Posts by Brian Timoney

  The secret to moving the passions in others is to be moved oneself. – Aristotle.   Moving yourself to tears, for the average person, is a sign of hysteria or misery. For an actor, it’s a sign of success. To be able to tap into your emotions and express them as a character is…

  Drawing on the emotions I experienced—for example, when my mother died—to create a role is sick and schizophrenic. If that is acting, I don’t want to do it. – Stella Adler   Affective memory has always had its critics. We’ve covered several times how powerful a tool it is for actors, and how useful…

  It cannot be said of him that he is merely a gifted artist and director who is capable of staging the most varied repertoire. He simply breathes art. – Margot Klausner, on Michael Chekhov   While the name Chekhov doubtlessly brings to mind play upon brilliant play you’ve read or performed, the Chekhov this…

  Being a great actor is about much more than just saying someone else’s line. You have to bring your own creativity to the parts you play to bring them to life for an audience. It’s up to you to make choices about how you take the words on the page and say them, the…

  For anyone aspiring to be a professional actor, knowing your craft is only half the battle. You also need to know how to go out into the real world and find paid acting work. Understanding the business side of the acting industry is absolutely crucial if you want to make a living as an…

  When thinking about how your brain affects your acting ability, the first, and perhaps most important, thing to keep in mind is that it is impossible to play an emotion. You might think this sounds strange; after all, we’ve all seen great actors laugh, cry, be joyous or get angry on screen. But the…

  Sense memory is a concept used by everyone even loosely involved with method acting: Stanislavski, Strasberg, Meisner, Adler – the list goes on. It’s a core exercise used in affective memory, or emotional recall, but no matter your terminology or whose acting methods you subscribe to, it’s sense memory that is the key to…

  The Importance of Creativity If an actor doesn’t believe their scene is real, there’s a good chance the audience won’t either. This means that to be a good actor, you need to be convinced of the truth of your scene – to have a truly creative mindset. The good news is that your imagination…

  People often ask us who our favourite method actors are, but with so many of Hollywood’s top actors relying on the Method, naming our favourites is extremely challenging. Did you know, for example, that over 80% of Best Actor Oscar-winners this century have been method actors? Ultimately, picking our favourites comes down to a…

  Meryl Streep is often referred to as the best actress of her generation and not without reason. In a career spanning more than four decades, she has received 19 Oscar nominations (more than any other actor or actress in history) and won 3 times, once for Best Supporting Actress and twice for Best Actress.…