How to Gain More Confidence as an Actor

To have the confidence you want on stage or in the audition room, you have to be willing to go the extra mile. To rehearse and practice more than others. To go beyond what your body and mind think is enough. When you go the extra mile and drill your work over and over, that is when your skills become sharp and your confidence grows.  
This past year, I was asked to perform my current solo show, “The American Soldier,” plus a new solo show I was commissioned to write and perform for the Library of Congress. The deadline was tight and the work was intense but I knew that in order to have the confidence I wanted on stage, I needed to rehearse after my scheduled rehearsal. I had to go the extra mile.
After rehearsing with my director, I felt physically and mentally exhausted, and that little voice inside me would start talking. “Doug, you’ve done enough, you need to rest.”  But I knew I couldn’t listen, that I needed to spend additional time rehearsing in order to perform at my best and have the confidence I wanted on stage.
I rehearsed with the director for three-to-four hours at a time. When he left, I’d run through the whole show again, sometimes twice. That time was

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