscure cable network called “Out TV”. In the final season (re-boot notwithstanding) he finally gets a decent job on a TV show.






Penny on Big Bang Theory

Ah yes, poor Penny. She had dreams of being an Oscar caliber actress…sure. I think she almost embodies all of these other characters I think. Like Bobby she moved out to Los Angeles to be a world famous actress, even though she had no training and no skills. Like Mike she kept trying even though it was clear she had no skill. Like Joey the few jobs she got were crap. She did a crappy version of Anne Frank over a bowling alley and a hemorrhoid commercial. She also cut from an episode, NCIS this time, like Joey had been. And like Jack she basically has no talent. But even Jack managed to find some jobs, Penny only had a handful for seven seasons. She worked mostly as a waitress at The Cheesecake Factory. After settling for a job in a crappy B movie she basically gave up the profession. And ended in the pharmaceutical field.







Finally, I went back and forth and decided to finally mention Joey Gladstone on Full House

Yeah he was a comedian but he was a struggling comedian. And he did have a few acting jobs from Mr.Egghead to Ranger Joe and of course an unsold pilot with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. So I decided it was worth a mention. On Fuller House has a regular act in Las Vegas.




Did I miss any? Comment and let me know.