If I have learned one thing from being myself for the last 29 years, it is that a desire at any age to do what fulfills you, a promise you make to yourself at any age to never settle and to follow your dreams is not just a passing fancy. It's part of Who You Are. Not everyone chooses to believe they're capable of living their dreams. Not everyone has big dreams they WANT to follow. But if you do at age 8, you will at age 17, and at age 22, and at age 35 (I hope). So please do not let the myriad people who will tell you that you are just a kid, or you are naive, or you will never make money, or you are going to be miserable and struggling your whole life if you decide to follow your heart and live a fulfilling life – please do not let those people alter the course of what you decide to do with yourself. I

f you are not meant to be an actor, you will learn that lesson along the way. But no amount of someone ELSE telling you the lesson you "should" be learning is going to teach you anything. You have to move through your own life. We alone have the ability to make the best, most intuitive choices for our own life. We are given that unique ability, and no one else holds that key. No one else can make those choices for us. It's HUGELY important that we all tap into that fact. Otherwise it's so easy to get lost in a sea of other people's decisions, values and fears.

To answer your question about my feelings about acting, specifically, I am thrilled that I followed that dream. Doing that, and the experiences I had and things I learned because I did it have, without question, made me who I am. And I would not, by any means, characterize my experience being an actor as something that "didn't work out." It worked out and it's still working out – in the way that's perfect for MY life. Just last night I sat in a room full of some of my best friends in the world, a group of 9 people with whom I've spent the last five years building a successful, award-winning sketch comedy group. We drank and ate and laughed and told stories and they are my family. We love each other, we perform together every week to sold out houses in New York City, we have traveled all around the country performing sold out shows, we are a well-known name in the NYC comedy scene, and we are having a blast doing it. I wouldn't know those people if I hadn't gone to acting school (that's where we met), I wouldn't be the performer I am today without having gone to acting school and without having deciding that I was going to follow that dream, and I would not, without question, have discovered and unfolded the path that now lay before me. I am an actor, through and through, and even if I don't make it my primary source of income, I will always be an actor. I don't know how NOT to do it and if I'd never followed that desire, the desire of a 17 year old kid who just HAD to find out, my life would not be the full, colorful and unique life that it is.

So, that's the long of it. Follow your dream to become an actor. You might end up being paid a great income for doing exactly what you love to do every day. Or you might end up having a million and one great experiences that are all informed by the fact that you pursued your desire, whether you end up a movie star or not.