Expert: Wanda Reinholdt - 5/29/2009

Question
Hello! I would really like to know how professional actors perform. Just say that they are in a movie scene where they come across a magical stone on the ground. They have to look ecstatic and pick it up. Are professional actors so 'into' their character that they can think like their character and look ecstatic without even trying? Or are they just so excellent at acting that they can pull any emotion off easily? Or do they envision the stone to be something else that they can naturally look ecstatic about, like, say, a bar of gold? I tend to gravitate towards the third method and I am a little worried in case it means I am not a good actor. How can I convert to one of the other methods instead, preferably the second? Thankyou very much in advance!

Answer
Hi there, Ash...And thanks for writing.

Good question.  I just returned from a Provincial competition where I won Best Director and where one of my actors won Best Actress.  So I think I can speak to what you are asking with some insight and understanding.

Great actors are those who believe in what they are playing and who play it honestly.  Honesty is the best policy when it comes to acting.  And the best way to get to that point is to actually bring much of yourself to the role.  

Anyone who tries to become the character is missing the point of acting which is to depict to the best of a person's ability the story of another human being.  Most of the time, we do not know the person we are being on the stage or on film.  And most of the time, it is not possible to know them.  And so it is better to bring our own story to the table and to find the commonalities between ourselves and what we know of the other person from the script.  

When we can relate and we depict that understanding of the person on the stage and when we understand what it is that the person is trying to accomplish in the story and the stakes involved in getting what they want or not getting what they want, great acting takes place.  (The stakes is how high the risk or reward - what is in it for them if they get what they want or do not get what they want.)

Does that help you at all?

Wanda