Since the acting and modeling industry is quite competitive and hard to break into. I thought it would be great to have a thread just dedicated to tips & advice for how to break into the industry.

Great idea! A good place to start is actually looking in the Advice & Article section. :)

http://www.acting.com/articles/category/Getting-Started

There are some great tips on how to get started!

I think it all has to start within yourself. To be able to successfully break into the industry, you really have to WANT IT. You have to prepare yourself for whatever difficulty along the way because as everybody knows, this particular industry can be harsh and mean. So if you easily crack under pressure, your chances may not be that good.

I'm not an expert on this. This is something I've read several times in researching about tips and bits of advices. I strongly believe that this is the very first key.

Connection helps. In an industry like this, knowing a lot of people like writers, agents bears an advantage. I'm not saying aspiring models and actors should focus on befriending talent scouts and using that friendship as some sort of leverage. that is not advisable.

Basically, it is about knowing how to socialize and selling yourself to people.

You can start by doing the homework as preparation. I found helpful articles and tips on the Article and Advice section and they're really good. The internet contains a lot of useful information about this, a good way to start.

Listen to what THEY have to say. By they, I mean the stars, celebrities we look up to. When I buy magazines, I like to see interview portions on movie stars. They often give tips to newcomers  and they share stories about how they got on the main spotlight.

Keep yourself looking good. As you try to break into the industry, you must never forget to take care of your physical apperance. Good looks is one of the first things people see.

Theres plenty of great tips and tricks to getting into the industry. Personal appearance is a key factor before even thinking about joining this great life style.

I think you also would have to know the right people! How are you going to make it on yourself. It's good to have a great connection, preferably someone in the biz, or just some other worth famous person. I'm sure that's already been suggested, but I just wanted to use my input.

I don't know many tips and tricks for breaking into the biz. I don't have any connections or anything. Maybe there's someone out there to help me get started. Any more tips would be wonderful, and beneficial to me :).

Must make sure that you have your headshot perfect for starters. When casting crews take a look at the photos they want to buy someone so make sure your true to yourself and that you check out all the tips and tricks you can.

I showed these tips to fellow classmates, and they are now all following them. They think its so cool that they have this forum to go to for advice. They get A's in thier classes now. :)

You can also upload videos of all sorts onto youtube. When you upload videos, you can get a lot of replies. It is one way of becoming known and breaking into the industry.