When it comes to acting there are few buzzwords more overused yet more vaguely understood than “presence.” You could call it star power, or “the x-factor.” You could say that presence applies to an actor who has “it,” an indefinable ...
When you’re a young actor just starting out and you hear veterans of the business chatting about this or that awesome-sounding audition they were sent on by their agent, it can sometimes hit you with a twinge of jealousy: why ...
You are no doubt reading this right now on your phone, tablet or computer, so you know as well as anyone that the world is truly wired. We are all interconnected in so many ways it’s difficult to fathom. On ...
Acting is hard. Not to sound whiny, but it really can’t be said enough: no matter what normal humans may think about the supposedly cushy life of the actor, the vast majority of us are not passing our days hanging ...
As fallible human beings, it’s easy for actors to fall into the trap of the green-eyed monster of envy. You’ll see an actor you know who has comparable skills and a comparable look to your own, yet who nonetheless seems ...
When an actor comes to study with me for an audition the first thing we do is “kill the plan.” Somewhere in their preparation they’ve had what I call, the “performance fantasy.” Instead of imagining the world of the character, ...
Imagine a professional athlete who only went out on the field on game days. No matter how great he or she was as a player, the training, practice, and support one needs to compete at that level is simply not ...
Shakespeare gets a bad rap and has for a long, long time. Nearly as many people hate the Bard of Avon as love him, and possibly more. There are a variety of reasons for this: complexity of the language as ...
It is an undeniable truth that acting as a career is very much a hit or miss proposition. That’s why your mom tried to discourage you from choosing the path you’re on: not out of any maliciousness or desire to ...
So for those of you with some experience: do you remember your first time? No, not that, you perverts. I’m talking about the first time you walked into an audition room for a professional audition. High school and university auditions ...
Have you ever watched some actor in a minor role on a television show–or even in a lead role–and thought, “Hey I could do that.” If you’re reading these pages, the answer is probably yes. Most working actors–whether we spend ...
The history of acting is an ancient and proud one. The earliest recorded instance of a person relating words to an audience as a character dates back to Thespis, who performed in 532 B.C. in ancient Greece. And despite actors ...
Sometimes it’s hard to imagine, but every actor you’ve ever heard of had to start somewhere. They all had their very first steps onto a stage, their very first rehearsal, their very first lines uttered. There was a point at ...
If you read these pages regularly, you are likely to be a working actor on some level, or striving to be. But whether you are fresh out of school and trying to book your very first roles as an extra, in ...
Recently I posted a list of things most actors probably wish they had known when they were just getting started. But as the list developed I realized I was really going to need to list more than five. There are ...
As many other actors, I wasn’t always getting paid to act. One of my numerous jobs was that of a door to door sales person. It was at PI Advertising where I learned the 8 steps to success. Some ...
Here is 1 great Tip to becoming a Better and more Successful Actor. Many people think the only way to become a better Actor is to take classes constantly, which is a great way to learn from a seasoned professional, get ...
By Katie Northlich It is no secret that being on a film or television set for an actor is, well, pretty magical. An actor has so many close calls, so many hours training, so many auditions and callbacks until suddenly: ...
There’s no one clear way to become a successful actor. Aside from the fact that everyone defines success differently, it’s not like going to school, doing your fair share of unpaid work, and having an ever-growing list of IMDB credits ...
Breaking into this business is not an easy feat. Between the required training, the headshot expenses, and the necessary flexibility, balancing out everything you need to put yourself in the best light is not easy. And that’s exactly why many ...