I`m very confused with what my agent is sending me out for..?

Question

Hi I’m a black British actor and the problem is I consider myself doing well I’ve came out of training been lucky to be signed with a respected agency and now I’m getting auditions, the problem is the breakdowns i often get when i have a major audition is "Good Looking 18-20 Male", " Attractive young Male"... Someone’s boyfriend etc.. I first of all don’t consider myself "Good Looking" and I`m confused because I consider myself normal, You know what kinda of person you are by the age of 20... but I try to argue with my agent and tell him im interested of playing a smart intelligent/nerd kinda guy, but he laughs it off.. This has nothing to do with confidence... But I`m trying to be the best at my type and i do not believe my type is "Good looking Male", Infact those kinda of roles are really boring and i`m not interested.. yet it seems like I have an audition for holly-oaks and if you watch that television show you know what im talking about.. How can I handle this?

Answer 1

You must have a good day job or be independently wealthy.

All the actors I know are just trying to get work.

Answer 2

I think, for the time being, you should trust your agent. It's hard to be objective about ourselves. See how your auditions go. If you continue not to book gigs**, it may be time to think about changing your strategy or agent.

**Give yourself a goal, like you want to get two callbacks in the next six months.

Answer 3

Don't take this the wrong way, but having been privey to be a part of several major casting sessions for feature films, I'm not quite sure I would cast you in either of those categories.

Boyfriend with an edge role possibly, but the geek/nerd type of role no way. There's certainly nothing wrong with asking your agent to try and get you in for roles like that, but going off this particular headshot you're using I'd pass you by on that one.

Maybe if might not be a bad idea to get some shots together that more fit the roles you're looking for.... You've really only got about 2 seconds to grab a CD's attention off headshots, sometimes it never hurts to "target" what they're looking for according to the breakdowns.

Granted I have no idea what your portfolio looks like or the shots it contains, I can only go off of what you've presented here. But in this day it's rare that you can have one shot rep you across the board.

Answer 4

That is why you have an agent.  They send you out for a) what they think you're right for and b) jobs they think you can book.

You are an actor, as long as they're not sending you out for 12 year old white girl parts, you should be able to give a convincing audition.  

Once you've got a resume worth looking at and some clout in the industry, you might have some leverage, but for now, get the jobs and be glad your agents are sending you out at all.

And to even type a sentence like "You know what kinda of person you are by the age of 20" tells me you should keep your mouth shut, your eyes and ears open, and work at your craft.