As anyone who studied acting full time for three years will tell you, the stats drummed into you by your acting teachers on the first day of college make pretty sober reading. 95% of actors are unemployed at any one time. 4% are employed with a degree of frequency (but not all the time). And 1% are in constant employment and make a ridiculously good living at it.
I was in the 4%. And while I spent more time not working than working (Australia's film and TV industry in the 90s being a fraction of the size it is now), I had enough times standing in the sun to make the winters bearable. But - ultimately - that was not enough.
Musings on the Life of an Actor

Then, after a while, the 'actor' gets used to the security of the day job. Of earning regular money. And it's at this point that they realise their acting career is officially over. It didn't go out with a bang. There were no fireworks. No red carpet. No paparazzi light bulbs flashing. It just faded quietly into memory, as if it never existed at all.
So here's to being happy where we are. In the present. To not dwelling on the past. To not worrying about the future. We are now, where we are meant to be. There's a blessing in that.