Religion and career choices

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amother

Natural

Sun, Nov 26 2017, 5:40 pm

Do you think it's possible to be religious and have a career in acting or modeling?

If a person is an actor and they have to, say, be physically intimate with someone other than their spouse, can they justify it by saying it was not a real kiss as it was only acting?

If someone has to wear revealing clothes In their job, can they justify it by saying it is for the purpose of art?

amother

Seashell

Sun, Nov 26 2017, 5:45 pm

the answer to this really depends on what you mean by "being religious".

33055

Sun, Nov 26 2017, 5:48 pm

You can't be physically intimate. What kind of question is this? You can't go on the stage. You can't wear revealing clothing.

Aside from everything else, you can't work on Shabbos anyway.

thunderstorm

Sun, Nov 26 2017, 5:49 pm

I'm not sure how it technically works out. But I would believe that an actress/ actor can choose to accept or not accept a role where kissing and revealing clothing are necessary. Steven Hill had to make sure he only accepted roles that wouldn't bring him to transgress the Torah and he also needed to make sure that he didn't film on Shabbos which is also a major challenge. It's not simple and would definitely make it difficult for a frum person to be part of the acting world. Especially knowing about the Harvey Weinstein issue I would stay FAR away from that industry.

amother

Tangerine

Sun, Nov 26 2017, 5:50 pm

Lol you don’t get a pass for being untzniyus just because of your job choice. Similar to you didn’t get to be mechalel shabbos just because your job required that. If it was so, I would definitely not be in the industry I’m in! I’d be an actress, Kiss who I want, wear what I want... sounds good to me!

SixOfWands

Sun, Nov 26 2017, 5:53 pm

It’s not easy, but Steven Hill managed to do it. He famously left Mission Impossible because it shot on Friday night, and famously eventually played the DA on Law and Order, where, upon advice of his Rabbi, he would only walk a few steps from his desk because he wasn’t wearing a kippa.

There may well be others.

martina

Sun, Nov 26 2017, 5:57 pm

http://matzav.com/the-sacrific.....ther/

thunderstorm

Sun, Nov 26 2017, 6:12 pm

martina wrote:

http://matzav.com/the-sacrifice-of-rav-wosners-mother/

Absolutely beautiful and inspirational!

mommy3b2c

Sun, Nov 26 2017, 6:29 pm

SixOfWands wrote:

Mayim Bialik is frum as far as I know, and she always wears skirts in her role as far as I can tell.

And to op, if I could be an actress and be frum- Hollywood here I come! It’s always been my dream to act. But no, it wouldn’t fit with the lifestyle I have chosen.

thunderstorm

Sun, Nov 26 2017, 7:00 pm

mommy3b2c wrote:

Is Mayim frum? I always joke that she dresses so tzniusdig but I thought it was intentional to portray her character.

icebreaker

Sun, Nov 26 2017, 7:02 pm

It’s probably possible but pretty hard.

sequoia

Sun, Nov 26 2017, 7:02 pm

On the contrary, she plays roles that enable her to dress like this.

youngishbear

Sun, Nov 26 2017, 7:05 pm

There is definitely some kissing and touching involved in the part Mayim plays, despite the frum-friendly attire.

OP why do you ask?

animeme

Sun, Nov 26 2017, 7:21 pm

Mayim and Steven Hill have something very important in common- they became frum AFTER they had put a lot of years into the business. They had established themselves as names, so they were better able to make requests and select jobs. I don't know how you could do that at the beginning- I imagine it would be difficult to impossible to get and keep an agent or manager with all the restrictions and no name recognition.

amother

Natural

Sun, Nov 26 2017, 7:29 pm

youngishbear wrote:

There is definitely some kissing and touching involved in the part Mayim plays, despite the frum-friendly attire.

OP why do you ask?

It's because someone who I know brought up the subject to me the other day.

I think it definitely does depend, like someone said, on how you are going to define religious in this context. It also depends on the person's inner intentions and their personal value system.

I don't think that there is anything wrong with acting in and of itself. It is more the industry surrounding it and the lifestyle towards which it would encourage someone to live. For example, people working in these fields tend to be very laid back, permissive, accepting of alternative lifestyles etc. They probably smoke, like to go out drinking etc. I don't see how one could withstand that sort of pressure and be "one of the crowd" whilst retaining religious values.

I think acting can be a noble profession in some ways in the sense that part of what we are here for is to beautify and elevate, which it certainly can do. The problem is that, like all the energies in the world, it needs to be handled in a way which will produce an outcome that G-d would approve of. Sadly, in most cases, this does not happen as in most films and virtually all media today there seems to be no sort of standards at all anymore and we live in a society which even seems to enjoy inappropriate language, s-xual content etc.

animeme

Sun, Nov 26 2017, 9:31 pm

Aside from any values issues, Shabbos and Yom Tov will likely get you pretty quickly.

essie14

Mon, Nov 27 2017, 12:25 am

Mayim's character in the Big Bang theory was written for her and the wardrobe is designed because of mayim's requirements.
As someone said above, actors who become frum after their careers have been established are polar opposites from someone starting out in the industry.
Actors are a dime a dozen. No casting director will accommodate an unknown for orthodox religious requirements.

DrMom

Mon, Nov 27 2017, 1:15 am

Perhaps you could get niche roles in frum films, indie films, etc. Perhaps in Israel?

But Hollywood is not likely to be so accommodating. You'd be too high-maintenance, and with actresses a dime a dozen, you could easily be replaced with someone more compliant.

amother

Ruby

Mon, Nov 27 2017, 5:18 am

I know a frum kid who does voice acting. He plays Dennis in Hotel Transylvania. His siblings also act too but his parents told me they have turned down roles because of shabbos.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/.....ia-2/

yo'ma

Mon, Nov 27 2017, 6:44 am

amother wrote:

I'm not saying that's how he got the job, but his father also works in the industry. My point is the difficulty in getting anywhere in that business atop of being shomer everything.

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