Circus Performers

It helps if an aspiring circus performer is born into a circus family and can begin training as soon as he or she is able to walk. Later, the performer will be incorporated into the family's act and over time, he or she will take a more and more prominent position. But many successful circus performers started at the bottom as laborers and learned their skills by watching. Once performers have developed skill in a variety of areas, they gain journeyman status and may set out on their own, acquire their act from the performer who trained them, join an established act, or form a new act with others. Those with the most unusual and unique acts and skills may find themselves in great demand and can sign long-term contracts with a circus.

Some circus performers become quite famous and can command large sums of money. Some performers enter other performance areas, such as the stage, Broadway, Las Vegas variety shows, and television programs and commercials.