They are the fundamental building blocks of our local society.

Actor-waiters. Actress-hostesses.

And it's about time you got to know them a little better—thanks to the help of an ingenious new website called The Working Actor.

The idea is as easy as it is simple—point a camera at a comely lass in a Hollywood record store, and odds are she'll gladly talk to you about her struggle to make it big, the job advice she has for other actors and the time she got hired to jump out of a car in Secondhand Lions.

But the site doesn't just give you a deeper insight into the inner workings of your favorite Bowery bartendress (although that would be reason enough to visit). You also get some peeks at life at the top, most notably via a truly compelling video interview with a wry young actor who works at the Pleasure Chest between auditions. He says he met an A-list actress at the checkout counter who was in such a hurry to get out with her two baskets of vibrators, she started scanning them herself. (She apparently had a flight to catch.)

Research for a part, we're sure.