What I’ve learned about actors, by actors

Lesson #1: When All Else Fails, Just Be Clive Owen.

I’ve never wanted to really be an actor, but I’ve always found actors to be interesting (kind of like business affairs). One of my mom’s besties is a working actress; we would go to her house and she’d braid my hair quite often as I was growing up, or my mom would bring my sister and I to come to her house to play with her dogs Winnie, and later Biscuit. My aunt, as I typically refer to her, is highly engaging, and charming (even though she’s kind of a ham). Still, you can’t help but like her. And I thought she was insanely cool because she got to play Storm in The X-Men in a traveling performance-thing. As I’ve gotten to know her, I was able to see the complex life and attitudes of a working actor in New York City. It often made me angry if she didn’t get a part, or rejected for something. It was as though the rejection was a slight against me, too.

Anyway, she was the first actual person in my life that I knew who actually acted aside from kids in school plays. Seeing the experience, rejection, and hard work she would endure certainly turned me off from the acting thing (even though I’ve been told I do have a knack for it by people who don’t matter haha). Still, as an aspiring writer/producer, I am interested in the craft and business of being an actor — the rejection, the fear, the work, the sacrifice. I wanted to know when an actor comes to me, what are their goals? Their needs? So, I sent out to learn a little bit about what an actor goes through, from process to preparation, and practice. This is what I’ve come up with: 6 items that I’ve learned about acting, as expressed by actors and instructors themselves.