So, what is acting? Acting is about truly becoming a character, displaying their feelings, thinking through what you believe that they’re thinking, and moving how you believe they would move, given the context. And, you will attempt to do this in a way that the audience will likely believe that it’s real.
To do that, an actor should understand what others are going through, having empathy. They should also have control of their voice, and be aware of their body. For homework, aspiring actors should really break down a script, and then practice, practice, practice. Hopefully, when a person has done it enough times, then it all comes together as something they could do reliably.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics says there are over 56,000 professionals making a living as actors in the US. However, this estimate is likely small because of all of the other acting opportunities around us. In fact, many millions of people act in local theater groups, at colleges, at universities, in indie films, or in self-produced videos they’ve created themselves. Not just in the U.S., this is happening at the same time, concurrently, all over the world.
After spending time in theater and in independent films, I’ve found that a good performance can get you asked back. And, I think that this depends on how completely an aspiring actor understands these basics.
This is a guide to all the essential ideas someone starting out needs, so it will look at both how to do the acting itself and how to make a career out of it.
What Does “Acting” Actually Mean?
Sanford Meisner developed a method of acting called the Meisner technique. This is a very famous technique within the acting industry. Meisner explained it as “living truthfully under imaginary circumstances.” And, I think it’s a pretty good definition. It’s about really feeling emotion in response to something that isn’t happening, and at the very same time, being completely in the present, not just acting as if you’re feeling.
One actor that I interviewed talked about a theater group production he was in, he said, “I had to play a very sorrowful father.” This is my good friend, Steve. He would typically get cast as a Dad or as a Bad Guy and he loved acting.
The irony is that he never had kids or got married. And, he never settled down. I talked to him about doing this website with me but he said this wasn’t really his thing. He wasn’t impressed. He has since passed away from some type of cancer.
In general, this is what he said: For the first couple weeks of rehearsal, I was attempting to appear sad. I may have been forcing the feeling and overdoing it a bit. The director stopped the rehearsal mid-scene. “Stop demonstrating your grief,” she said, “allow the character’s experiences to make you sad.” I took her direction and I really attempted to alter how I approach that role and every other role since then.
Once you quit attempting, or trying, to display an emotion and try to just genuinely go through the character’s troubles, then you’ll be more in tune with the overall flow of the scene, I feel, and then the audience is more likely to feel that emotion that you’re portraying or displaying.
The specifics of your performance will be different depending upon where you’re performing and under what medium, you’ll project your voice on stage, be more understated for film, use large actions instead of small expressions, and so on.
In general, for the stage, film, television, voice acting, motion capture, and even digital work, this core principle can remain the same for you. You can follow it. If you believe in the scenario, then the scenario will become a part of you and the performance will happen through you.
The Core Skills that Every Actor Needs
Being an actor involves many abilities, all combined, and the timing of how you get good at each will matter.
An actor needs to be able to feel and understand what other people’s feelings are. We call that empathy. In order to be a real character you have to understand their motives. This is true even if you don’t approve of what they’re doing. Nearly as critical as all of this is the understanding of the script. You don’t just read the words, but you will look between the lines. You’ll find the subtext, what the character is after, his or her motives, the key points to the scene, and how the entire narrative will shift or could shift.
Many people new to acting believe the work begins with the first spoken word, but really, I think it starts the second time you go through the script. The first time I go through the script, I do a quick and casual read through. On the second reading, I will really try to listen.
You also need to be in charge of your voice, considering how you’re breathing, your volume, how distinctly you form your words, your vocal highs and lows and any accents you use. A voice needs to express something, it shouldn’t just be booming. Then, think about what your body is doing: your posture, how you get around, how you are positioned to others, and how your physical actions show who the character is, all without uttering a line.
A performance becomes strong because of responding to the person you’re with in the scene, doing it as it happens and not planning ahead for your next bit of dialogue. And this is where most people just starting out get stuck! You have to know your lines perfectly, but deliver them as if you’re thinking of the words for the very first time.
What’s at the foundation of all this is being able to recover from mistakes, and to be a professional: to cope with rejection, to be receptive to guidance, to be on time and ready to go, and to maintain a good outlook when lots of people with strong opinions are around. I built up these abilities in pretty much this order in my first three years of classes and I am still polishing each of them before I begin any new job.
How Do Actors Train?
There are lots of ways for actors to improve, but the good ones are the ones who are acting constantly. They’re taking classes, rehearsing scenes, and performing in front of live audiences or for their camera.
In the United States and the UK, at both the university and private levels, the majority of professional acting schools focus on three primary approaches to this art of becoming believable. Each gives actors a different path to appearing real.
First, let’s look at the Stanislavski System. This is about tapping into your own personal memories and a thorough grasp of your character’s situation. The actor then builds a performance that feels truthful to the actor and it comes from deep inside them. In fact, actors spend a good deal of time carefully considering “What would I do if I were this person?” and in reality, most acting techniques used today borrow some things from Stanislavski.
Second, the Meisner Technique, on the other hand, throws out all that preparation. It’s about actors responding to each other within the moment of a scene by echoing things back and forth. One actor I interviewed told me of a very demanding course they took in New York.
She said, for the first fourteen days, we did nothing but comment on the other person and have them repeat it back to us. We said things like: “You have a blue shirt on.” “I have a blue shirt on.” “You have a blue shirt on.” The feeling was ridiculous. But by the third week, it somehow really made a difference. When I started doing my scenes, my work had a little more energy and some more reality than it had before this class or course.
Third, the Adler Technique is pretty much the opposite of Stanislavski’s method in one important way. Instead of using your own past experiences to fuel your performance, you create the character’s situation in your own mind with such detail that the feelings could come about naturally from your invented reality. This is really freeing for actors who find digging up personal memories trying or tiring or restrictive to them.
Chekhov, Practical Aesthetics, Viewpoints, and Suzuki are all other different approaches, each provides its own unique techniques. In fact, most actors I know use bits and pieces from several methods, rather than rigidly sticking to just one. So, what this means for you. Pay attention. Take note of what you like, what resonates with you. You can incorporate these things into your own acting later.
Where Actors Study
As for where actors get their training, it happens in lots of places: in university BFA and MFA programs, at private conservatories, in workshops at community theaters, and even in online courses you take at midnight at home. Juilliard, Carnegie Mellon, NYU Tisch, and Yale School of Drama have the most prestige, but you can get a fantastic education at regional studios for a lot less money. More important than where you train is how consistently you practice and how good the notes you get are.
What Is the Difference Between Stage Acting and Screen Acting?
Both acting for the stage and for the screen rely on the same basic abilities. But, you might have to rework everything.
When you perform, you need to project your voice. You’ll use big movements. All of this, so that everyone, including those in the last rows, can hear and see you. The play happens just the one time, like a single breath, and your performance changes depending on how the audience is reacting to you and what they are expecting and experiencing with you. It’s a lot like running a marathon or half marathon, but with an audience watching!
Film is very different from the stage. The camera is incredibly close to you when compared to those in the back row of a theater. It can pick up even your slightest details.
Rather than having to “broadcasting” your feelings across a huge room, you need to be very intentional in a whole different way, that is you need to be understated mostly. A very slight shift of your eyes can show something when a stage would require turning your whole body. Filming a scene might not happen sequentially, in fact sections might be filmed days, weeks, or even months apart. Also, it might not be filmed in sequential order of the final film. So, maintaining a consistent emotional state relies on your preparation and your thoroughly knowing the script, and possibly not bringing the same energy from the last scene you just did to this new current.
Many learn this by experience. I had read over and over again to “do less” in this medium. I believed I was doing less. But, when I was filming a YouTube video, I looked back later and I understood. This is what is great about filming. It is the feedback that you get when you can see yourself, objectively. You can then review. Then, you can think reflectively about your performance. Learn to have faith in the stillness of the screen. This is one of the hardest adaptations to get right for stage actors.
How Does Improvisation Help Actors?
How does improvisation benefit actors? Improvisation builds the abilities to actively listen and be genuinely spontaneous, and these are two things that are very hard to learn from a written script. Since there isn’t and no script, there is no prior planning. You can respond only to what the other person in the scene offers in that moment, and you must respond with all of your heart.
The same female actress that I interviewed earlier began using her improvisational exercises during her rehearsals after attending a workshop at in a Second City, Chicago. Even with a play that had memorized lines, she did improvisation as a warm-up. Afterwards, She then felt like she was less inclined to have every single line completely planned in her mind. She said her performances were less polished but resulted in more believable and were more full of life. This is what she said directors really want.
Something people don’t often talk about when it comes to improv is how it helps you deal with mistakes without falling apart. You will choose things that don’t quite fit, and you will absolutely get totally lost in what’s happening in the scene. However, improv is about swiftly recovering and continuing to participate even after you’ve gone wrong, and that’s a skill that’s hugely valuable at auditions. Auditions are when the tension is at its peak and errors feel like a disaster.
What Does the Audition Process Look Like?
For the audition, you typically might submit a photograph and your resume. Then you would receive ‘sides.’ These are just short excerpts from the script to learn. When you actually go to the audition, you will perform for a casting director or even a group of them. And, if they are interested, then they will invite you back to audition again. This is what are called callbacks. This is generally how auditioning goes, whether for your professional work, or your doing a school play, or even just trying out for your local community theater.
It’s very typical to get “cold readings”, especially for things like adverts and television. We even have it for our local community theater. This means you are handed the script on the spot with almost no time to prepare or get ready and the casting people just want to see how you can just jump in and think on your feet. Those who can swiftly decide on a way they want to perform something, and they don’t overthink it. I think these are the ones, the performers, who got hired. This is as opposed to those who got ‘Oh, you did a nice job.’
I’ve been on both sides, as an audition-er and as someone watching auditions, and I’ve done a lot of teaching for drama in some of the largest American middle and high schools. The pupils who get asked to return for more auditions aren’t typically the most technically proficient or perfect. Instead, these are the aspiring actors who enter the room, clearly choose a direction for their performance, readily commit to it, and absolutely don’t feel sorry for their choices.
And, generally, you will be rejected. Even actors with lots of experience get only a small percentage of the roles from the auditions that they actually go to. Auditioning is a skill in and of itself, separate from acting, and it needs its own training, its own strength, and a special way of thinking about it.
Key Acting Terms Every Beginner Should Know
Here are some acting terms every beginner should understand:
Blocking refers to how actors move around on stage or a set, where they enter, leave, and stand during a scene.
A cold read is performing a scene or a short speech with very little or no time to prepare; it’s very common at auditions.
Subtext is the true meaning underneath what a character says. It’s the difference between what they express and what they really mean.
A beat is a small part of a scene where something changes, perhaps the character’s goal, how they’re trying to achieve it, or their emotions.
Sides are just the pages from a play or screenplay an actor gets to practice with for an audition.
A character’s objective is what they are trying to achieve in a scene, and ideally everything they say works towards that.
Given circumstances are the details the writer of the play or screenplay has already established: when and where the scene happens, the relationships between the characters, and what has happened before.
Emotional recall is a technique, from Stanislavski, where an actor uses their own past memories to feel the emotions needed for the scene.
Sense memory involves remembering what something tasted, felt, sounded, looked like, or smelled like, to make the performance more real and grounded.
The fourth wall is the imaginary line between the actors and the audience. To “break” it is to speak directly to the people watching.
What Is the Reality of Working as an Actor?
Being an actor is not a secure job. The majority of the time it doesn’t come with a lot of money. The US government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics says actors get about $23 per hour, but that’s not all. Like we discussed before there are many actors that are volunteers and they don’t get paid at all. In fact, nearly all paid actors also have jobs that let them work when auditions are slow because they have to pay their bills and living expenses. Also, you could be out of work for a short or a long stretch. These stretches are unpredictable, and one could go without paid acting work for a very long time.
In the United States, many actors become members of the SAG-AFTRA Union. This is the union for film, television, and commercial actors. This Union bargains major production companies for better salaries, healthcare, and reasonable standards for its members. Becoming a member is a major thing to do, opening the door to many jobs that pay more, but it also does mean you that won’t be able to do many projects that aren’t covered by the union. This is unfortunate. So you need to decide when it is best for you to get involved with this type of Union and when it’s not.
And then there’s the business side of things, something no one really fantasizes about, but everyone needs to deal with. You’ll need a good, up-to-date professional head shot, a demo reel, and a good resume and a short biography. You also need to be actively trying to get casting directors and agents to notice you. These aren’t simply ‘nice to haves’, they are essential for getting an audition, and then getting the part.
How Do Actors Build a Career From the Beginning?
How do actors begin to build a career? Although everyone’s journey is different, there’s a typical order to things.
Start with a class. A pretty relaxed introduction to acting, perhaps a workshop or scene study course, will give you the foundations. Then, start going to auditions in your town. You can look for nearest town’s community theater. Search for any student films that might be in production in your area. Or, look for any smaller, independent movies that are filming nearby you. You’ll probably want to have some experience in front of a live audience and on a film set before you attempt the more important, professional auditions.
At the same time as you’re acting, try get all your professional stuff ready. Get a proper head shot, and put together a resume. This resume doesn’t have to be long at first. It can be short. Just something to have in your hand. As soon as you have something fairly good, begin to create a demo reel. Then, you’ll use your head shot, a resume, and a reel for every single audition.
And, don’t think of this first bit of training as being enough. You will likely need to continue with things like scene work, voice training, movement classes, and improvisation. Regular practice is the minimum it will take to try to make it to the professional actor level.
When you’ve got a bit of experience, and are continuing to improve your skills with classes and so on, and have things like a head shot and resume ready, that’s when to begin looking for an agent or manager to represent you. Get your details to agents and managers who are in your area. Throughout all of this, really think of your acting as a job.
You’ll want to keep a record of your auditions, be nice and follow up with people, deal with your money being up and down, and make connections with other people in the business. So many jobs in this field are about who you’re connected to. I’ve done things in roughly this way and I still do all these things whenever I start something new with my acting or move into any different kind of performing.
Why Acting Matters Beyond Entertainment
But why is acting worthwhile, beyond being entertaining? Acting is a way of showing life back to itself. I’ve seen a speech of just a minute profoundly alter how people perceive addiction, grief or injustice, and in ways a lecture or statistics could never manage. One of my favorite short speeches is former US President Theodore Roosevelt’s “The Man in the Arena.” It is a short excerpt from a longer speech of his.
The skills actors gain, recognizing emotions, speaking with clarity, creatively collaborating with others, and being willing to be open, can be very helpful for leadership, teaching, therapy, public speaking, and also many careers. And, even if you aren’t a working actor, acting training will give you a better understanding of others, I believe, while also showing you how to express yourself clearly.
Each character you play may show you something about a life you haven’t lived. The total of all these experiences, role after role, story after story, is what keeps actors going. It keeps us doing the work, even after the initial excitement and honeymoon period has worn off.
Your Concrete Next Step
Within the next month, look for an acting class for people who are starting out, or possibly a short acting workshop. Actually enroll in it. This will give you a goal. Don’t put it off until later, and don’t wait until you think you’re somewhat prepared. Just start. You get ready by being in the class itself. All the actors I know who are actually working professionally also began with one class, one audition, or even a local play.
It’s only those who start that actually get good at acting.
This article is dedicated to remembering my good friend, Steven Martinez (aspiring actor). Steve inadvertently gave me the courage to try the things that I always knew that I wanted to do.
