Biographieforschung: Analyse der Berufslaufbahn von Schauspielern

The professional careers of actors are often characterized by ups and downs. For this reason, the acting profession is particularly well suited to the biographical study of professional decision-making moments, crises and turning points. Particular attention was paid to the autogenetic aspects of actors’ lives. The focus of interest was on topics such as success and failure, objectives and decisions, attitude to work, relationships with colleagues, directors and the audience, job search and unemployment, job satisfaction and career highs and lows. 16 theater and film actors were divided according to their job satisfaction and then qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with them. The evaluation was carried out using methods of comparative casuistry (Jüttemann, 1990) and circular deconstruction (Jaeggi & Faas, 1991). The results are clearly organized according to topics such as “Reasons to be an actor”, “A production can be hell” and “Without a net and double bottom” and vividly presented with numerous examples and interview quotes.