Actors pick up skills during their years in training or learning on the job on set, but how do these takeaways come into play once you’re cast in a role? And what techniques work best for which situations?
The answer, of course, depends on the role and the actor. Nine professionals at all stages of their career chime in with useful advice. Discover the importance of practicing physical cues like laughter, channeling both body and soul, and the incredible method of no method.
Find the right teachers.“[I started] studying acting with William Esper. I did that for two years when I was 24 years old in ’91. I was in desperate need of training and I had done theater, but I needed some training. I studied Meisner for two years and then I met my acting coach there, Terry Knickerbocker. I still coach with Terry. It’s been a huge thing for me…. It’s the foundation, it’s the discipline. Acting is a discipline like anything else, you know? If it’s done well, like carpentry or anything else, there’s a discipline to it, a science to it.” —Sam Rockwell, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” (The Talks, January 2015)
Be sure the basics ring true for you, no
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