system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5:Why do so many actors end up directing some of the episodes of the tv show they are starring on?

e.g. Michael J. Adams directed the winter premier of Suits, like I have seen it very often. Is it something with their contracts?
gpt
It is a way to expand professionally.

Being on a mid-tier basic cable TV series isn't something you can ride for the rest of your career...especially if you were cast for being young and good looking, and that is becoming less true each passing year.  If you don't want to go back to doing dinner theater and TV commercials, directing is a career path you can continue one with when you are balding and overweight.

Also, not to disparage a career, but it isn't that hard to do with an established TV show.  The producers and writers have all the creative control, the actors know their characters, the sets are build, the wardrobe stocked, and there is an experienced assistant director standing right next to you.  It is more than just yelling "action!" and "cut!", but with a bunch of people who've done a hundred times before, it is a pretty gentle way to break into the craft.

Finally, sometimes it is in the contract.  If you are a lead in a long running TV show, there is a temptation to leave and find something else before it loses its popularity and before you lose your looks.  The show has to provide inducements for you to stay, money, more creative control, and sometimes the opportunity to direct.