Kristen Maxwell was already getting noticed at her survival job when Netflix released the His & Hers limited series in January.
It is by far the most-viewed Netflix series in the first half of 2026. However, since Maxwell filmed it, she hasn’t been on any film set, and she uses TikTok to speak about the rarely highlighted part of an acting career: the waiting.
“Two years ago, I was filming a Netflix series that came out earlier this year, and I haven’t been on a film set since,” Maxwell said in a TikTok video. “So let’s talk about the realities of pursuing an acting career.”
His & Hers is the psychological thriller based on Alice Feeney’s novel. The cast includes Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal. In His & Hers, Maxwell plays young Anna, a former Atlanta news anchor who investigates a murder case in her Georgia hometown. All six episodes premiered on Jan. 8, and the series gained 104 million views from January through June, taking first place among Netflix series in the fourth season of Bridgerton, per the streamer’s semiannual engagement report.
Born in Queens, New York, with roots in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, the actress has been working as an actress for over a decade now. Her previous projects include the Gossip Girl reboot and Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin. She announced her casting in His & Hers in October 2024 after six weeks of searching, during which she was also attending culinary school, per Queens at Work.
At the time, she said it was a dream role. “Sometimes all you need is one shot to show what you can do,” said Maxwell in an earlier TikTok video.
In her recent video, she talks about the truth about the business.
“I feel like a lot of people glamorize acting, and they only show the highlights of their career,” Maxwell said. “Let’s talk about the in-betweens, because that is majority of acting is a lot of waiting, a lot of maybes, a lot of nos, and like 2% of yeses.”
“I recently heard this statistic that the average actor books one in every 64 auditions, which really put things into perspective for me,” she adds.
This number has circulated among actors for a long time. Bryce Dallas Howard cited this statistic at the 2015 Los Angeles Film Festival panel, saying union actors who make their living by the craft get one job for every 64 auditions on average. Booking rates vary widely by actor and role, and agents expect their clients to book at least one job for every 15 to 25 auditions
“And to be honest, the in-betweens can be depressing sometimes,” Maxwell said. “It can be really hard and really sad. Especially when you get really, really close to booking something and they give it to someone else. It really sucks.”
The emotional toll is only part of the difficulty.
“And on top of auditioning and pouring your heart and soul out, you have to survive; you have to have a survival job,” the actress explains. “Earlier this year, I was at my survival job. The show I was in had just come out, and people were recognizing me at work.”
This is not uncommon. During the 2023 actors strike, the union’s chief economist told Rolling Stone that only 14% of the members earn the $26,470 needed to qualify for the union’s health plan, while only 7% make $80,000 or more.
“The truth is, you could be filming, and you could be making thousands of dollars, and then you could not work for 18 months,” Maxwell said. “People have to survive, OK?”
Work is becoming increasingly rare even in Hollywood’s own backyard. Location filming in the Los Angeles area dropped 12.7% in the second quarter of 2026 from a year earlier the region’s film permitting office, despite California’s expanded tax credit program that attracted 170 film and TV productions to the state over the past year. The production in the region is currently running about 36% below the five-year average
However, she says the work continues calling.
“The point I’m trying to make is it’s not all sunshine and butterflies like anything else. It is not gonna be easy to pursue. But for me, it’s always been worth it,” she said. “Once I get on set, I just light up inside, and it makes all of the in-betweens worth it.”
Her advice to actors willing to pursue a career in acting is straightforward.
“To anyone that is wanting to pursue an acting career, I would say, go for it. But just know that it is going to be really hard, and you really have to love it because the constant rejection is just … it’s hard, and it is … it can be really discouraging sometimes,” Maxwell said. “I have wanted to quit more times than I could tell you.”
She finishes with gratitude.
“Even though I’m currently in an in between, I am so grateful that I get to chase my dreams every single day,” she said.
