Also called: Hollywood Animal Trainer, Animal Wrangler
Trains and manages animals that act in movies, TV shows, and commercials.
Spends weeks teaching a dog to limp, bark on cue, and run to a specific mark, then works on set making sure the animal performs and stays safe and comfortable between takes.
Estimate; very variable, top coordinators on big productions earn far more.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
High school diploma, about 5 years after high school. Years of apprenticeship with established animal actor companies.
Ways in: Apprenticeship, On-the-job training. Training cost: Get paid while you train.
Majors to look at: Animal Behavior, Psychology, Animal Science.
Growing slowly. Small and competitive.
Medium risk in 5 years, high in 10. CGI and AI-generated video already replace some animal actors, especially in ads; live shoots with real animals shrink but remain.
Classes: Theater tech crew, Biology, Agriscience (FFA), Film or video production.
Official data: O*NET occupation 39-2011.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.