In this post, I want to look at the horoscope of some actors to see how their vocation showed up in the horoscope. I am only choosing actors whose birth dates are know to be highly accurate (rated A or AA by Astrodatabank) so we can do a reliable analysis of the full horoscope, including the angles and the houses.
The theory is this: Leo, and by extension the 5th house (since Leo is the ruler of the natural 5th house) are prime indicators of drama and performance. So acting must be connected to these, whether by placement of planets in the Leo or the 5th house, or by the aspect of planets to planets in Leo, or the ruler of the 5th house. Furthermore, Neptune comes into play because Neptune is about role-playing, being someone other than who one actually is. To this we can add Venus, the one planet more than any other that signifies creativity in the arts, plus glamor and appeal. Aside from aspects to Venus or Neptune, their being very close to an angle is significant.
In sum, the factors to be seen are Leo, 5th house, 5th house ruler, Venus, and Neptune. Not all of these need to be present, but the more factors that show up, the more compelling the case. Also, the tighter the aspects, if any, to Venus and Neptune (including aspects to angles), the more weight to the consideration. (The aspects to Venus and Neptune should be from planets connected to the 5th house, or ruling the angles).
My first example is Kevin Costner, whose role-playing in sports movies I narrated in the post on Playing Cosmic Detective. Here is his natal chart (birth time rated AA), with all the relevant factors highlighted:
Right away, we see Sun and Mercury in the 5th house. And both of these are connected to other planets that are relevant.
The Sun rules Leo. It is square Neptune, which apart from being relevant to acting, is also significant because it rules an angle, the Pisces descendant. (Angles and rulers of angles are extremely important in any activity that is visible to others.) The Sun is also opposite the Uranus–Jupiter conjunction, and Jupiter is the ruler of the Sagittarius IC – again, attaining significance because it rules an angle. All of this means the Sun gathers a lot of strength in “acting” out is relevance.
Mercury in the 5th house is square Saturn, which rules the 5th house and is therefore a proxy for drama and performance.
All in all, a compelling astrological case to made for Kevin Costner’s acting career.
My next illustration is multiple academy award actress Meryl Streep.Here is her natal chart (birth time rated AA), with all the relevant factors highlighted:
There are no planets in the 5th house. However, the Moon is very tightly square (orb is just 18 minutes of arc) the ruler of the 5th house, Pluto. Venus is very tightly square (orb is a mere 15 minutes) the MC, signifying social status and reputation tied to the creative arts. Venus is also square Neptune, and the Neptune itself gains considerable prominence by being very close to an angle, the IC. Lastly, the ascendant is Leo.
My third example is academy award winning actress Jennifer Lawrence. Her horoscope below (birth time rated AA):
There is a good bit to unpack here! The charts of Costner and Streep had a lot of squares. Here, there is a preponderance of trines. Mars, as ruler of the 5th house (Aries on the cusp) is lit up. It is square the Sun, which is in Leo, with a tight orb of just over 1 degree. It is trine the Virgo MC, trine the MC ruler Mercury, and widely trine Neptune–I am using a dashed line since the orb at over 9 degrees is relatively large. Still I am taking this trine into consideration because I feel the big presence of Mars, which is now strengthened to the point of connecting to this Neptune.
Neptune itself is trine the MC, and trine the MC ruler Mercury–once again, the trine to Mercury with an orb of over 7 degrees is a little farther out than the aspect to the MC. On the other hand, the Mercury-MC conjunction should be treated as one unit since they are very close to each other, and Mercury is the MC ruler. So I would think of the trine from Neptune to Mercury-MC as one doubly significant aspect, and likewise for the trine of Mars to Mercury-MC.
Lastly, Venus is in Leo, and it is very closely trine to the ascendant.
The final example is of that of Matthew McConaughey (birth time rated AA):
The evidence for acting is powerful in its pointedness. Three planets tenant the 5th house. Of these, Venus and Jupiter are very closely conjunct, to within a degree. And both planets trine the MC. Neptune is square the MC to within a 2 degree orb.
If your horoscope has several of the factors we have taken into consideration here, you might have the acting bug. Or, if not acting, then a need for performance. Performance can find an outlet in activities other than acting in a movie or theater. Teachers, comics, salespeople, motivational speakers, politicians, musicians at live concerts: they all perform to one degree or another in front of audiences big and small. Acting, especially in movies or TV shows, is a little different because it involves make-believe (Neptune) or creativity and glamor (Venus) of the kind that these other professions don’t, . What is common to all performances are Leo and the 5th house.