Broadway’s Andre De Shields: “I’ve never had a day job in my 42 years as a professional.”

“There are 48,000 actors in Actors Equity Association across the nation. Eighty-five percent of us are unemployed all the time,” says Andre De Shields. “However, every morning I wake up happy, because I am one of the 15 percent that is working all the time….I’ve never had to be a victim of that joke – ‘So what do you do?’ ‘I’m an actor.’ ‘Oh, what restaurant do you work in?’”

De Shields has been involved in more than a dozen productions on Broadway, including “The Wiz”, “Full Monty,” and “Ain’t Misbehaving”. The key as he sees it? “If you just want a job as an actor, you’ll end up beating your head against a brick wall. If you want a career, you will shed your skin as often as you can …”

To Read De Shields full interview, go to: The Faster Times.com

To watch De Shields comments to the American Theater Critics Assoc. click on the link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujAYL-XSPEg