Identity: Know Who You Are!!

As an actor, it is important to know who you are as an individual before you can truly immerse yourself in another character. By studying your own personal emotions, physical responses, experiences, etc., you are able to put literal truth, and not just mechanical, cliché responses, into your acting. By doing so, your audience will truly connect and relate with your character. The more an actor knows him or herself, the easier he will be able to identify with the characters he is portraying.

For instance, an actor may have to play a character that is very emotionally strong. That character may “seem” strong on the outside, but just like you, must have some fears. It is your job as the actor to discover those fears. For example, if a husband threatens to leave his wife after a heated fight, the wife may confidently shout, “Leave,” meanwhile, deep in her heart she has no desire for him to do so. Robert De Niro said, “People to not try to show their emotions. They try to hide them.” These characters are more intricate then what meets the eye, and therefore, the actor must reveal those intricacies. In an actor’s personal life, they may describe themselves as outgoing, but if they remember their first date, surely there was an aspect of shyness in their life that they can convey in their acting. Do not simply observe the exterior emotions of your life, but every hidden thought. Actors become weak when they believe their true emotions or actions behind closed doors could never translate on stage; so they mask them. Never believe as an actor you have to imitate or try your best to make up a character because you are lacking quality of feeling. Instead, truly study the areas of your life when you may have acted a certain way. In other instances, an actor may be required to play a role similar to them, and in response, feel they have “nothing to work with.” Ultimately, the actor has really conditioned him or herself to only act when they have something crazy different enough from them to imitate. It really reveals insecurity in trusting ones’ emotions, reactions, etc. There is nothing boring about human beings who are all different and very spontaneous.

When watching The Wizard of Oz, how many times are the audience’s eyes following ToTo? Even though he is just sitting in the basket there is something intriguing about him. He is not doing back flips or jumping through hoops of fire. He is not trying to imitate a dog, forcing movements or rolling over along with other cliché dog type movements. Toto owns his own characteristics with confidence because he’s a dog! An actor who simply imitates cliché actions to the audience will not get far, but truth and spontaneity comes from the true existence of a character and all that goes with it. In reality, it is not the actor himself that is boring, it’s the mechanical way he or she executes a task.

For example, if ever required to perform as the Queen of England, do not imitate “what a queen does.” Instead, research about the places she lived, imagining yourself there, and look at pictures of the queen picturing you in them as well as the very clothes she is wearing! Many actors find comfort in being like everyone else, however, if a character conforms, they are restricting themselves and robbing the audience. Ultimately, an actor can try to copy the work of another artist, but in the end they will just produce “hand me downs” and never provide something “new!”

Provide truth and steer far from the cliché-Actors Nook Team