At age 55 after raising three kids and being out of the job market for two decades, my mom randomly decided to get into acting. At the time, tons of movies were

At age 55 after raising three kids and being out of the job market for two decades, my mom randomly decided to get into acting. At the time, tons of movies were filming in Boston where she lives. She was quickly able to land lots of extra work, especially because the city lacks the constant supply of aspiring actors living in NY or LA. It was a perfect cure for empty nest syndrome. She eventually landed a speaking role in a major film, though tragically her speaking scenes got cut and only the scenes where she played a corpse made the final cut. But, she got the opportunity to act opposite Robert Duvall! And she played Robert Downey Jr's mother, which by the transitive property of fraternal handsomeness makes me as good looking as he is (hint: I'm not). Sadly, she gave up on it after receiving some harsh feedback from a talent agent. It can be a fun, carefree way to earn some extra cash if you have the stability not to have to worry about a volatile income stream. But once you get into the more serious levels of the business, the competition can be brutal and the industry insiders vile. C'est la vie, I suppose.