Athletes, Musicians or Actors - Who are the most overrated group?

[Sweater of AV]

Quite a few of them do, yeah. Probably not A listers.

A listers as well. Not as regularly these days but even someone like Denzel Washington does theater and has won a Tony award.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

A listers as well. Not as regularly these days but even someone like Denzel Washington does theater and has won a Tony award.

Yeah, I remember people like Daniel Radcliffe doing it too. Certainly loads of classical British actors do it regularly.

 

[burningspear]

acting lol

 

[dc007]

It's actors. The best are a small percentage and then you have attractive and serviceable to downright bad.

 

[HOLA]

Actors.

Nobody becomes a world class athlete in elementary school. Nobody becomes a world class musician in elementary school.

Shirley Temple was a great actor when she was 4. Mac Culkin was great in Home Alone when he was like what...7? etc.

 

[ChickenBrother]

Although really I think music is rather different to sports in that shear technical expertise is not the most valued attribute but rather artistic inspiration. There are MANY times more technically advanced musicians than their are artistically inspired musicians.

I think you're getting into the distinction between actors and writers/directors, musicians and composers, and athletes and coaches. Actors, musicians and athletes are the ones "in the arena" but all are essentially trained monkeys performing a skill/role they learned from someone else. Some successfully transition to writing/directing, coaching or composition but most don't because that's a different skill.

But IMO artistic inspiration is a factor in all 3 disciplines. Even if you're playing a piece someone else wrote using someone else's rules, all the great actors/musicians/athletes do some things a little differently. Sometimes its unconventional or even downright "wrong" but they make it work for them. But I agree with you that actors and musicians have more leeway in that area because artistic merit is subjective. Athletes have SOME latitude but they're still bound by the laws of physics.

Actors.

Nobody becomes a world class athlete in elementary school. Nobody becomes a world class musician in elementary school.

Shirley Temple was a great actor when she was 4. Mac Culkin was great in Home Alone when he was like what...7? etc.

Agree with your answer but your analogy doesn't hold water. Temple and Culkin earned acclaim for playing kids' roles, which they were. Surely there were more talented adult actors who simply wouldn't have been suitable for those roles. What star child actors do is analogous to a child winning the Little League world series or whatever. And like child athletes, just because they made it as kids doesn't mean they'll maintain their standing as adults, Culkin being a prime example.

 

[MicroBrew]

Each category has overrated persons. Don't know if one profession beats the others by a large margin.

 

[TankAbbott4Eva]

Actors is the obvious answer, musicians and athletes' achievements are way more impressive in general

 

[KnightTemplar]

"I never said actors were cattle. I said they should be treated like cattle"
- Alfred Hitchcock

 

[FyrFytr998]

They are all overrated.

 

[freakroor]

musicians are usually underrated , not sure why they made it on this poll list. after all, “music is the glue of the world”

 

[SKYNET]

I went to see Jeremy Piven do standup at the improv last year, not because I wanted to crack up hysterically, which he did pull off a few times to his credit, but because he's an actor and personality I've enjoyed for over 3 decades.

He brought up a great point that encapsulates how overrated actors in Hollywood are which is he studied acting, got a degree and has credentials and acting chops for decades, yet the highest paid actor in Hollywood is The Rock and he has to do stand up 30 years later so he can make a paycheck.

 

[nostradumbass]

Overrated in what way? The impact they have in their own community, or to society at large? I would still probably say actors, but athletes are generally of the "one and done" variety, with them only having high level success at their sport, and the rest of their accomplishments are small potatoes.

Tough question.

What does the rest of their accomplishments even mean? We're talking about the fame, money and admiration of each profession.

Acting is something anybody can do at any age, and you can just show up and be a huge star just by having sex with Harvey Weinstein. Music is a little tougher but if you have the right push you can get by with minimal talent, you can show up drunk and high and do it, and old people can just pick it up and do it, and the only reason they're unlikely to be as successful is because popular music is the only art form directed almost entirely at children and the image part is even more important than the music part.

Sports is the most meritocratic industry of the 3. There is objective criteria, and you can't win Wimbledon or an NBA championship no matter what connections you have if you aren't one of the best in the world. Hell, even if you are the best in the world, you won't even be able to do it as well yourself when you get even a little bit older.

 

[ObsoleteSoul]

What does the rest of their accomplishments even mean? We're talking about the fame, money and admiration of each profession.

Acting is something anybody can do at any age, and you can just show up and be a huge star just by having sex with Harvey Weinstein. Music is a little tougher but if you have the right push you can get by with minimal talent, you can show up drunk and high and do it, and old people can just pick it up and do it, and the only reason they're unlikely to be as successful is because popular music is the only art form directed almost entirely at children and the image part is even more important than the music part.

Sports is the most meritocratic industry of the 3. There is objective criteria, and you can't win Wimbledon or an NBA championship no matter what connections you have if you aren't one of the best in the world. Hell, even if you are the best in the world, you won't even be able to do it as well yourself when you get even a little bit older.

Were we? Seemed a pretty open question to me, so I wasn't sure.

Agreed on athletes having the most meritocratic industry. Though if there is a great athlete who is a complete trainwreck in life besides being able to throw a ball(just an example), then I think they are an overrated person in general.