There seem to be no statistics that show the percentage of actors who become famous, possibly because it's just too depressing to know how few make it, but also, perhaps, because. . .who cares? Of course, if you're an actor, you probably care very much, but for most readers, it's not the most important statistic in the world. But many curious individuals out there might be interested to know.
While there seem to be no directly relevant statistics, one mathematician uses a simple research method that provides some results related to the question of fame. That, along with related research, will leave you slightly more informed about how many persons become famous actors – although, if you're an actor, you won't like the answer, which amounts to "very few." But you knew that, right?
A Simple Way of Finding Out How Many People Are Famous
In a short 2013 article in the magazine Wired, mathematician Samuel Arbesman noted that an easy way to find the probability of anyone becoming famous (not just becoming famous, as an actor) would be to note the number of Facebook entries in the category "Living People," which, on January 15, 2013 was 604,174. Then, divide the result by the world population, which, on the same date was 7,059837,187. On that basis, Arbesman concludes that .000086 of the world population, or about 1 in 10,000, is famous.
But, most famous actors speak English. The total of English speaking persons on the planet is only 1.49 billion, which means that, .00041 or about 0.04 percent of the English-speaking world population is famous, or about 1 in 2,000.
But How Many Are Actors?
This is a good question and one that's not easily answered. Usually, the best place to find out the total number of actors working in the U.S. would be the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For a couple of reasons in this instance, the BLS may be less than fully reliable. For one thing, they give the number of actors for 2017 as 13,560, an average of 271 actors per state. This seems very low. In reality, Actors Equity Association alone had more than 51,000 members in 2016.
The BLS also states that the average wage for actors is $17.49 an hour. If only! This seems more like the average wage for actors working as baristas at Starbucks (inclusive of tips). All in all, the entertainment industry may not be the BLS's strong suit, simply because the entertainment industry is a fluid industry that does not easily lend itself to concrete statistics, unlike industries such as the medical and teaching industries of doctors, nurses and teachers, for which concrete statistics are more readily available.
One reason for the BLS's possible underestimation of the number of actors might because they only count persons as actors those who have an acting job. As anyone who has spent time in the entertainment industry certainly knows, the reality is that most actors are unemployed. In fact, according to Actors' Equity (and who should know better!) fewer than 14 percent of actors were employed in 2016. The statistics on actors not belonging to Actors Equity isn't known, but would likely be considerably worse – there's not much benefit in joining Actors Equity if you're unemployed.
In other words, if we take the Bureau of Labor Statistics number and multiply it by 10, we'll probably arrive at a number closer to reality. According to this estimation, in 2017, there were around 135, 600 actors in the U.S., both employed and unemployed.
And the Answer...Drum roll...Please...(OK, One Possible Answer) Is...
If you multiply 135,600, the total number of actors, by .00041, or about 0.04 percent, Arbesman's estimate of the percentage of English-speaking persons who are famous, you can conclude that there are about 56 English-speaking actors currently working who are famous.
...Versus an Educated Guess
There are many reasons you may question this result. One is that Arbesman considers any actor famous is one who has a Facebook page -- a very low bar. On the other hand, applying the general statistic on fame, 0.04 percent, to the overall acting population overlooks the fact that for persons working in most professions, the percentage of persons who become famous is close to zero. CPAs, doctors, attorneys, dentists, supermarket check-out clerks and persons in hundreds of other jobs aim to remain employed and to retire comfortably, and fame simply doesn't enter into the equation. So, in that sense, applying Arbesman's general English-speaking fame percentage to actors – most of whom plan to become famous and are presumably working toward that goal every single day – may seriously underrepresent the number who succeed.
Considering the slipperiness of the concept – fame lies, at least partially, in the eye of the beholder – it would not be entirely wrong to throw out all of the above math and simply take an educated guess. Within, say, five minutes, how many living actors can you name? That might be close to the number of famous actors, at least, as you define fame.
