Expert: John T. Aney - 1/10/2007

Question
Hi there,

    This is Arshay Shetty and am very fond of Acting and theatre and wanted to know what advise to you give to the beginners who want to start their career in acting.. Just wanted to know if style matters i.e., do i need to build up a style of my own or think of a style which can take me places and also wanted to know what is it that an actor requires besides hard work and smart work....
    Looking forward for your reply

Thank you

Regards,
Arshay Shetty  

Answer
Style doesn't matter when you are starting out.  Working hard is the most important and most valuable habit to get into.  As you continue to work harder, you will develop your own style, and you don' t need to do anything to make that happen.

While hard and smart work is important, you do need to have some talent.  There are a lot of actors starting out that think if they just work hard enough, they will get talent.  And of course it is always possible to get better the more you work.  But there needs to be some spark of talent from the beginning.  I recommend you do as much acting work as you can, and then seek advice from your family, friends and peers as to whether you have talent to continue.

jta