What does one need (qualities) to be an actor?

Answer 1

It isn't beauty or personality or magnetism that makes a really great actress. It is imagination, though these other qualities are useful.

You see a queer little child sitting in the middle of a mud puddle. She attracts you and holds your interest. You even smile in sympathy. Why? Simply because that child is exercising her creative imagination. She is attributing to mud pies the delicious qualities of the pies which mother makes in the kitchen. You may not stop to realize that this is what is going on in the child's mind, but unconsciously it is communicated to you. It is the quality of imagination that has held your attention ...

We create in the imagination the character we wish to express. If it is real and vital to us in imagination we will be able to express it with freedom and surety. But we must conceive it as a whole before we begin to express it.

There will be those who will disagree with me and say that magnetism presupposes imagination. This is a mistake. Many magnetic actresses are wholly lacking in imagination, their hold upon the public resting chiefly upon personality and charm and beauty. Have you ever gone to a tea party where you met some very magnetic woman who radiated charm, who not only held your attention but exhilarated you until you became impatient to see this scintillating creature on the stage, where you might realize the fullness of her wonder? And have you not felt, when your opportunity came and you saw her on the stage at last, the disappointment of realizing a wooden lady with a beautiful mask for a face, speaking faultlessly articulated lines - an actress who rose desperately to the big moments of her part, and who never for a moment let you forget that it was she, that actress, whom you saw, not the character whom she was portraying? There may have been splendid acting but you were conscious of the fact that it was acting. There was no illusion. She was conscious at the big climax that she was acting this part and that she must reach this climax. She was acting as much to herself as to you.

That is not the art of the great actress.

The imaginative actress builds a picture, using all her heart and soul and brain. She builds this picture not alone for the people out in front but for herself. She believes in it and she makes the people across the footlights believe in it. Unless she has done this she has failed. She must stimulate the imagination of the audience. An actress should not only be able to play a part; she should be able to play with it. Above all, she should not allow anything to stand between her and the thing she is expressing.

Answer 2

although many might argue, i believe one needs charm/ charisma/ personality. without any of those things how would one be hired in the first place. and if you are easily liked then people watching you on the screen will too. same works for the other way around. the people love to have someone to hate and if you can play either role then i think thats a good quality to have to become an actor.

Answer 3

I believe that to be an actor (as compared to a "star" or celebrity) requires the ability to imitate another personality.
Several people I know have worked to overcome shyness, for instance, by taking acting classes. Mainly to overcome nerves, when called upon to speak in public.

Answer 4

TALENT is very important, a lot of work also! It is said a good actor is 5% talent and 95% hard work! Also very important is to understand that acting is so much more than Hollywood or Broadway!

Answer 5

Parent(s) who are actors and/or a LOT of luck. O and the ability to act. Only a very very few select people make it big in the movie business.

Answer 6

Recipe:
1 part talent
2 parts narcissism
mix well with a couple dashes of neurosis
Layer all this onto a large amount of luck and top it off with a heavy sprinkling of ambition.
If you intend to take this desire to Hollywood you may want to remove most of your residual teachings about monogamy that may have been past down from your childhood.

Answer 7

You'll have to be more specific. Do you mean a stage actor or a movie actor?

Answer 8

Be a good waitress in Hollywood first, unless you have enough money to pay your rent for years until you get an audition.

Answer 9

Other than talent, presence and incredible good luck?

The capacity to take rejection repeatedly and persevere.

Answer 10

A superiority complex, lack of morals, disrespect for law, and hatred of common sense.