What are tips to being a good Actor. Any books? ANYTHING?

Question

I'm 19 years old... and a female... foremost.. im not asking how to become an actor.. i'm asking what are things I should do to help my acting and my emotions. I haven't taken any classes yet I definately will in the FALL.. but in the mean time is there anything I can do on my own this summer? What are good books I should read.. is there anything like "Acting for dummies" hehe.. lol just kidding.

Answer 1

Believe it or not, there's a book called Breaking Into Acting For Dummies! LOL! OK, seriously get your hands on Audition by Michael Shurtleff. It's the standard of all acting books :-) A lot of people like books by Uta Hagen, Sanford Meisner, & Constantin Stanislavski. These are all different takes on methods so it will depends on what appeals to you. I had one acting teacher that swore by studying the works of Harold Pinter you could become a better actor... Her methods were different to say the least, but there must have been something to it :-) I say gather what you can from the library and see what appeals to you right off the bat and go with it.

I'm glad to hear that you are taking classes in the fall, because there's nothing better than actually acting. Could you possibly get into some local theatre now? Maybe a workshop? For bringing out your emotions, you need others to play off of so being in classes or doing a show will be the best possible things for you.

In any case, break a leg ;-)

Answer 2

First of all I can't pretend to know any good books, and I won't try to recommed you any, so I hope other people do. Secondly, when you actually start acting (in classes, auditions etc) you will be better able to see where you need to improve. Now I can audition without shaking visibly in the waiting room, which I consider a great improvement. I have noticed a lot of people auditioning act very similar, and if you can somehow put a little unique touch on things, its nothing minor. I'm speaking as a youth, I understand the adult acting world is very different in a lot of ways... but a lot of the kids I see all do very similar expressions for what they're told to do, and once you get better at following the directors basic directions and knowing what they want you start thinking of ways to make it a little different. My experience is they give you a basic direction i.e "smile and turn your head to the left" and most kids do exactly that without trying to go further with it, and then there is no real reason for them to be chosen above the hundreds of other kids who did the exact same thing.
Everybody looks a little bit different though, and when you look at a strangers photograph you can sort of guess at their personality and such, at least I like to think I can. The casting people are usually looking for a certain type of person, and there is no way you'll be chosen if you don't match their description. This is why you can never be too discouraged if you aren't chosen for something. Being picked, by the sheer probability, isn't a likely thing. Maybe all this was kind of obvious, and if it was maybe I just reinforced some of it. I didn't want to just say "practice, practice, and more practice" becuase I didn't want to risk sounding like an old lady I guess, but you really do need to. When you study road rules before you drive you can have them all down perfectly, but when you first get behind the wheel of a car and start driving down a busy street, you realize you don't have a feel for it yet at all. Some of the stuff to help with your acting will come from books, like where to stand and what not to ask and such you can learn beforehand. But the majority of the stuff you'll learn, you'll learn by doing it. Anyways, good luck, I hope when you're "up there" I've at least merited an autograph :P

Answer 3

Hello,

Look up books by or about the following individuals to learn about some of the different acting techniques that there are:

An Actor Prepares by Constantin Stanislavski
Sanford Meisner On Acting by Sanford Meisner and Dennis Longwell
Challenge For The Actor by Uta Hagen
The Art Of Acting by Stella Adler
A Dream of Passion: The Development of the Method by Lee Strasberg

Have A Look At The Quiz

Click on this link below and have a look at the actor quiz. It will help you to see some of the things you know or that you should know about your up-coming acting career: http://www.actingcareerstartup.com/actor_quiz.html

Choosing A School

You need to study continuously. After you have looked at some of the different techniques and talked to some actors who are actually studying them, you might want to start interviewing some schools and teachers. Click on this link below for some other information that can help you in choosing classes and schools. You’ll see a list of my own personal criteria when it comes to choosing a school.
http://www.actingcareerstartup.com/acting_classes.html

Study The Business Side Of Acting!


On actingcareerstartup.com, you will see a sneak preview of just some of the 21 business skills I wrote about in my book; the skills that successful people and successful actors have in common and that you will want to learn too. So many actors underestimate the importance of business skills needed to promote their careers.

In addition, you’ll want to pick up a copy of Brian O’Neil’s book: Acting As A Business: Strategies For Success. It will give you a lot of extremely valuable insight about what you will need to do to really take your career to the next level, once you have created your base of good acting skill.

One last thing. Don’t disregard all the other types of acting possibilities there are:
Film, television, theater have a wide variety of types of jobs for actors and performers and are the obvious possibilities. There is also hosting, industrials, commercials, commercial print, student films, independent films, spokesperson. Community theater, student films, extra work and commercial print work for example, can help you to get your feet wet and help you get started.

Winding it down

I hope this gives you some insight and I hope to have made you think. Unless you get lucky, becoming famous can be several years out, if it ever happens at all. Statistics say that it probably won't. If you are an exceptional person, an exceptional talent, that knows how to market himself to the fullest, then you can make it happen, but it will come with a price and sacrifice and lots and lots of hard work.

Hope this helps!

Tony
http://www.actingcareerstartup.com

Answer 4

That's a hard one because when you first start, its really helpful to get an outside eye to give suggestions...my college class seem to focus a lot on books written by Uta Hogen..so u might want to borrow one from the library, there is a lot of suggestions for making the lines active, come off the page, etc My personal suggestion would to also find a monologue or something... could be anything - and practice the techniques you learn with that so there is some reinforcement....good luck!

Answer 5

I would suggest that you use your time this summer ACTING instead of reading books about it. Even if you don't get a role in a play, all theater groups need support people..box office, ushers, readers, prop people, etc. This will give you a chance to observe and integrate into the "acting community". Have a great summer!!

Answer 6

Check out plays from the library. Read lots of them this summer. See if you can find taped performances of plays to watch. Watch great acting by people like Meryl Streep. Find age-appropriate characters in plays and work on monologues out loud.

Everyone learns differently, but I have gotten the most valuable acting lessons in a classroom setting, working with other artists and getting honest critiques. Also, working in community theatre in front of audiences will teach you a lot. To me there is no substitute for actually working on material with other actors. For me, acting books work when used in tandem with a class.

In the meantime, you can inspire yourself by reading great literature and plays, looking at art, writing, seeing plays and classic movies. Good luck in your class.