A commonly asked question about acting...?

Question

How can I improve as an actress?

I love drama, and I really want to improve.
I have very little experience, and not many available opportunities to gain acting experience aside from "real auditions" with my university and community theater companies in my town.

How can I become better at acting?
What are some skills that every actor needs to possess?
How do I improve?

I'm not into acting for some allusion that I could be "famous"... I just like to act. I want to become better at what I do and become more experienced so I can actually land some decent parts. I'm willing to work! =)

Answer 1

Pretend you are someone else. Pick anyone. Just not "you".

Ready? Imagine how someone else would react if I yelled. Not You. Someone else. It does not matter who, just not You.

Imagine how someone else would react if I laughed. Imagine how someone else would react if I cried.

Now imagine you are that someone else. How does it feel? Why does it feel? How could You, as someone else, feel that way? Why do you want to?

Sit down, somewhere quiet, and breathe. Feel your chest fill with your breath. Exhale. Now breathe in, and feel your belly fill with your breath. Keep your shoulders down, do not fill your chest with your breath. Push your belly out. Exhale from your belly. Push it in all the way until you have no breath left. Hold it.

Open your mouth and push your belly out.

Your lungs just filled, didn't they? Hurt a little, huh? Congratulations! You have just learned how to Breathe From Your Diaphragm.

With practice, you can learn to control this breathing.

"What? Why Do I Care, Cider?" I hear you cry.

Diaphragmatic Breathing is the very first thing ANY actor needs to learn. With it you can outshout a 747 and outwhisper a Churchmouse.

Two tips to start: Tell Me The Truth and Tell Me So I Can Hear It.

There are more.

Answer 2

Hi,

start with the attitude of building your career from the ground up with a long-term success approach.
Begin by studying your craft with the goal of being the best actor you can possibly be.
Those and other things you will find more detail on in an ebook I wrote to keep from having to write the same answers out over and over to the same questions. (This one comes up frequently here.) You can find it at my site for new actors: http://www.actingcareerstartup.com/acs-blog.html . Just go to the right column and you can download it for free.

And when you get a little futher along, always remember, that acting is a business and if you really want to be successful over the long haul, you need to treat it just like that.

I hope that helps!

Tony
http://www.actingcareerstartup.com

Answer 3

Aside from the specifics given by some folks here, what you need to do is study and perform. You learn through experience and will come to your own conclusions (with the help of feedback) of what makes you better.

You need patience, a thick skin, a sense of humor, and a passion for the craft.

Break a leg.

Answer 4

Believe the role. Become the character that you are protraying. Put personal feelings aside, and let the character take over your personna while you are in the role. But, also be able to step out of the role when it is over. Don't play the part with an eye to the future. Play it for now, with no regard to tomorrow.

Answer 5

when you get a character, channel them. be them for a whole day. say what they would say, do what they would do. you said you were willing to work! when i landed a role that i thought was terrible for me, this helped me out big time. also, it sounds so old fashioned, but really, it works! try practicing your lines in front of a mirror. it seriously helps! as far as landing a role goes, the more expression you give, the better! break a leg, fellow actress! :]

Answer 6

You have all of the above pontificating and rambling on about all this junk. I will make it short and sweet.

The only thing that will make you a better actor is to do lots more acting.

The actor only needs one skill, acting.

For more info without the generalities and sidetracks, write me at my aol address which is in my profile.

Answer 7

find a good teacher preferably with real experience and study hard.read some of the really good plays and memorize some long speeches .do them to yourself looking in a mirror.record yourself and listen to your diction and accent and tonal quality.read aloud from anything books to newspapers and make it real.
good luck