Being An Author
Where do you find the time to write?
These days with the pandemic shutting down the entertainment industry, I have plenty of time! But normally I write while my kids are at school, or late at night after everyone has gone to bed. I try not to write during the day when my attention has to be on the family.
Can you tell us about your book: Acting in Chicago and The Voice Over Start-Up Guide?
The Voice Over Startup Guide is for people who are curious about voice over, but who might not be ready to take a VO class. There really wasn’t anything for those folks besides YouTube videos, so I wanted to give them an organized source of information to help them get started. We include audio files with the book, so readers can hear what’s being taught. It’s an innovative alternative to expensive VO classes. So far it’s helped hundreds of people explore VO without having to make a big upfront investment. Acting In Chicago demystifies the question of how to make a living as an actor in the Midwest. I basically took my 20+ years of experience as a working actor and put it in the book. When people want to act for a living, they usually think they have to be in LA or NYC, but that’s just not true. Plenty of actors stay in Middle America and have great careers there, but you have to know how to do that. I wrote the first edition of the book 10 years ago and it’s used as a textbook in university acting programs. We’re on our 3rd edition now, so I’m proud of how many actors it’s helped.
How was the idea of the books conceived?
Acting In Chicago wouldn’t exist without my wife, who suggested I write it. When I would teach actors, the same questions came up over and over. So she thought a book could help more people that I could teach in person, and she was right. I wrote the first edition while she was pregnant with our twin boys and finished it up right after they were born. The Voice Over Startup Guide came about the same way. I realized there wasn’t a good way of finding out about VO unless you wanted to pay for a class, which costs hundreds of dollars. They are not doable for everyone so I wanted to democratize the information a little more than it was.
Why is it important for you to write these books?
Having an acting career, or a voice over career, is not a straightforward thing. It’s not like you fill out an application, go for an interview, and then you’re an actor. It can be a very convoluted path, filled with lucky highs and deep valleys of confusion. I feel it’s crucial for actors to have as much information as possible, but it has to be presented in an organized way, and it helps if it comes from someone who has gone through what they’re going through. I write books that I wish I had when I started, because I fumbled my way through being an actor for years without really knowing what I was doing. These books cut years off learning curves and save people a lot of money in the long run.
What do you hope and want the readers would take away from reading your books?
I want every reader to come away with an actionable plan for moving forward, whatever that looks like for them. That’s all I care about. If a reader feels that they can move forward and start building something, or add to what they’ve already built, I’ve done my job as an author.
What is your next book?
I’m working on a book I’m calling The Actor’s Startup Guide, and a companion book called The Actor’s Startup Guide for Kids, which will speak to people who have ever wondered how they or their children can get into acting professionally. Unbiased information and advice about this business is hard to come by because many people offering the advice have an angle. They want you to take their classes or use services where they get a kickback. I don’t have anything like that, so the books will clearly spell out how to do this without any bias whatsoever. I hope to have them out this fall.
Word play about the actors he had worked with:
Jason Beghe – pro
Elias Koteas – thoughtful
Jon Seda – solid
Carl Weathers – champ
Jeff Branson – energetic
Mario Van Peebles – generous
Kelsey Grammer – intelligent
Whether he was suiting up for Buzz Aldrin on For All Mankind or dressed up in a suite playing Hank Voight’s silent moral compass on Chicago PD, Chris Agos is the actor that makes a lead actor look good or sound better, or makes a 60 second scene standout.
Chris Agos will always be imprinted in our minds, as the mild manner actor that makes the lead actor look good or sound better. He will be known for how he delivers his lines and for those moments they create.
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