In his 35-year acting career, bestselling author Michael Simkins has performed in the West End, in rep and touring productions, appeared in musicals, movies, soaps, adverts, and on the radio, as well as being a regular contributor to the Guardian, The Telegraph and the Daily Mail on all matters theatrical. So he is uniquely qualified to sit you down in the dressing room and tell you all about life under the spotlights. Providing practical encouragement to the budding thesp, laced with hilarious and often scurrilous cautionary tales, Michael pulls back the curtain on the world of acting on stage and screen. Should you go to drama school? How do you get an agent and get rid of one? What's the best way to cope with audition rejections? Or bad reviews? Or survive Hollywood's Pilot week? And, of course, just how should one behave on Oscar night?