HOW TO BE A Respected Actor With A Long-Lasting CareerPosted by Gertsen Herskind on May 23rd, 2021 The mystic of Hollywood brings a large number of would-be actors out to Los Angeles every year. They feel they've "got the products" to make it as a star, so they arm themselves with a reproduced digital photo taken by their finest friend and some community theater gigs under their belt to book a series regular part on CSI: Miami. Following a couple of months, their money runs dry and the only auditions they've had are for just one student film and a soft-porn flick. No bookings, no series regular to hoot about, no call back from the resume mass mailing to agents. Some of these actors stay longer, but most eventually go home... by the thousands. This is actually the myth of Hollywood, that everyone wins the lottery in the event that you just move in. Wayne C. Dvorak is really a successful acting coach in Los Angeles area who knows what must be done to really make it being an actor and also have a long-lasting and satisfying acting career. Listed below are his answers on how to overcome the myth of Hollywood so that you can create an acting career that's successful and award worthy. QUESTION: What can you say about the myth you do not need training to become a successful actor? There are several forms of careers in Hollywood. One successful kind is to turn into a personality actor. These actors are basically playing themselves - for instance a stand-up comedian like Ray Romano or perhaps a beautiful woman like Pamela Anderson; those people's careers are designed around their personality. It is a type of career, it's part of show business, and their audience has a difficult time accepting them as other things. Personality actors aren't really focused on in-depth acting. Of course, you can find exceptions, like Rosie O'Donnell. But, if you really want to be an actor that is known for your acting (not just your personality), then you need to be willing to do the task it takes to really become one. And that takes dedication. It takes dedication to learning a craft. And I believe that with most people they just don't take the time. Actors need to actually work. They need to sit down and do something serious. QUESTION: So you don't need talent? Learning how to act most certainly does not provide you with the talent. The talent has already been there. But, actor training shows you how to utilize your talent and develop it, that is the key. You have to do the training in order to be considered for complex character parts. And, actors who have a real craft stand a chance to have a long-lasting character. They will have an actor range. They are not really a one-trick pony. QUESTION: But if I've been in community theatre, isn't that a good place to learn to be an actor? Our U.S. community theatre is frequently just bad. So even though you can be totally sincere, you may still be learning the incorrect technique and creating bad acting habits on your own that will need to be overcome if you eventually want to become a television and film actor. For the most part, community theatre productions aren't cast well, and young actors play roles which they could never play professionally so that they learn tricks to obtain the show up. When the emphasis is on getting the show open however, not really learning how to best use yourself being an actor, then that is how you develop those bad acting habits. Many people who arrived at Hollywood have obtained the 'dream factory' thing. And then, it takes them some time -- if they do arrived at the realization -- that they need to focus on their acting. And I'm not saying it has to be done in a class, nonetheless it should be some place where you are getting guidance from a knowledgeable professional who really knows what they're doing. Because a bunch of people getting together, throwing something together such as a community play, is not necessarily going to enable you to learn. QUESTION: What about the myth that there's no such thing as technique or a method to acting - it's all in how you say the words and in your look? portia antonia alexis disagree. Although it's true that a lot of acting techniques will teach you flashy things or tricks, a highly effective technique or solution to acting offers you the tools and approach necessary to be believable and consistent - creating a real acting career. For example, a lot of people will teach you how exactly to read from scripts and say "this line would be a lot more effective if you said it in this manner," but it might not be the emotional truth of what the scene is. So getting a way to say a line is not necessarily doing the job, unless you are doing television comedy or sitcom work; but even yet in this media, the actors must be truthful so that you can deliver a believable character. This is true also in drama and film comedy when you want to not only be able to say funny things but additionally find the core of the character - who the character really is. And that's what an in-depth acting technique will teach you how to do.
QUESTION: There are more and more people giving workshops and classes in Los Angeles. Many of them say, for instance, that it only takes six weeks to ready for pilot season. Why would I wish to spend more time than that to become a working actor?
One of the issues that I think exists in Los Angeles is that the majority of the current coaches haven't been through the acting process themselves (from training to booking and performing). This may lead them to give bad advice it doesn't work beyond class, or their approach may be intellectual but it may not have a lot of request. For example, I once worked on a film in which a fellow actor missed lines in the script while filming, and afterward the director wanted to know why she missed the lines. She said it was because she didn't feel she was "in the moment," so she didn't say the lines - it was what her coach taught her. This infuriated the director. So, coaches have to know not only how exactly to teach technique but additionally give real-world advice.
Also, most of the training that is going on in Los Angeles is not used steps - A, B, C. Instead, workshops and six-week programs jump everywhere with technique, character work, and scene study. And the result is that folks often miss points of development and have serious gaps in their acting understanding.
What actors have to understand is that acting gets into the expression of deep feeling through character. So while a writer offers you the narrative of the story, you need to go to the depth of the sensation. That's what actors are adding to a tale - the actor supplies the inner life and the subtext and depth of the true person. Therefore, the end result is that if you certainly are a serious actor, six weeks of training cannot give you the emotional depth and technique needed for lead and supporting roles, series regulars, recurring characters, and guest stars - and also a majority of co-star roles.
QUESTION: I've been told that all I need to do is get into a class with one of the "guru coaches" in town in order that I can put that coach's name on my resume. Then that will get me in the door to book acting jobs. Isn't that I need?
No. First and foremost, booking acting jobs takes talent and technique, not a certain coach's name on your own resume. And, the reason why you work with a coach is to enhance your skill. Also, several coaches have over 30 people in a room. How could each student possibly be given the chance to work and explore a technique with anything apart from superficial feedback under those circumstances? The actors should get right up in each and every class and be likely to bring in a thing that has been given serious work and attention -- not once every 4-5 weeks.
In my case, I limit the quantity of students I have in my own classes to no more than 12 students in each class because I love to spend quality time with my students. Due to the manageable class size, I could remember exercises from months ago for every student and know what is the next step that must take place. It is the kind of relationship you want from a coach, to help you ultimately book acting jobs.
QUESTION: From the 2007 Academy Award best actor/actress winners, what do you feel they brought to their performances that brought them such success?
I thought both Helen Mirren (The Queen) and Forest Whittaker (The Last King of Scotland) were really amazing. They both captured real souls of non-fictional characters. This is sometimes the most difficult character work to do because we can say for certain who these two characters are in true to life, and the actors somehow got that. And these actors' personal personalities aren't like their characters at all.
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