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How the 21 Day Rule Can Make You a Better Actor
“The habits of highly successful people allow them to consistently perform behaviors that breed success.” – Forbes It is often said that it only takes 21 days to form a new habit. In other words, make yourself do anything routinely for 21 days and after that period you will do it automatically- habitually.…
Read MoreLearn the 5 Key Traits of Method Actor Oscar Winners
“Acting is not about being someone different. It’s finding the similarity in what is apparently different, then finding myself in there.” – Meryl Streep For aspiring film actors, winning an Academy Award (more commonly known as an ‘Oscar’) is the ultimate accolade. It shows that you are capable of performing at a level…
Read MoreHead Shot Horrors – How to Get Your Head Shots Right
Head shots are an essential part of any professional actor’s arsenal as these are often the thing that first get a casting director interested in you for a role. Having professional-quality head shots is therefore vital when trying to break into theatre, film or television performance, but there’s more to a great set of head…
Read MoreStanislavski and Emotional Memory
“The person you are is a hundred times more interesting than the best actor you could ever become…” – Konstantin Stanislavski A name recognised even by non-actors, Konstantin Stanislavski and his ‘System’ of method acting is responsible for the success of theatrical heavy-hitters such as Philip Seymour-Hoffman and Daniel Day-Lewis. However, you…
Read MoreActing Auditions – How To Get It Right
The first step to a better audition is to give up character and use yourself. ~ Michael Shurtleff Actors all have one thing in common – they all have to attend acting auditions to get a part. Whether it’s for the lead in a TV series, a part in the chorus ensemble of…
Read MoreFake or Real: Why You Need to Stop Acting
“With any part you play, there is a certain amount of yourself in it. There has to be, otherwise it’s just not acting. It’s lying.” –Johnny Depp Many people see acting as one great big game of make-believe, with actors spending their lives playing at being other people. While in once sense this…
Read MoreAn Acting Lesson from Jack Nicholson
The next woman who takes me on is gonna light up like a pinball machine and pay off in silver dollars Randle P. McMurphy (played by Jack Nicholson) One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest There are very few actors who could pull off this line with such enigmatic charisma as Jack Nicholson. He is, of…
Read MoreThe Wheel of Emotion
“Acting is the most personal of our crafts. The makeup of a human being – his physical, mental and emotional habits – influence his acting to a much greater extent than commonly recognized” Lee Strasberg Emotions make up the core components of the method actors instrument. If you cannot access or…
Read MoreThe dark and murky side of method acting
I got this email the other day. Now, it was a long (but interesting) email, so I have cherry picked the nub of the issue: “Many of your emails celebrate the genius and greatness of actors such as Brando and McQueen and how by learning the Method and studying hard any actor could potentially reach…
Read MoreMarlon Brando’s unusual (and secret) on set acting technique
Now, last week I talked about how Steve McQueen took lines out of scripts and how Marlon Brando didn’t learn lines at all. Well, Marlon had another approach he used on set that no one knew about. When he walked on set, he would look at the crew, the director and the actors and think…
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