It Would Be So Nice If You Weren't Here: My Journey Through Show Business

Really, this book should be on every aspiring actors bookself. If you are considering becoming an actor, nothing can be substituted for taking classes and seeing if you really like doing it, but in terms of really getting an idea of what that life is like and what to expect, biographies are essential and this is one of the Kings of them all. The book really is an autobiography, but being that pretty much his entire life was spent in show business, its a good guide as to what to do and how to overcome the many and constant rejections involved in a life in the business. Seriously, this really is a must read.

This book is depressing for aspiring actors, in that it shows how much SHEER LUCK is required to make it as an actor. My conclusion is don't go into acting unless a close relative happens to be a big Hollywood name (Nicholas Cage would be flipping burgers now if his Uncle Francis Coppola hadn't cast him in a number of his movies, to give one of numeruos examples). Grodin himself said in a subsequent book, that actors read this one and thought "Well, if Grodin made it, I can." And he said, "What my book showed you is that the odds are against you making it."