Cannot run mysql count (*)

Question

I am trying to run this query

SELECT a.id, count (*) as MovieCount
    FROM actors a
    JOIN roles r ON a.id = r.actor_id 
GROUP BY a.id

but it underlines my * in red and says Error 1064. What could be wrong about the star in parentheses?

Answer 1

The problem (as explained in a comment and deleted answer) is the space after count .

However, you should be aware that you can significantly simplify the query by removing the join :

SELECT r.actor_id, count(*) as MovieCount
FROM roles r
GROUP BY r.actor_id