@The Pentacle Queen,
I used to think about the contradiction of wanting both a life seeking the selfless and a career in performing arts. One way, it seemed to me, required effort to weaken the attachments to my ideas of self, while the other seemed to require effort to strengthen the ego.
But I figure it's not so much about weakening or strengthening self as it is about understanding it. Not so much about severing attachments perhaps, and more about learning which attachments benefit you and which do not.
I do not know if this approach is particularly buddhistic, but it seems to me that from this perspective, a career and the pursuit of enlightenment, as it's ultimately called, can be complementary ambitions rather than contradictory.