Pursue my dreams???

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There is a field of work I always wanted to follow, acting, and the reason why I never followed it was because well fear, family's approval, and well it's not consider a respectable job. I been wanting to do this since I was 17, and now at 21, it's becoming very clear to me to pursue it before I miss my chance. At 21 years old, I feel like I am old enough to make my own decisions about my life... and there's nothing I should be afraid of, since if I completely fail at my passion.... then I can always go back home (my house) and start over. I look young for my age which is a plus, but there comes a point in time when I will look old... and by then it's too late.

I feel if I waste another 2 or 3 years, I am going to miss my boat, and I'll be honest my college career has been a true bust (2 yrs of trying to do it, and I accomplish nothing). I can't do it right now, since I am always stressing about money, and well college isn't for me, and I don't have a drive to do it.

I have options though, and I know I won't ever die of starvation or poverty.

I want to follow my passion. I do not plan on having children, ever. I don't have any true responsibilities. So I think my life is a blank sheet still.

I do own a home though, but I have tenants living in my house (my family)....

You can always tackle acting later. I mean, someone has to play the mother and grandmother, too. I see people in their 30's, 40's, 50's and older in regional theater, on TV shows, in movies, in TV commercials and public service announcements.

The thing about acting is that nowadays, actors are a dime a dozen. Everyone dreams of being an actor. The problem is, that when the market is so incredibly saturated with people wanting to act, and there are so few actual acting positions available that pay anything halfway decent, you have to be really darn good to make a career (or even a part-time job) out of it. Sure, you could be the next Helen Mirren, but I highly doubt it, and even if you are you have to get the right people to recognize the talent.

My recommendation would be to pursue a stable career first, and to make acting more of a hobby. Act in local plays/shows on the weekends, that sort of thing. If you get good at it, then you can audition for larger venues, and work your way up that way...if you end up being successful using this strategy then you can start to consider acting full-time. But if you try to go into acting as an actual job/career, I feel like you're doing nothing but setting yourself up for failure. You have to have something to fall back on in case it doesn't work out.

As above, the market is absolutely saturated. It really is a hard business too. Personality and emotional clashes are common on even low level productions. To serve your time you will be touring, living out of vehicles, cheap accommodation and on cattle class flights at the worst times of day to keep costs down. This does create a strong character if you are tough enough for the fight and can handle criticism well.

If you do have talent then you need to approach this full time, you will not get recognised in am-dram productions. Good luck with whatever you choose.

This may sound mean, but please hear me out first. What you want to do is a very bad idea. I'm sure you must hear the books and movies and stories about actors who followed their dreams and made it big. But that's because nobody writes about the other 99% of actors who didn't make it and ended up living below minimum wage.

If you google 'follow your passion' the first three results talk about what a bad idea it is to do so. And this is partly because nobody is born with an innate passion. There is no human gene for becoming a writer, or an accountant, or an actor. Passion is something that people build over time. They start by being really bad and really amateur at a certain skill. As time goes on though, they practice and come to love the career they build for themselves.

What I recommend is finding something the economy really needs and getting good at it. Believe me, as you get good at something, you start to love it (this can be especially easy for aspies, who can become very passionate about various things). Truthfully, if you can create a passion for a good job, then you can make a good salary, find a good spouse, and live a good life (without kids). Or you can go into acting and maybe, just maybe, you will make it. But the likely outcome will be wasted years of your young life and a lot of wasted effort.