Product Description

As a boy, Michael Simkins always wanted to be someone. While his friends were out getting laid and stoned, he was tucked up at home dreaming of his name in lights, of holding an audience rapt, of perhaps becoming a TV heart-throb, or having someone, anyone, ask for his autograph in the supermarket. This is the story of an obsessive pursuit of acting fame. It is a life marked by occasional hard-fought successes and routine helpings of ritual humiliation: scout hut Gilbert and Sullivan, dodgy rock operas, sewage farm theatre workshop, Christmas panto hell, straight-to-video film flops, leading roles in Crimewatch reconstructions and dressing up as a chicken to advertise TV dinners. It is a hilarious tale of turgid theatre, tights, trusses and tonsil tennis with Timothy Spall.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #110634 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Review
'Funny, engaging, perceptive and hugely entertaining', Stephen Fry, .'Screamingly funny - set to become a classic', Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday .'Michael writes about disaster, humiliation, rejection and ridicule - the hilarious truth', Nicholas Hytner, .'A real page-turner and a genuinely funny and honest book about the actor's life', Michael Billington, Guardian .'Daring, brutal, hilariously candid, Simkins unravels his own profession to show the exhilaration, masochism and madness underneath', Julie Myerson, .'Casts an objective eye on the crazy world of the actor with an accuracy that is both chilling and charming', Mike Leigh, .'You read the wonderful Michael Simkins with a mixture of horror and delight ... will hold good for as long as people go on taking the undignified risk of dressing up and pretending to be other people', David Hare,

Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday
"screamingly funny, and is set to become a classic of the genre...perfect precision humour, creating magical comic sparks"

Times Literary Supplement
"A winningly self-deprecating account...packed with anecdotes, light-hearted in tone and entertaining throughout"

Customer Reviews

Witty debut worthy of an encore!
Overhearing my wife listening to Mike Simkins reading an extract from "What's My Motivation?' on BBC Radio 4's 'Book of the Week' programme, I was so overcome by the sound of laughter coming from the living room that I was spurred into buying the book! The greatest compliment I can pay 'What's My Motivation?' is that you really don't have to be a 'luvvie' to enjoy it. It's full of humour and marvellously dry observations on the vagaries of the acting profession. For anyone who enjoys a witty read I can heartily recommend it, and for stage-struck adolescents and aspiring actors it has to be one of the best self-help books available! Encore!!

Simmo Rules !
This is a really really funny book, takes the reader through
Michael's early life, his 'obsession' with Am-Dram, particularly
Gilbert and Sullivan, through his time at RADA and then the agonising waits for parts and latterly TV appearances, always hoping for the well-known advertisement in order to become a household name.I confess that I started this book with a small amount of bias as my family and I know the author well, Simmo as he is affectionally known is a lovely bloke, and this comes through in his writing, at which he could become even better at than acting ! All in all, this will make you laugh out loud
many times, a real bonus these days !!

Gloriously charming & funnny
This is a wonderful read, a gloriously charming and funny account of a jobbing actor's life. Don't expect high-brow 'I, An Actor' style pontificating - this actor/author doesn't take himself that seriously and is hilariously expert at pricking his own pomposities, if they dare try to rear their head. But he'll still teach you as much about being a professional actor as any Stanislavski book. It's a delightful celebration of Englishness and a triumphant celebration of failure, which should become a set text at every drama school. There are too many laugh out loud moments to list here, but my personal favourite involved the actress girlfriend, the unwitting landlord, and the unfortunate attempt at weaving a sexual fantasy. Plus there are cameos by everyone from Anthony Perkins through John Malkovich to Pierce Brosnan. Don't put your daughter on the stage without making her read this book first.