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This week’s Golden Globes proved you can continue to peak in your career well into your golden years.
Several of the night’s biggest winners with the most memorable acceptance speeches were entertainers in their 60s and 70s, including Michelle Yeoh, Jennifer Coolidge, Angela Bassett, Eddie Murphy and Steven Spielberg. And what resonated with many viewers was how candid these winners were about the self-doubts and roadblocks that challenged them throughout their careers — or how it took decades, in some cases, for them to see a payoff or make a comeback.
Take Yeoh, 60, who won best actress in a motion picture, musical or comedy, for “Everything Everywhere All at Once” on Netflix. She admitted that she had recently been trying to accept the fact that perhaps her “best” work was behind her already, such as 2000’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”
“I turned 60 last year — and I think all of you women understand this — as the days, the years and the numbers get bigger, it seems that the opportunities start to get smaller, as well…I thought, ‘Well, hey, come on girl, you had a really, really good run, you worked with some of the best people,’” she said. “And then along came the best gift” — the opportunity to star in this Netflix
NFLX,
multiverse movie.
Coolidge, 65, also marveled at becoming an A-lister at last, after two decades of playing bit parts in movies like “Legally Blonde” before her recent renaissance with “The White Lotus” on HBO
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and “The Watcher” on Netflix.
Coolidge, who took home best supporting actress in a limited series for “The White Lotus,” said that, “My neighbors are speaking to me and things like that. I was never invited to one party on my hill, and now everyone’s inviting me!”
And she also admitted that she had lofty aspirations when she first started acting, which seemed to fall by the wayside as she got older. “I had such big dreams and expectations as a younger person, but what happened is they get sort of fizzled by life,” she said. “And then you get older and think, ‘Oh, what the f— is going to happen?”
She got a Golden Globe, that’s what.
“What I love about this is it shows you don’t peak at 30 or 35,” Carise Anderson, author of “Intelligence Isn’t Enough: A Black Professional’s Guide to Thriving in the Workplace,” told MarketWatch. “You can still add value, and be relevant and be successful, and experience tremendous career success, well into your 50s, 60s and 70s.”
But there’s a bigger picture at play beyond the poignant sound bites. Jean Accius, the senior vice president for AARP Global Thought Leadership, also told MarketWatch that “what Jennifer Coolidge was talking about doesn’t just impact Jennifer Coolidge.”
He noted that the AARP and the Economist Intelligence Unit have estimated that age discrimination against people 50 and over cost the U.S. economy $850 billion in productivity in 2018. This included involuntary retirement due to ageism, missed opportunities in wage growth, as well as longer periods of unemployment compared to younger workers.
“That impacts all generations, because people are not contributing to their level of ability,” he said. And he suggested that it also affects tax revenue. “When people aren’t offered the opportunity to live to their fullest potential, we all suffer economically,” he said.
What’s more, the AARP’s Global Longevity Outlook reported last year that people aged 50 and older accounted for about 34% of the global gross domestic product ($45 trillion) in 2020, and that contribution is expected to reach $118 trillion by 2050.
Related: In youth-obsessed Hollywood, this has been a golden summer for older actors
“This is not a market that one can ignore,” said Accius. “Not only are consumers getting older and living longer, but your workforce is getting older and living longer. So organizations and sectors and industries need to be able to craft, execute and track their longevity strategy.”
On an individual level, however, there are steps that anyone in any stage of their career can take to help ensure their own longevity with their livelihoods. And plenty of these tips were touched upon by Hollywood’s veterans during their acceptance speeches this week. So here are 5 life lessons from these Golden Globe winners to help you do some of your best work in your 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond.
Know your value
Anderson noted that one thing these 60-something Golden Globe winners have in common is that they all recognized that they have something vital to give. “They still have talent, they still have an important perspective, and I think that’s probably what kept them going — knowing ‘I do have value, I do have worth, I do have something to contribute,’” she said.
Indeed, Bassett, 64, who won the award for best supporting actress in a motion picture for Disney’s
DIS,
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” said that she has relied on her faith and her sense of herself throughout her career – from her first Golden Globes win for “What’s Love Got to Do With It” in 1995, and through the decades since.
“It’s not easy, because the path is circuitous and it has many unexpected detours,” she said. “But I stand here grateful.”
Every job can be a golden opportunity
During her speech, Coolidge reflected on the “little jobs” that “kept me going for 20 years” with gratitude, such as supporting roles in “American Pie” and its several sequels – which she even joked she has “milked to death” but would still be willing to come back for future installments. And the lesson here is that every position you hold can teach you something, or make a connection that could be key for your future job prospects.
“That sense of humility, that sense of work ethic, that sense of taking lemons and turning them into lemonade, that is a universal principle that cuts across all generations,” said Accius. “And that [job] actually might be an opportunity that opens up a range of doors for you.”
Anderson agreed. “Every opportunity, no matter how big or how small, is an opportunity for you to master your craft and get better. It doesn’t matter if it’s one line in a TV show, or a job that you don’t really like,” she said. “And I think it builds your character, and it builds your level of gratitude and resilience and perseverance.”
Plus, these jobs are also an opportunity to meet new people, which brings us to:
Nurture your network
There are plenty of things in life and in work that you can’t control. But you can empower yourself by taking steps such as updating your resume and reaching out to recruiters. Or if you are feeling stuck or dissatisfied in your career, then it’s time to tap your network.
“Reach out to people on LinkedIn [or another job site] just for informational interviews,” suggested Anderson, opening with something like: “I was looking at your profile, and you do work that I’m really interested in doing, too. Would you have 15 minutes to talk about your career journey and the choices you made?”
And chatting up one person can lead to introductions with many others. “You talk to one person, and they may say, ‘Oh I have somebody else I want you to meet,’ and it becomes this snowball effect,” she added.
Related: What is ‘career cushioning’ — and should you be doing it?
Indeed, Coolidge thanked “the five people” who kept her career going with those smaller parts for all of those years. And former child star Ke Huy Quan – best known for “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” and “The Goonies” – actually tapped his fellow “Goonie” Jeff Cohen (aka “Chunk” in the 1985 adventure flick, now an entertainment lawyer) to negotiate his contract for “Everything Everywhere All At Once” almost 30 years later. So keep in touch with those old friends and colleagues.
Keep mastering your craft and growing your skills
It’s clear these acting veterans continued to keep putting themselves out there and auditioning for roles, as well as taking on diverse projects and honing their acting skills.
“I’m sure there were parts that they were rejected for, but they kept coming back,” said Anderson. “Maybe there were moments along the way when they did pause, but they didn’t quit entirely; they kept coming back and learning from their experiences. And if you keep doing that, and you keep doing the preparation, then once the opportunity comes, you’re ready.”
Accius added that “reinvestment in oneself, continual learning and having a growth mindset are all critically important, particularly as people not only get older, but also live longer.”
Accius urged tapping into resources available in your community – like reskilling and upskilling, as well as volunteer experience that could teach you new skills and open doors. “Getting older means something drastically different than what it meant decades ago,” he said. “Being willing to reinvest in oneself, and being able to reinvent oneself as you get older, I think, are some critical ingredients for sustainability — but also for being able to hopefully live a longer, healthier and more productive life.”
“We have access to so many resources that we didn’t have when I first started my career,” agreed Anderson. “You’ve got online courses. You’ve got books online, and MasterClass — all of these different ways of teaching yourself.”
Take that first step — even when it’s scary
Take “Goonies” star Quan, age 51, whose own Golden Globes acceptance speech (for best supporting actor in a motion picture for “Everything, Everywhere”) was also one for the books. He noted that, after his childhood success, he struggled to find work as an actor once he grew up. So he built a career working behind the camera, instead – until the success of “Crazy Rich Asians” (also starring Yeoh) spurred him to give acting another shot. Although, as he recently told Vanity Fair, the prospect of going through the brutal audition process again, but now in his 50s, was intimidating.
But he did it.
“Through so many years I was afraid I had nothing more to offer. No matter what I did, I would never surpass what I achieved as a kid,” said Quan, 51, during the Golden Globes. “Thankfully more than 30 years later, two guys [“Everything, Everywhere” directors Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert] thought of me, they remembered that kid, and they gave me an opportunity to try again.”
“I encourage you to take one step of courage, and then take another step. Make a plan,” said Accius. But it’s all abouthaving the guts to take that step to get out of that rut, or to chase a dream.
And don’t accept “no” as the final answer. Anderson noted that Kris Jenner (age 67, and “momager” to the Kardashian-Jenner empire) has famously said that, “If somebody says no, you’re asking the wrong person.”
“Just because one person is not open to you, or is not willing to give you that opportunity because of how old you are, because you’re a person of color, because you’re a woman or whatever it is, you have to keep pushing,” said Anderson. “Don’t let one ‘no’ cause you to regress and not keep pushing forward. It’s worth it if we can keep pushing through.”
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