Hi Bonnie
I have a lingering question that still seems to stomp me as I progress through acting classes as well as auditions. How does an actor play a certain character yet still be themselves?
I appreciate your feedback.
Thank you,
Jewels
Ah, this is such fun, because there are schools of thought that actors are to be a blank canvas and the character description, the words in the script, the direction, the interaction with the other actors, as well as all the other elements involved in an on-stage or on-camera acting experience are to be applied and layered upon in order to create the character’s reality.
Or you are yourself and the character lives in you, somewhere, and everything you do as a matter of working on the material is in service of excavating the reality of that character so that your audience (whether a single casting director during an audition or an auditorium filled with hundreds of fans) agrees that this is you.
Whatever it is that your process involves, you are always bringing what lives in you to the characters you portray and/or learning so much about these strangers that you are able convincingly occupy their lives for a time. Outside-in, inside-out, Method, imagined life, whatever technique you may wish to explore, different ones work for different actors at different times in their lives!
You may be the type of actor who layers on the goods, you may be the type of actor who excavates the reality of the character from within, you may do some of both or neither, and you may change up what you do based on all sorts of conditions — none of these approaches is RIGHT or WRONG. It’s all about what works for you.
It’s like the Self-Management for Actors principles: The reason it’s SELF-Management for Actors is because it is different for every actor along on the pursuit.
Your journey is your own and your approach to the characters you tackle is not only unique to you but also subject to change! As you evolve as an actor, you may try different methods (lower-case M or upper-case M, as the latter can be one you choose to explore) to get to different (or even the same) results to learn what really feels right for you and your process.
So, an actor is both a character and herself in whatever way she chooses. You decide how much of yourself you bring to the role and how much of the role you layer on to who you are and how much of you disappears and how much of you adds to the character’s depth. It’s all up to you and you can constantly change this up based on what you care to explore… but don’t change it because you’re not sure what’s working.
Get some phenomenal craft coaching (after auditing loads of classes to find out which coach’s approach clicks, today) that really opens you up to all manner of tools you can choose to use, when the opportunity comes around.
Most of all, trust that you’re working to align who you truly are with the characters you were born to play. No, this doesn’t mean that if you play creepy bad guys you have to be a creep in real life! Just that you want to utilize the natural gifts you have, add in those techniques that you’ve learned, and bring to life the characters that you are best meant to share with the world, effortlessly.
Yes, it really looks effortless… after you put in all the dang work! So… whatever approach you choose, have at it!
Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!
Originally published by Actors Access at http://more.showfax.com/columns/avoice/archives/001874.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.