The best way to memorise a monologue is to figure out the process that works best for you, break the monologue down into smaller chunks and learn it methodically, part by part, until you can re-assemble and repeat it verbatim. There are three primary modes of learning: auditory, visual and kinaesthetic. Knowing which ones suit you best and then tailoring a line-learning method to suit will hugely benefit you in the monologue learning process.

Let’s get into it!

Break it Down into Beats

Next to how to film a self tape, our most discussed topic on StageMilk is probably what are beats? Beats are the basic chunks of a monologue/scene/story, that denote a shift in the scene either in what the character’s objective is, or how they decide to achieve their goal (via actions). They’re usually denoted by a shift in emotion, a piece of information learned or given or a similar moment of dramatic action within the story.

Beats are a vital part of script analysis and the foundation of breaking down a script into smaller, workable chunks. The articles linked above are super useful resources on this subject, and you should read them as they speak on the topic in greater detail. 

Essentially, the first part of learning your monologue is to spit it up into its key ideas—its beats. By breaking it down into its beats, we make the monologue more manageable, and easier to navigate. Plenty of actors find themselves overwhelmed by the whole monologue, and the thought of having to learn an intimidating wall of text. By breaking it up into beats we can learn it idea by idea, thought by thought and make it more manageable for ourselves at the same time.

In that beats article linked above, I use a monologue from Julius Ceasar as an example. take a look below:

As you can see, I have named each beat—given it a theme, so to speak, as well as numbered it. This helps me have an idea of what the tone of the thought is behind the beat, and helps clarify the structure of the piece as well.

In this monologue, Brutus starts off knowing he has to kill Caesar, but not having the proper motive to murder his friend. Over the course of the piece, he convinces himself that it would be for the greater good to stop Caesar before he becomes a danger. By breaking it up into smaller, more manageable chunks, I can understand the character’s thought process easier and see how he changes from one point of view to something else by the end. 

How do you Learn?

When it comes to learning, there are countless methods you can adopt to help you in the education process. In my experience as an actor and educator, I subscribe to the VAK idea of education. Visual, auditory and kinaesthetic. 

Visual learners learn by seeing. Artists, designers, people with detailed memory or recall for complex visual situations enjoy using graphs, maps and diagrams, love colour coded flashcards or mind maps and so on.

Auditory learners learn best by hearing things. If you’re a musician, or you can quote whole episodes of television or movies verbatim, or recall big passages of podcasts or speeches from memory, chances are you are an auditory learner.

Finally, kinaesthetic learners learn by doing. Commonly dancers, physical theatre practitioners and sports people learn best by doing with their bodies. They can find themselves restless and fidgety in traditional academic contexts, and potentially struggle with more abstract conceptual topics. 

Generally, people are have a primary category they align with best and a secondary category that is kinda helpful. For me, my primary is auditory: I can remember whole swathes of movies, TV shows and songs. I can quote stuff that I have heard only once or twice pretty well from memory, and this gives me a huge advantage with line learning. It also means that I need to build my line learning process around hearing the words and their meaning.

My secondary category is kinaesthetic. I play a few sports, and learned guitar mainly from finger positions rather than musical notation. I have found, purely by trial and error, that if I need I can use movement to help the lines get into my body. I have also found that I struggle with assessing and understanding visual elements, like reading a script and picturing what it looks like on the screen.

You might be like me, or you might be massively visual! It’s all good! Everyone is different, so I am going to give you my best memorisation tactics for each type of VAK learning.

Learning your Monologue

Visual Learners

The very best way I have seen for visual learners to get their lines down is Andy’s method, seen here, in How to Learn Lines FAST:

Grab a pad and a pen and write out the monologue, beat by beat, noting down the first letter of each word in a sentence with the exact punctuation. Then, using that as a reference, repeat the sentence back using just the letters on the page. Once you’ve done one sentence and can recall it without looking at the page, move onto the next until you have learnt the whole beat. Once you have that beat, start on the next, and rinse and repeat. Magic!

If you struggle with a particular word or idea, you can draw little symbols or doodles to really push that particular blank home. Anything to make it visual and fun for yourself! Just remember that the letters and punctuation need to be exact.

Auditory Learners

The temptation for auditory learners is to record the monologue and listen to it over and over until you remember it. While this seems like a logical process, I would actually advise against it. It’s too easy a way to ingrain a mode of delivery; you’re inclined to repeat the monologue exactly as first recorded, which stops you from taking direction. It’s especially constricting in a scene when another actor is present, as you can’t be sure of what they’ll bring to the scene that might modify your delivery (remember that a monologue is still about communicating with your scene partner—even if you’re doing all the talking.)

My recommendation is to do an exercise known as “The Whats.”

Go through your monologue, sentence by sentence, and define what every word means—either what the word literally means or what it means to my character. 

For example:

Shall I compare thee to a summers day? 

If I was learning that, I might say to myself out loud:

“Could I: me, Romeo, compare: make a comparison between, thee: you, Juliet, love of my life (insert image of actual person who is that for you in reality), towards, a bright, warm 24- hour period in January?” 

This can take a long time, depending on the script! But it really does help you learn the lines AND the thoughts behind them. If you drop a word, instead of getting stuck you will subconsciously add in a similar word and keep the moment going.

By saying the words out loud, it means you hear them and think about their meaning, context and subtext. It keeps your work fresh and doesn’t lock you into a single mode of performance.

Kinaesthetic Learners

My kinaesthetic friends! You have got to move it! I find the best way to learn as a kinaesthetic learner is to assign each word in the sentence a gesture, and dance it out!

Make sure you use your full body and repeat the same gestures for the same words. I find this works really well in conjunction with “The Whats” exercise above. Combining multiple styles can really help get the words into your body, so give it a go next time you are memorising!

The Pitfalls

There are two big pitfalls when it comes to learning lines, particularly when you’re learning monologues.

The first is learning by rote. The problem with repeating sentences over and over is they start to become meaningless—just noises you’re making in a particular order. It can also mean that if you drop a word, you go totally dry (a fear worse than death for me!)

The second pitfall is locking in choices early and then lacking flexibility. When you go for an audition, the director might have a totally different idea of the piece to how you have practiced it; you need to be flexible and able to play with the text! If you have learned it by rote, or from a recording, it is very unlikely that you will have the ability to play with it.

Instead, when you are learning your lines, try to learn them neutrally: not putting too much emphasis on particular words or adding too much emotion. Get completely off book first, then look for that emotional arc. Add in those images, invest in the given circumstances and so on! If you do this while you are trying to learn it, and commit fully every time in the same way, the piece will become predictable and feel wooden and rehearsed. Learn it first, then add in your emotional and imaginative flair!

Conclusion

There you have it: how to memorise a monologue! Once you have picked one out, (its own challenge, see here for tips), break it down into manageable beats, pick a learning style that resonates with you and start at the very beginning. It’s a very good place to start. By making it manageable for yourself, keeping emotion out of it and really utilising the way you learn best, you will find that you can get your next monologue down in record time! 

The post How to Memorise a Monologue appeared first on StageMilk.

Actors are professional communicators and collaborators. In order to be a great actor you have to be a great listener. The skill of the actor as a collaborator comes down to your ability to interpret information from a director and a willingness to throw yourself into their vision, whether you agree with it or not, with a sense of authenticity and vulnerability that makes their vision into your choice. 

Different Types of Directors

The first thing to understand is that directors are not a homogenous group. They come from a wide range of backgrounds and this directly affects the way they communicate with actors. In film and television, directors can come from being Cinematographers, 1st ADs, Producers or writers. Often in the commercial world, the director would have come straight from an advertising or marketing background. Some are occasionally trained directors from reputable drama or film schools. But the best, in my opinion, are former actors turned directors, because they really understand our lives and process. The latter are quite common in theatre. 

Think of the following examples: Kriv Stenders was a camera operator, George Miller was a doctor who took a film workshop, Edgar Wright has a degree in Audio-Visual design, Jane Campion has a degree in Fine Arts, Chloé Zhao studied under Spike Lee at NYU, Ron Howard was on an actor on Happy Days. My point is that all of these directors are going to communicate with you differently due to their experience, background, communication style and priorities.

You might find that a director who has a background as a cinematographer is going to be a lot more concerned with how you look as opposed to what you are feeling or thinking. An artist might be all about the frames composition and your inner life, a commercial director might just give you single words to hang your hat on or a dramaturg might want to chat through the social structures of ancient Rome for two hours. For the actor, it is about learning how the director communicates, asking appropriate questions to clarify and interpreting and actioning those notes instantly. I am going to go through a few different techniques to do this below depending on the environment you are working in.

How to Take Notes in an Audition

The first step in successfully being able to take a note is in the audition room. In some ways, this is the hardest place to do it. The biggest battle here is with anxiety and nerves that get between you and what the casting director or director is trying to communicate with you. Often, actors can come into the audition room with a rigid idea of what they want to do with a scene: they have thought about it in-depth at home, rehearsed a bunch of times and have a firm strategy for each section and how they want to execute it. The difficulty comes when the director or casting director has a totally different idea, or access to context that the actor does not, which can completely change your perception of the character and the scene.

For example: I was auditioning for a part on a television show; I was going for the role of a nerdy guy who was talking to his friends about this girl he liked. It was clear by the subtext of the scene that he was really in love with this woman. In the audition room, the casting director revealed that the woman in question was employed by these friends of my character, in order to humiliate him—the whole relationship was in fact a joke on my character. I had no idea about this and once it was revealed to me in the audition room, it completely threw me off my performance. I was unable to alter my performance accordingly because I was so set on my idea of the character’s reality. 

It is great to come into an audition with a clear idea of how you want to approach the character or the scene, but keep in mind that you have to be flexible. You have to be prepared to completely ditch what you thought about a moment or a relationship as soon as you get new information that might contradict it. You have to be ready to spin on a dime and change the work you have put in, to suit the information you have been given.

In acting school, one of my legendary teachers said ‘Hang on tightly, let go lightly’ and I think this is incredibly applicable here. Improvisation skills are so important in the audition room. Your ability to hear what has been said, think about it, think about how to apply it and then ask any clarifying questions is vital. Keep in mind that auditions are always under time pressure, you will only have max 15 minutes here and you want to spend it acting, not talking.

So be really clear with your questions. I like to follow up a note with an action, say the director wants a moment to be ‘a little softer’ I might follow up by saying ‘In terms of volume or showing my empathy for the other character more?’ Interpreting generalised information and making it specific for yourself, but trying to avoid getting bogged down in the detail is paramount here, and honestly that only really comes with experience. So the best thing you can do is get out there, get a few auditions and start honing these skills!

How to Take a Note for Theatre

Okay so, you did the audition thing, right? You nailed it through a couple of rounds of auditions and callbacks and booked the part in a play! Love this for you. Now let’s talk about rehearsal. I freaking love rehearsal. I really do, in some ways, like it more than performance, because rehearsal is all about discovery. We are all just trying to figure this thing out, take what the writer has given us, unpack it down to its bones and then slowly rebuild it from the skeleton up, adding ourselves seamlessly into the flesh of it and creating a beautiful Frankenstein’s monster of artistic endeavour and emotional vulnerability. It’s a red hot vibe, you guys. 

However, as red hot as the vibe may be, you are going to have to work closely with a director and take on a range of notes as well as play in the space and figure stuff out. You are also going to need to collaborate with different types of actors here too and just like directors, actors come from a range of different backgrounds and approach the craft somewhat differently.

There are actors who like to do the vast majority of their work at home and come into the room with a honed idea of what they want to do, there are actors who seemingly do next to nothing at home and feel their way through it on the floor, there are kinetic actors who need to be touching props, playing with costumes and sets before it starts to make sense to them, there are the academics who need to completely understand the historical context before they can put anything up on the floor.

Me? I am a prepare at home, put it on the floor and see what happens kind of actor. I love seeing what the other actors have to offer and then putting my own stank on whatever we are working on. I am much better when I am working from my instincts, but know that I need a solid grounding in text analysis before this can be effective in rehearsal. For you, it is going to be different, and you need to spend some time in rehearsal just noticing how the other actors are working and seeing how best you can help accentuate that. 

There are a couple of practical things that can really help you take a note from a director in rehearsal too. The first is blindingly obvious and it is this: Write it down. Whatever the note is, write it down in a notebook! I like to ‘book’ my scripts. That means, when I get a role, I print the whole script, and glue each page of the script on the right-hand side page of a notebook (I find the spiral-bound type is best) then whenever I get a note from a director, I write it down on the blank left hand side page of my notebook, next to that page in the script. Then I review those notes before we do the scene again so the notes are fresh in my brain and I do my very best to take them from the page onto the stage.

Always and forever, use a pencil to write your notes down. This is because these notes may change as you all learn more about the play, the scenes and the characters. This is particularly appropriate in theatre, more to come on film below!

Once you have been given a note from a director, try your very best to do as they ask! You will be amazed once you start watching other actors get a note, for example, ‘Can you try it with a bit more anger this time?’ The actor enthusiastically agrees, and then the performance is… exactly the same as previous to the note. When the director asks you something like that, just like in the audition room, take a second to process the information, you can also ask some questions and have a quick discussion about why the character is angry, contemplate if you have ever felt similarly and why, try and find what it is in the text that is making them feel that rage, and tap into your own reserves of it. 

In rehearsals, you can go as hard as you like; however, it is always better to go too big with a line or a moment than something smaller. If the director needs you to reign it in, you have to trust them to say so! And you may well be surprised that your version of 100% is actually a directors version of 50%, and and a moment can be pushed much further than you think! Again, it is all about listening, interpreting and having the confidence to try something out—even if you feel like it isn’t going to work. It is the directors job to direct, it is your job to try out that direction!

How to Take a Note for Film and TV

Film and television present different problems for actors taking notes from directors. Primarily the incredible lack of rehearsal. Rehearsals for film and television production basically don’t happen. On some larger projects potentially, major films in particular, there might be a budget for it. Definitely, for action sequences, intimate scenes or fight scenes there will be extensive rehearsals. But when it comes to the nuts and bolts of a dialogue scene between two or more actors, the most likely thing is that the first time you rehearse it will be onset, while the camera team is setting up the shot to shoot it.  You might get a read through and a note or two from the director, but then wham-bam we are shooting!

Filmmaking, unlike most theatre, is mind-blowingly expensive to do. Wildly, crazily, hugely expensive. One of the first things a production team can do without is extensive actor rehearsals before a production takes place. The expectation, particularly in network television or streaming services, is that the actors will turn up on set and nail it in one or two takes, three maximum. This time pressure often results in performances that are, to be frank, not great. You can tell the difference between shows that have the budget and the time to rehearse with the actors and shows that do not.

However, for the actor heading on set and getting ready to do their scene, they must be super-duper-monumentally prepared. Film and TV is an absolute pressure-cooker situation, and the whole machine of between 30 and 200 people, cast and crew, is waiting on you to hit your marks and say your lines. For film and TV, I do not book my script, simply because it is so subject to change, including on the day I am scheduled to shoot. Additionally, you may not get the full episode script to work from: you might just get your sides (scenes), so that becomes tricky too. Instead, I might put my scripts in a ring binder file, or just take in the stapled copy to work with. I still scribble in the margins in pencil, and know that I have to be specific and relaxed when interacting with the director. 

Directors in film and TV are under more pressure than an industrial diamond. They are the apex of responsibility for both performers and crew. They have so much on their plate and constant challenging decisions to make that by particularly late in the day they might be a little… frazzled so to speak. When they do give you a note, make sure you are really listening, I will sometimes repeat it back in my own words to ensure I have taken it in and am on the same page. Also, physical action and eyeline is so important here, ensure you are doing what is required and looking where is required too! As an example:

Director: ‘Pat this time, make sure you pick up the pen in your right hand and look over to Marie on camera left. Also with the line, make it a bit more fearful right? She’s your boss so…’

Me: ‘No worries. Pen in the right, Marie on the left and really find that terror in Marie’

Director: ‘Perfect. You got it. Let’s go for a take please!’

How to Action a Note

The most difficult notes to deal with are the nebulous, unclear or generalised ones. Things like: be more sad, or can you pull this face? Or do what you did in the audition! Direction like this is distinctly unhelpful. I have often found this sort of thing on commercial sets where a director has come through an advertising agency, not a creative background. Regardless, the best way to manage this is to take what the note was and make it into an action.

Actions are doing words, and they are a great way to hone something generalised and make it specific. We have a great article on actions here at Plotting Actions for Objectives. As an example, if I got the direction to be more confused, I might play the action of: ‘I unpick you’, or ‘I clarify you’, or ‘I unstitch you’. Anything that puts your intention on the other actor and helps drive the motivation to be confused. 

It’s one of those things that is really common when a director is focused on how something looks, not how it feels. The actor needs to take the physical appearance described in the note and turn it from appearance into feeling. Another thing that I find helps, is clarifying the subtext with the director. When they say, can you look more confused, I might respond with ‘yeah like, I am really trying to unpick what the hell they are talking about?!’ and see if that description resonates with the director. This takes the note and turns it into something you can use, that the director feels collaboratively involved in and more importantly that you the actor understand their vision for the moment in question. 

Taking Notes: Dos and Don’ts

Okay, look: the first thing to know is that a note is not a personal attack. Do not take the note personally, everyone is working towards the same thing here which is a great performance and a great show! Don’t think because you got more notes or fewer notes than somebody else that you are in any way better or worse than them. Notes are not a competition. They’re a note! That is all. They’re a method for a director to communicate what is working and what needs adjustment, not a popularity contest.

Also please, please, please take the note. Do not argue with the director about it in front of cast and crew. Do not say ‘I was doing that!’ or ‘I was doing what you told me to do!’ Don’t be a petulant child about it. Just take the freaking note. Write it down and move on.  The director would not give the note if it didn’t need to be given! Write it down. Take it on and if you need to clarify with them, find an appropriate moment to do so. This might be after rehearsal or at a different time. If you constantly question notes you receive, word will get around that you are difficult to work with. Take the note and action it.

That is not to say that you cannot have an opinion on the work you are doing. And of course, you can agree or disagree with a director’s point of view. But what I am saying is that there is a time and place for that discussion and it is not in front of everyone involved, casting aspersions over the director’s ability and driven predominantly by an actor’s ego. 

From the Director’s Perspective

Hi all: director, here! Pat asked me to jump in and give a few thoughts from the other side of this topic. Everything he says is 100% true and helpful, but I did want to offer this one important thing to consider:

Directors aren’t perfect. No matter what we tell you. We are in charge, we do deserve your respect and we do have a lot of things to keep in our heads on set or in the rehearsal room. But just as you might step into an audition with one characterisation in mind—only to find it changed radically with a single note—directors can have the exact same experience, except it’s not just a character that changes but the entire design or conceit of a production. It’s high stakes, nerve-wracking stuff.

When directors give notes, we’re not just thinking about your individual performance, but how that note might lift the overall character/scene/project. We also have to be ready to make mistakes and and refine or walk notes back; sometimes you even get ahead of us and know that we’ve given you a bum steer! But bear with us: remember that we’re working through a creative process just as you are, and that always requires trust and respect. The best way to illustrate a bad note has been given is to do it exactly as instructed. If it jars as much as you think it would, we usually get the message.

Finally, if you want some more experience on this topic, the best thing I can suggest is giving directing a go yourself. See what it’s like to be in charge of performance/s, and how giving notes is just as much a skill to be learned as taking them (we’ve written more on this process elsewhere, just don’t let the title fool you). The best actor/director relationships I’ve enjoyed are built on respect for each other’s process—paired with the understanding that we’ll both get things wrong sometimes. Directors are only human. No matter what they tell you.

Conclusion

So there you have it, a rundown of the different types of directors and their approaches, different types of situations where an actor needs to take a note and some practical tips about how to go about it for auditions, theatre, film and TV. If you have no experience at all and this has all been really overwhelming, or you’d just like to practice taking feedback on board and actioning it, you should join the StageMilk Scene Club!

The post How to Take a Note for Actors appeared first on StageMilk.

In order to look real while acting, you must make the given circumstances of the piece so real, so vivid, so palpable for yourself that you are unable to separate them from reality. You must see what the character sees, smell what they smell and most importantly feel what they feel. Then you wont have to worry about it looking real, as for all intensive purposes, it will be real. 

What Is Real?

At the risk of getting terribly existential really early in the article, lets quickly solve the question of what is ‘real? When you think about it, nothing about acting is real right? The sets are made of plywood and gaffer tape, the swords have no edges, the blood is glucose syrup and food colouring, hell, even the tears are sometimes dropped into the actors eyes by the makeup department! And yet, somehow, through all of that artifice, we can still feel it when we feel like an actor isn’t being truthful with us. We can still recognise it when we feel like an actor is ‘lying’ to us. 

This is the exact same problem that the Greeks faced, that Shakespeare and Ibsen and Checkov and Miller and O’Neil and Labute all faced as well. The essential problem of acting and drama is, how do you make these words and these scenarios, written out on a page, feel to an audience like they are happening for the very first time, in the moment that the audience is seeing it? Even when it is the third show of the day or the 96th take of the day (I’m looking at you David Fincher!)

The answer is, by making the reality of the play or the film the reality you are experiencing right now. Using your senses, your imagination and your craft to fool your body and spirit, and the bodies and spirits of the audience, that this fabrication is your lived experience and you are experiencing it moment by moment, second by second in front of their very eyes. 

This has been the essential challenge of dramatic performance since its inception. And every acting teacher, director, guru and acting website has proclaimed to have solved it in a myriad of ways. Presented below are the most common solutions this this problem and some potential solutions for your next performance. 

#1 Understand Your Given Circumstances

The first step in making your performance look and feel real is to understand the given circumstances of the scene or monologue you are working with. ‘Given circumstances’ refers to the who, what, when, where, why and how of your scene. There are thousands of different takes on exactly how this works and how best to use it so let me condense it for you. Firstly, check out our article on some of the basics. Then read this on script analysis. Honestly, that script analysis  article is absolutely brilliant, it is all about helping you find all the facts of your scene, and figuring out a way to bring those facts to life. I cant recommend it enough.

You see, it is going to be impossible to make a scene look or feel real if you don’t understand exactly what is happening, in that scene. When it is taking place, both in terms of year and period but also time of day. The same goes for where it is taking place and how the character feels about their environment, the town, the city, the state, the building, the room all impact how the character approaches the dialogue. You speak very differently to an authority figure in your home versus the dungeon of a wizard for example. Finally, the more internal aspects too, such as how the character feels about the people they are talking to and about, and what they want from the other characters in that scene.

All of this is about textual analysis and given circumstances. The more the actor devotes themselves to mastering this aspect the more chance they give themselves to make this scene or monologue as real as possible. If you don’t know these elements, the audience is going to be able to tell that you are just making it up, that you don’t really believe it, its not truthful, it is not something you are experiencing, its something your inventing or even worse, pretending. 

#2 Know Your Lines!

I feel like this is a subheading in every single StageMilk article, but we just cannot overstate the importance of learning your lines. If you don’t know your lines intimately, personally, down to the core of your being, you are going to look like someone who is trying to act. Someone who is pretending to be someone they’re not. Your acting is never going to look real if you are grasping at or forgetting what to say next, so please, learn your lines! We have a great video on how to learn lines fast! 

#3 Use Your Senses and Imagination

Once you have done your text work and now have a deep understanding of the world of the scene or monologue it is time to engage your senses to make the world around you come to life. If you want it to look real, it has to feel real, if it’s going to feel real then you need to use your eyes, your nose, your touch and your recall to make it as real as possible. Take for example a little bit of Henry V.

Now imagine that you had to audition for the role that Kenneth Branagh is performing here, and you don’t have a cart to step on, or a hundred extras in perfect military garb surrounding you, or a sword at your hip. How can you make this situation real? Well lets first deal with what is around you. Henry is in Agincourt in France, he is in the woods on the eve of a battle that he is leading his men into and they are drastically outnumbered. At the start of the speech he overhears his cousin saying how screwed they are. These are the given circumstances of the moment before the speech starts.

I would first create the ‘where’ in my mind, I would think about a place I have been to that is similar to that battlefield. The trick here is that it doesn’t have to be exactly the same, it just has to have crossover with how the character feels about the location. A couple of years ago my team made it into the semi-finals of our local cricket competition. I can remember the ground, the fence around the oval, the smell of fresh cut grass, the anticipation in my guts of the finals to play for. If I close my eyes and think about it, really think about it, I can imagine myself back there on the side-lines, ready to step onto the field. This is what I am going to recall before I start this monologue. For you, it might be more helpful to create the fields of Agincourt in your imagination, to smell the horse manure from the cavalry, see the French banners across the field, waving in the breeze, feel the cold steel of the armour against your chest and the soft rain on your head.

Either way, you must make the surroundings of the scene real and palpable for yourself, so much so that the blue screen behind you and camera in front of you in your self-tape disappears, as the power of your imagination drives you into the moment before your monologue begins. 

#4 Intention and Objective

Now you understand the text, the world of the piece and you are using your imagination and your sensory recall to make it feel real to you, the last piece of the puzzle is what you are doing with the lines on the page. How you are going to use them to get what your character wants in this moment? Which brings us to the oft maligned and thoroughly misunderstood concept of objective. You see, in every scene, in every monologue, in every moment on screen or onstage, your character is there for a reason. They want something, more often than not, they want something from the people they are talking to in that scene. Henry V above wants the men in his army to realise they have a fighting chance, and further more that they don’t want men who don’t want to be there, they want to remember this day forever. 

The truth is, the writer would not have put this scene in the play or the screenplay if it wasn’t necessary. They’d have cut it. So if its necessary, it is there for reason, therefore the character has a reason to be there, therefore they have something they want to get. It is your job to figure out what that want is and then ruthlessly pursue it until you get what you want! Until your soldiers are cheering, ready to charge into battle against impossible odds!

#5 How It Looks Is Not Your Problem

So now we have this beautiful combination of factors right? You know the world of the play or the scene, you know the lines, you have a vivid imaginative picture of the world your playing in and you know what you want to get in this moment. Now the time has come to realise the most important truth of acting, and the intrinsic problem with this question of ‘looking real’. 

It is not your job to make it look real. It is your job, to really feel.

See what I did there? Clever right? Seriously though, it is the director’s job to make sure it looks right. It is the designers job to make sure the costumes and sets are of the correct period, the makeup and hair artists job to make sure your face and hair looks right, the continuity or script supervisors job to ensure your sword is on the correct hip. Your job, your only job is to make sure that you really feel it, in your bones, on your insides, from the tips of your hair to the edge of your toenails. 

That the lines, the imaginative world, the objective your pursuing, the given circumstances of the moment are all such a part of your body that you are unable to separate their fictional reality from your own. Then all of a sudden, you no longer have to worry about weather it looks real or not for you, because simply, it will be your reality. 

Conclusion

There you have it, an in depth guide to making any scene or monologue look real! The trick is that you have to do the work to take something completely fictional and convince your mind, body and spirit that it is in fact, your lived reality. That you are experiencing it moment to moment, as it is happening. Not the words of a old white guy who died four hundred years ago, that has been performed by every man and his dog for the intervening period! The only way to do this, is to work hard, and make it your reality! If you’d like some more help doing this, click the link below to work with us at StageMilk every month and you can become the acting powerhouse you know you can be!

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Sure there are a bunch of Rom-Coms that are far from great films. But scattered amongst all of these will-they-won’t-they stories are a plethora of brilliant performances from sensational actors. If you know where to look the best Rom-Coms are easy to find.

#1 Love Actually 

Love Actually is all around! No, but seriously, parts of this film have not aged well and have been written about and critiqued by far better writers and thinkers than me! The reason it makes my list is that tucked in this film are some truly wonderful performances from some of the most brilliant actors of this generation. Alan Rickman wonderfully side-eyes his way through a nuanced performance, Emma Thompson mixes strength and vulnerability, Liam Neeson shows he is more than an action guy in a nice jacket, the kid from Game of Thrones (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) is just sensational at a very young age and Hugh Grant dancing down the stairs is straight-up iconic. Don’t get me wrong it does have its fair share of problems, but in the right lens has enough positive qualities to warrant a re-watch.

#2 The Holiday 

Yeah look – I am as surprised as you are to see this film on the list. But even though its scores on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes are pretty terrible, this film has a couple of hugely redeeming qualities. The first is Kate Winslet, although her character is exceptionally frustrating for the majority of the film her performance and craft in the last third is absolutely sensational, particularly the confrontation scene with her and Rufus Sewell, who is a criminally underrated actor. The other factor that puts this onto the list is Jack Black. Jack Black is a brilliant actor to watch to see how to make just colossally large choices and pull them off. He is a true wild card and his energy and timing here bring the film to life wonderfully.

#3 10 Things I Hate About You 

Okay, now we are getting into the good stuff. 10 Things is a brilliant movie and I won’t hear a word otherwise. Let me take you back to 1999, Heath Ledger is a drop-dead handsome, Sinatra singing bad boy playing out the Taming of the Shrew with Julia Styles who while also being drop-dead beautiful (it’s the 90s – even the extras could be on the cover of Parisian fashion magazines!) gives the kind of ‘screw you’ energy that is so damn relatable in the modern world. She is frankly a damn icon in this film. Joseph Gordon-Levit plays a loveable geek to aplomb and the soundtrack here is the sort of sensational 90’s angst that will make you want to grab your skateboard and paint your nails. Worth more than a rewatch, buy a copy and thank me later. 

#4 Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie’s Dead Aunt) 

The most contemporary entry on our list is a joyful queer romance set in an Australian high school. Sophie Hawkshaw and Zoe Terakes play the titular roles in a criminally underrated Aussie Indie classic. Terakes particularly as the high-school badass shines in this wonderful queer romance as does Julia Billington in the role of Ellie’s dead aunt or more appropriately ‘Fairy Godmother’ as she prefers to be called. The plot here has a swathe of great twists and turns, the dialogue is wonderfully written and snappy as hell. It’s also shot really beautifully and features a range of brilliant Aussie actors as well. If you can find a copy I would heartily recommend a watch!

#5 When Harry Met Sally 

From the uber-contemporary to a 90’s classic. When Harry Met Sally is straight-up iconic and while predominantly brilliant, again some parts of this film have not aged well. The vast majority is still a wonderfully rapid-fire, comedy filled, exhilarating romance. One of the very best will-they-wont-they films sprinkled full of scenes where the three leads in Meg Ryan, Billy Crystal and Carrie Fisher all absolutely shine. There is a lot to learn here from how to follow an intention, a masterclass in listening and bold choices, particularly from Ryan who doesn’t necessarily get the credit she deserves. Carrie Fisher is brilliant here and lightyears away from her sci-fi work providing a grounded and captivating performance to compliment the other two leads. This film is also chocka-block full of classic one-liners and brilliant comedic timing. 

#6 500 Days of Summer 

Another oft-maligned gem, the birth of the manic-pixie-dreamgirl trope is far from a perfect film, but is indisputably charming as all hell. It is a great examination of placing people on pedestals, unrequited affection and idyllic love in a 2009 that seems like a lifetime ago and yet, alarmingly familiar. Zooey Deschanel excels in her peak role, while Joeseph Gordon-Levitt delivers a breakout performance that will establish him as one of the great actors of his generation and far more than some geeky kid in a high school rom-com. Seriously, watch his work in this movie, the guy really has chops! Deschanel too, she is aloof sure but charming, funny and with powerful emotional connection and real depth too. Worth a watch if you haven’t yet!

Conclusion

There you have it folks, a little taste of some brilliant rom-com’s spanning nearly thirty years! All of these films have their drawbacks, like any movie, but the actors here pull off some truly brilliant work that is worth watching for any aspiring actor. Even in the moments that might not be the best writing, seeing great actors take these scripts and bring them to life in such a way that really touches your heart, even decades after their release, is something to behold! Enjoy!

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Seeking work internationally is an exciting option for every actor with the means to do so. However, it comes with considerable risk, and requires planning and logistics. Ideally, a production company would manage it all for you if you book a big gig. Alternatively, in order to ensure you have the best chance of making it happen on your own, you need to ensure you have a body of work behind you, a solid base of training and contacts on the ground. Most importantly, do some sound research about life and industry in your new home.

Get Credits or Die Trying

One of the biggest fallacies in all of acting and entertainment is ‘getting discovered’. Young, often inexperienced actors, regularly tell me that they are planning on moving to LA and ‘getting discovered.’ When I ask about training, credits or craft, they are less interested—they maintain that all they need to do is turn up in a city of 10 million people (a million of whom are already actors) with no skills, experience or connections and some big-time producer will look at them and say: “This is it! The person I have always been looking for! My streaming show has its lead!”

More often than not, this tactic leads to working in hospitality jobs for extensive periods (which is fine, but not our semi-fictional actor’s goal), not getting auditions, living on the outskirts of town and having to beg family members for the cash to come home for Christmas. It’s tough, you guys. You really want to make sure you put yourself in the very best position to be successful before you leave.

One of the key ways to do this is to get good credits in your domestic market before you move internationally. This is either on stage, on-screen or both! If you turn up in LA with roles in multiple award-winning shorts, a couple of guest roles in TV and maybe a feature or two under your belt, you’re declaring: “I am an experienced professional from my own country and I am ready to work!” (This is to say nothing of having an agent with international connections on your team.) If you are turning up with nothing expecting something, you are destined for disappointment.

Make Sure you Like the Place

This is so important. This place that you want to move to, to really jump start your career … have you been there before? Do you actually like it as a city? As a place to live and build a life in? I am assuming that most people reading this article are contemplating moving to a bigger city with more acting opportunities. Internationally, this will tend to be LA, New York, Atlanta, Toronto, Vancouver, London, Edinburgh, Hong Kong, Sydney, Brisbane or Melbourne. All of these cities are massive—with unique flavours and personalities—good points and bad. You have got to ensure you like these cities as a place, first: as a place you can work in and build a long-term career.

I didn’t always live in Sydney. I grew up in Perth in Western Australia (Google it, it’s the most isolated state capital in the world.) I came to Sydney on a school trip when I was 15, and I knew immediately that I wanted to live here. The city is beautiful, with stunning beaches and inlets on the harbour, cool neighbourhoods and cafes, heaps more acting opportunities than my home town, and I have a lot of friends that have moved here as well. It wasn’t just that I wanted to change my career, it was a chance to change my life and get out of a city that was boring me to tears (sorry Perth!)

The first time I went to LA, though, that was a different experience. America is a wild place, my friend. Honestly? I found LA pretty uninviting. I was staying in a crap area (who knew Hollywood actually sucks?!) and the sheer amount of people and the intensity of the place was pretty overwhelming. I did find pockets that I enjoyed, though: Silver Lake was really cool and there were parts of Santa Monica that I liked as well. But I wasn’t taken with it the same way I was with Sydney. At the end of my time there, I had made a few friends and got a better understanding of how the town works. But I was in no hurry to pack up my life and move across the oceans to live there.

Think About Training There

A great way to increase your chances of getting a good agent/manager, sort out your visa situation and make some friends for life is to train or study at your new location! I can promise you that if you get into the three year, full-time program at AADA or Stella Adler you are going to come out of that program with friends, networking opportunities, a killer showreel and a bunch of industry folks having seen your work via the showcase or demo reel.

Additionally, you can get a student visa, which is a lot easier to get than the performer visas—particularly for the States. Even if you have done a bunch of training in your country of origin, enrolling in a short course is a great way to get some industry knowledge and make a few connections. We have lists of acting classes in LA as well as acting classes around the world not to mention the best drama schools around the world.

You never stop learning, you never truly master this craft. All we can do is just keep trying to get better, day by day, project by project and class by class. Working with experienced teachers in different locations always helps to do this, and it is also really useful when you are looking to move internationally for your career.

Unions, Visas and the Nitty-Gritty

Let’s assume, for a moment, that you have done all of the above: you’ve got some credits under your belt, you’re confident in your ability to work professionally—maybe you’ve even gone over to somewhere like LA for pilot season or visited for an extended period of time. You are set in your heart that you like the city, and you have some friends or family there that you can lean on if times get tough. Perhaps you’ve even found a course to do at a great school! The next step is to deal with a few items of truly nitty-gritty stuff before you buy that plane ticket and bust a move. To do this, I am going to use my own experience as a case study:

P.C. Abroad!

In 2019, I very nearly moved to Canada. My career in Sydney had been stagnating, I had a feature film under my belt as well as a few TV credits, but I was really struggling to get auditions. So I decided I was going to move to Vancouver. A whole bunch of film and TV gets made there, especially television. What’s more, Canadians are lovely humans (no shade to my American readers.) I had a few friends who’d moved there who were really enjoying it and crucially: it was super easy to get a visa.

Visa

A visa is an official document that allows the bearer to legally enter a foreign country. The visa is usually stamped or glued into the bearer’s passport. There are several different types of visas, each of which afford the bearer different rights in the host country. If you are going to stay in a foreign country for an extended period, you need a visa to legally work there. For Australians, if you are under 35, you can get a visa to live and work in Canada for three years; it’s easy to apply for and relatively cheap, too! I applied and was all set to go, but there were two main factors that stopped me from moving.

Unions

The first was the union situation. In Canada, the vast majority of professional jobs are union jobs, meaning you cannot apply for them or get them unless you are a union member. You can only join the Canadian union if you are a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident, which takes two years of living in the country to apply for, and costs a lot of money to get. I could get non-union roles (and there were some attractive options there) but I also knew that it was going to limit my ability to attract high-quality agents—and get on those next level bigger sets—until I was a union member. My question was: would I be better off staying in Australia and self-taping for projects, so that if I was successful the production company would sort everything out on my behalf? The answer seemed pretty clear-cut to me.

Healthcare

The other challenge was healthcare. Frankly, healthcare in Australia is free and bloody brilliant. I wasn’t planning on moving countries and getting injured immediately, but it was playing on my mind that if something went wrong I would be hugely out of pocket. Within six months of my deciding to stay in Sydney, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and I couldn’t be more thankful that I stayed home.

There are a lot of factors to consider when you are contemplating moving internationally to pursue an acting career. Acting is just one element of your larger life, no matter where you end up, and if you don’t consider each part of that larger life you can find yourself in a lot of difficult situations.

So, in my opinion, the very best way to move internationally and pursue acting is this: self-tape from home, kill it, nail the call-backs, chat with the director and producers, book the job. Then it’s up to the production company to sort your visa, housing, flights, etc. If you decide to DIY after all, power to you! Just make sure you keep the acting and non-acting factors in mind before you go.

Preparation is Everything

The long and short of all of this is that preparation is key. Weigh up your options of places to move to, pick somewhere that you have been and like, ensure you have support on the ground and opportunities ahead of you. Once you’re there, look to embed yourself completely in the local scene: go to classes, go to opening nights at theatres big, small and independent. Join the relevant casting websites! Get yourself into a few shorts and independent projects, make sure you find the social media accounts of all the major and independent production and theatre companies. Be across it all on an industry front.

On a personal level, make sure you have as much savings in your bank account as physically possible; have your CV and references ready to go so you can find a job to support yourself while you are getting settled. The basics of housing, internet connection, transport, visa, healthcare are all vitally important. The beauty of the internet is that you can check out all of these things online before you move.

I also can’t emphasise enough how important it is to develop a network of friends around you wherever you go. Being alone is no fun, you guys—even if you are living in the most fun city in the world! It’s all about being surrounded by great people; so do some classes, shorts and shows and make some friends!

Working Overseas as Actor: Conclusion

There you have it: the definitive guide on how to be an actor internationally. Do your research, plan carefully, keep studying and preparing. But if it’s something you’re really keen to pursue: don’t stop until you get there. Go for it! Get it done! And good luck.

The post How to Work Internationally as an Actor appeared first on StageMilk.

Getting footage of a short film you were in can be really tricky. Sometimes producers cannot let footage be seen until after the film has premiered. The process of post-production can take years and all in all it’s a tricky process. But with a mixture of patience and determination you can ensure you get what you deserve – footage for your reel!

Set Clear Expectations

One of the first things to do when you book a short film is to have a conversation with the production team about the post-production timeline. When do they expect the film to be done? Are they submitting it to any festivals that require a worldwide premiere and, all of that being the case, when do they expect that they’ll be able to get you a copy? It’s important to make the point, especially if you are working for free, that the real payment for this job is the footage for your reel. Having a showreel of professionally shot short films that really showcase your ability as an actor is so useful for your career that it makes the hassle of doing student or independent shorts really worthwhile. It is just important that you and the production team are crystal clear about expectations and deliverables with you and you with them, so everyone is on the same page.

So, Why Does It Take So Long?

This is a great question and one with a couple of answers. But let me run through the reasons why getting your footage is taking a literal age:

#1 The Edit

Friends. Editing doesn’t happen quickly. No matter how good or experienced the editor is that is attached to your film, it takes time and honestly, it has to. It is extremely rare that the film will turn out in reality as exactly what was put down on paper. Inevitably, in the edit suite, the film will change and this causes a lot of conniptions. Whether it was the weather that ruined a shot, a card getting corrupted, a below-average performance in a moment where they needed something extraordinary or just realising the way the film was written made no sense, editing can take an age. This is the first thing that can stop you from getting your footage in a timely manner.

#2 Post Production Bottlenecks

There are two things that nearly always slow the release of a film. Sound mix and colour grade. Now, this is no shade at mixers and colourists, more a point that for every 1000 actors there is a single sound mixer and .5 of a colour grader. These are highly specialised positions and the people that do it well, in both of these roles are in demand and under pressure. They are also both, extremely expensive. The same goes for VFX. I pity the short film that is highly VFX dependant. There are so many specialist roles in VFX work that are all, again, mind-blowingly expensive, again who are all mind-blowingly busy that they usually are working in low-budget shorts around their high-paid, tight-deadline professional work. All of these roles conform to the theory that you can have your project be good, quick or cheap; pick any two. Usually, producers go for good and cheap meaning it takes a long, long, long time to get through this process.

#3 Money

Ahh yes. The real reason why everything does or does not happen in life is usually because of that sweet cash money. Cheddar. Green. Benjis. Yes, if your production is running low on money, if the budget blows out, if they are waiting for funding to arrive before they can pay key post-production creatives, you will not be seeing your footage for a long time. Money can obviously be a huge stumbling block between your film being in post-production and your film never seeing the light of day. Generally the more experienced the producers, the better the likelihood of your film coming into reality, but there are no guarantees here. Especially in a world that is battling the pandemic money can be a major reason why your film isnt seeing the light of day any time soon. 

#4 Festivals

So here is a tricky little situation. For the filmmakers, the big drawcard to make a short is the international recognition of a film festival. Some of these festivals, particularly the biggest and best ones like Tribeca, Venice, Sydney, Toronto, Berlin etc will all want an international premiere for the film as a condition of entry. Meaning you won’t be able to have a copy of it, until it has gone on at the festival. Production cannot risk the film being leaked, it will jeopardize the entire project so they will not be sending copies out to cast and crew until after the festival premiere is confirmed and shown. This is a good thing to be aware of, after it has premiered they should be fine to sling you a copy.

Follow Up with Producers

So the only thing you can do as an actor to get your footage from a short or independent film is to follow up with the producers. It is absolutely vital that you keep your email professional. Ask what the timeline for the film is when they are expecting picture lock (when all changes to the film cut have been done and approved) which festivals they are looking at and most importantly when they expect to have a copy in your hands. As a producer myself I would be looking to allay any fears the actor might have and give them a solid timeline so they don’t keep hassling me! Keep it polite and professional with your tone and if you don’t hear anything back follow up in a fortnight. If you don’t hear anything back from that second email, give them a call.

If they don’t pick up or you can’t get a hold of them, reach out to the director or another member of the production team to see what has happened. Especially for low budget or no budget shorts, things can go downhill in post-production! So keep working till someone gives you an answer. Once you have a timeline from the production team – leave them alone! Get out of their hair and let them do their jobs. Follow up with another email when the film is supposed to be ready and see if they can sling you a copy!

Again it’s a tightrope balance of getting the footage you need without putting the production team offside. Remember, this entire industry is a people-based industry. You must foster good relationships with people. But at the same time, you don’t want to be a pushover, your payment is this footage and they have an obligation to get it to you. So be polite, assertive, patient, kind and understanding while also holding people accountable to do what they said they would do. Good luck!

Conclusion

So there you have it, an in-depth guide on how to get your footage back and what might be holding up the process. Remember, producing a short film is damn hard work and it is important to be kind and understanding with producers, especially new ones just starting out. That being said, so many actors work their backsides off and never see the results of their labour because production falls through the cracks. So keep on them, be polite, respectful and understanding at all times, and ensure you get what is rightfully deserved – great showreel footage!

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Your ‘typecast’ is derived from who you are. Your background, upbringing and how you present to the world are the key factors that will get you assigned to a role or a type. Early in your career, no one wants to see you ‘acting’, so it’s a good idea to build your brand around who you are today.

Your ‘Type’ Come From Who You Are

So let us unpack this thought just a little bit. What if I told you that Disney was right all of this time, that the magic really was inside you all along and all you had to do was believe in it? It’s true! The magical solution to finding out your type or your brand is – every single thing in your life, which has led you to this article today. Who your parents are, where you went to school, what jobs you have worked to survive, what makes you happy, what you are interested in, how you see the world and how the world sees you! These factors all combine seamlessly, often without you even thinking about it, to give us your type.

Let me quickly go on a tangent here about my girlfriend. She is not an actor but if she was, she would be going for very specific types of roles. If I was to describe her to you, I’d say that she is white, with long black curly hair and big bright blue eyes. That she wears glasses and has a lot of stripey tops, overalls and Converse shoes. She collects brightly coloured stickers, draws beautiful portraits and hilarious cartoons in her A3 flipbooks and loves old school Star Trek and terrible 80’s fantasy movies. You get a clear picture of who she is right? If she was an actor she’d be auditioning for supporting roles in Supernatural, New Girl and playing tech wiz or outsider characters in college romance movies or love interest roles in shows like Silicon Valley. Who she is, her background, how she presents herself to the world, and what interests her are all going to be the key factors in her type. She would want to lean into this type especially early in her career to maximise her casting opportunities. Fortunately for her, she’s a visual artist and doesn’t need to worry about all of this!

Defining Factors

The key defining factors that make up your type are as follows: your age, gender appearance, ethnicity, your hair, physicality and your voice. If you are 6’3, ripped, covered in tattoos, compete in MMA competitions and know how to operate a bandsaw it is unlikely that you will be cast in any wilting flower tech-wiz roles. You’re going to be going for leading person, muscle, or outsider gigs. At least initially! I keep saying early in your career and initially, because over time, once casting directors, agents, directors, producers and audiences see that you are comfortable playing roles close to who you are, they will offer more opportunities that require you to put on a bigger mask – roles further away from you or that require more acting, so to speak. So let’s break these categories down to see what factors make up a type.

Age: What is your playing range? It’s usually a 10 year period centred around your current age, i.e. 5 years younger than you are now to 5 years older. Don’t be one of those people who is constantly 27 for fifteen years. There are plenty of roles for people of all ages folks, and you are never getting any younger. Embrace it! Your age is a big factor in who you are, so bring it to the world!

Gender: If you are a cisgendered person who has no worries here and looks like, and was assigned at birth, the gender they identify as, then simply put that on your casting materials. For our non-binary and trans friends, there can be more to it. There has been a lot of progress on this front in the industry in the last five years, shows like Euphoria and L-Word have made big leaps in how non-binary and trans characters are represented being played wonderfully, by trans and non-binary actors. If you are out and proud, you will predominantly get cast as non-binary or trans characters, if you are not out yet (and that’s, of course, completely fine) you will be going for roles that align with how you present and/or the gender you were assigned at birth, so be aware of that as you continue your journey. Always feel free to talk to you agent about this; you want to make sure you’re on the same page, because they can help you present yourself to the industry the way you want to! 

Ethnicity: Slowly but surely our industry is getting more diverse, and less racist. It is far from where it should be, but it is getting better. Racial and ethnic background is going to form a major part of your casting.  Roles that were only the domain of white people are now being offered to people from all backgrounds and, while white people still do dominate the industry, there are a lot more opportunities for people of colour in all types of roles, worldwide. Similar to your age, embrace your cultural background, where you come from, and who you are today. All of these factors are vitally important in realising your casting type. This is another thing that you and your agent should have a conversation about! 

Physicality: How you look dramatically affects your casting; this is the only one of the things so far that you actually have control over. Your body size, shape and presence has a significant impact on the roles you get cast in. To be straight with you, if you are physically fit and traditionally attractive, you will get more casting opportunities than if not. This too has been changing recently, with more people with different body types and appearances succeeding in leading roles. However, you don’t need me to tell you that being hot always helps. A lot of being attractive is about being confident in yourself and who you are. Your style, your vibe, your lease on life and while you might not have Brad Pitts cheekbones you can have a part of his level of attractiveness if you back yourself.

Hair: Again, what you choose to do with your hair will impact your type. When I shaved my head and got a bit fitter, I went for a lot more castings as villains and bad guys. When I let it grow out and let my body get a bit softer, I go for a lot more nerds, a lot more best friends. It really does make a huge difference. Importantly here, ensure that your headshots reflect your current hairstyle. If you dramatically change your look, you need new headshots, so check your bank balance before you crack out the hair dye!

Case Study:

I present to you three versions of the same man. Me. Crew cut, long-haired, and the (current) short-haired vibe. You can see that even though I haven’t changed that much, how much difference there is between these three pictures. In the crewcut pic, I am genuinely scary. The long-haired kid is clearly here to fix your PC and install some new widgets into your servers. The final (and most recent) headshot is serving you the best of both worlds and a slightly more mature feel too.

The point here is that your hairstyle, length, colour and vibe dramatically affects your type. You want to ensure that your headshot reflects who you are and your presence to the world. That is why I am so happy with my current headshot because I think it reflects who I am really well. I am a smart guy, I do love computers and Dungeons and Dragons nights, I can also be a little intense and I do have a passion for dark dramatic roles on screen. I think that my current headshot reflects all of that, just as my older headshots reflect who I was at those points in my life. It all comes from you, who you are and how you present yourself and your unique personality to the world.

Voice: This is another aspect you can work on, alter and change but be aware that how you speak is also going to affect your casting. If you are trying to get work in an English speaking country and English is not your first language, you are highly unlikely to be offered roles where you are playing a native English speaker. If you speak very quickly and eloquently, you have a large vocabulary you’re going to be heading towards more high status, intelligent characters. If you come from a rough part of town, you’ve had to work multiple jobs since your early teens and so on, you have a specific, regional, working-class accent or dialect more likely than not you will be going for more working-class, less refined characters and roles. Now, this is one area you can change if you want to, you can learn accents, voice work and all of the other skills required to play a wide variety of characters and roles. But early on in your career, you will most likely be going for characters that have a similar accent or background to you. A great example of this is Matt Damon, in his first big role (that he wrote for himself) in Good Will Hunting plays a kid from the wrong side of the tracks in Boston. An accent and place he was very familiar with.

The combination of all of these factors adds up to your casting and your type. I will go into more detail below to give you some examples. But first, let’s talk about the common roles in the industry and the types of actors who get those gigs, so you can weigh up some similarities and differences and see if you can find your spot too.

Where Do You Fit In the Industry?

Now look, this is in a state of flux, more than at any other time in history. Steaming services, episodic storytelling, ensemble casts have blown a number of these ideas right out of the water. But, if you are really struggling to pinpoint your type then looking at a few archetypes here can be useful. All the examples of actors I am going to talk about here are those actors early in their career just as a reference point. Also, please note that these types are not exclusive, you can be a lead and a love interest, or a sidekick and a tech wiz or a villain and a mentor, I am just trying to frame some common types of roles and the actors who booked them to give you a jumping-off point.

Leading Person: Generally traditionally attractive, the protagonist of the story. Predominantly male, but a lot more diversity coming in these roles in recent years. George Clooney is your archetypal leading man, outrageously handsome, great emotional range can play a wide range of characters Clooney rose to prominence playing a handsome doctor on ER. Julia Roberts is your archetypal leading lady, in a perfect example of the patriarchy intrinsic in the film and television industry, she rose to prominence playing a sex worker with a hear of gold in Pretty Woman, but also proved her capacity for emotional vulnerability, playing a range of characters and most importantly driving a narrative forward in a prolific career to date. Other actors in this category are: Denzel Washington, Claire Foy, Cate Blanchett and Leonardo Di Caprio.’

Love interest: Hello romance! You may have noticed that nearly every single movie or TV show ever made has a love story in it somewhere. Why? Because love and relationships are a central part of the human experience. They are responsible for our survival as a species and also the source of much much drama. Your love interest is, you guessed it, usually very attractive, emotionally vulnerable and compelling to watch. Ryan Gosling is a classic male example, bringing a rawness, an honesty and a damn unbridled handsomeness to his work. Kate Winslet is your archetypal female love interest, especially early in her career, played a lot of beautiful, vulnerable, often highly emotionally charged romantic leads with aplomb. Other actors commonly in this category are: Emma Stone, Ewan McGregor, Ziyi Zhang and Timothée Chalamet.

Sidekick: Ahh the compelling sidekick, someone for the protagonist to bounce off, offer some comic relief or a different perspective. Ensemble TV and streaming programs often take these characters and turn them from supporting roles into leads over the course of a season. They can come in a variety of types from Eric to Ruby in Sex Education through to Willow in Buffy the sidekick is a vital and common archetype for actors. These characters are a lot more varied in their appearance and offer roles to many diverse actors. Classic examples of actors who played a lot of these sorts of roles early in their careers are actors like Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Steve Buscemi, Karen Gillan, Zoë Kravitz, Seth Rogen and Rebel Wilson.

Tech wiz: One for all my fellow nerds out there, if you have ever built a computer, written a program or own a pair of glasses, you may well find yourself cast in a tech wiz role. Scientists, hackers, engineers, doctors and specialists of any kind fall into this type. This type of character is ubiquitous in crime, action, music, health and information technology-based stories. There is usually a lot of crossover with the sidekick type and the outsider type here. Actors who booked these sorts of gigs to open their careers are people like Pauley Perrette who made the tech wiz role of Abbie on NCIS and Michael Cera who played some similar roles both in Arrested Development and Superbad. Other actors who booked in this vein are Seth Green, Danny Pudi, Christian Slater and Aubrey Plaza.

Muscle: Are you ripped? Do you have muscles bulging out of places? Can you lift heavy things and look intimidating? Well, guess what my friend you have the major qualifications required to go for muscle roles. Physically powerful, strong screen presence, and a background in martial arts or similar are common features for this type. Obviously, these sorts of actors are required a lot in sport, action, and crime productions but are also found in rom-coms, dramas and historical pictures. Plenty of WWE stars have jumped into films in these sorts of roles like The Rock, John Cena and Dave Bautista just to name a few. Gina Carano, Charlize Theron and Mila Jokovitch are some of the names to spring to mind as well. 

Villain: Bad guys. Hell yeah. Now, this is an exceptionally general term for antagonists and they come in a wide variety of roles for a hugely different group of actors. I guess the moral of the story there is villains can be essentially anyone. But I would argue they have to be excellent storytellers and have a certain edge that separates them from the more normal people around them. Whether that be physically, intellectually or emotionally. The good news is that as a villain you don’t have to be traditionally handsome, you can look all kinds of ways and book these jobs. The quintessential actor who books villain roles in the modern era for me is Madds Mikkelson. Madds’ is a brilliant actor, and genuinely terrifyingly quiet and intense. He’s made a career out of playing bad guys and, for me, no one does it better. Other actors who have booked here consistently are actors like Hugo Weaving, Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham-Carter and Glenn Close. 

Mentor: Ah yes, the mentor the older person with wisdom and advice who helps the younger protagonist find their way in the narrative. This type of role more often than not comes with age, but certain actors with great presence and a certain je ne sais quoi tend to book these roles regularly. They can also be a sidekick or an outsider but generally, their defining characteristics are a love for the protagonist and a desire to help them through their troubles. You can’t go past Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf in Lord of the Rings as the iconic mentor, his great friend and iconic British actor Dame Judi Dench also books a lot of this sort of character, notably M in the James Bond franchise. Other actors who have booked these sorts of roles are Geoffry Rush, Samuel L. Jackson, Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks and Jackie Weaver.

Outsider: Finally the outsider, the person who doesn’t quite fit in. They can be a lead, a supporting, a villain, or somewhere in between but what makes them their own category is the fact that they are different in some way from the world around them,  There are certain actors who just feel like they are on the outside of society or different to most people somehow and they tend to book these types of roles. The person who springs to mind for me here is Viggo Mortensen both in The Road and Lord of the Rings Viggo plays characters who are outside of society, either by choice or not, faced with insurmountable difficulties that we watch him push through. This archetype can regularly be an anti-hero as well and presents a lot of opportunities to a wide range of people to play these characters. Johnny Depp, Jonathan Groff, Jake Gyllenhaal, Carey Mulligan, Olivia Coleman and Elliot Page have made careers out of these types of roles.

Now obviously there are many other types of characters and all of the actors listed here have moved between these types seamlessly over the years as they have grown and changed as people and as actors. However, I think it’s clear that these types of characters occur a lot within the film, television and theatre worlds in a range of different ways. The purpose of this list is for you to look at and ask yourself ‘where do I fit in today?’

How Do I Apply This Information to Myself?

For me, predominantly I have been cast as sidekicks and tech wiz type characters for the majority of my career. This is because, as previously mentioned, I am a big ol’ nerd who loves computers, D&D, slap bass and The Mighty Boosh. I have a big circle of friends and I am really social. I am very tall and decidedly ginger, so when you put those factors together where are you going to put me on screen? You’re going to put me next to some outrageously handsome dude, and I’ll be funny and quirky while he’s cool and driven to move the plot forward. Every now and then, I get cast as a villain and I love it when that happens! Not because I particularly identify with evil per se, but more that, being a bad guy is so far from my usual experience that I really enjoy the travel to that world.

The question you need to ask yourself is ‘who am I? Who am I really?’ Take out a piece of paper and write down some facts about yourself, who were your parents? How were you brought up? Where did you grow up? Would you say you were working class, middle class or upper class? Are you an optimist or a pessimist? Are you book smart or streetsmart? Extrovert or an introvert? What do you love? What do you hate? What is worthless and what is priceless to you? Answer all of these questions as honestly as you can and paint a picture for yourself of who you are. Then look at that list above and ask yourself, just based on the information you wrote down if you had to be cast in one of those types this afternoon which one would it be? Don’t think too hard about it, just go with your gut. Once you have picked one, great! Find scenes and monologues in that vein to work on and create a body of work that best showcases your talent in your relevant type. Again. Your type isn’t forever, but it is a great jumping-off point to get you into work that best suits your attributes, especially at the start of your career!

Conclusion

There you have it folks and I really hope that helps. This stuff around types and branding can always feel a bit gross or wishy-washy so hopefully, this gave you some guidance. Remember it always starts with you, who you are and how you see the world. That is the story you need to be telling always and often. If you look for roles that you relate to, that help you express yourself and your story you will find audiences and industry connect to your truth in an amazingly powerful way. Good luck out there and if you’d like to find out more join us at StageMilk by clicking the link below!

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Becoming a famous actor takes training, resilience, discipline, dedication, and a healthy dose of luck. Being achingly beautiful also helps, but, in the end, it is all about talent and application to craft. Just like professional sportspeople, famous actors get to that position because they work harder, train longer, and sacrifice more to get what they want than anyone else around them.

Why Do You want to be Famous?

I think this is the best place to start. Asking the question: why do you want to be famous? If you wanted to be rich, then there are easier ways of doing it. Head to Wall Street and learn what the hell a hedge fund is and how you can run one. If it’s about what other people think about you: get some plastic surgery and really good filters and become an influencer. Or go on a reality show. Is it that you think that being famous will make you happy? That if you can just be on the Avengers Part XVII that all of your problems will cease to exist? Sure you won’t have to worry about paying your rent, but I can guarantee that you would find something else to be worried about instead.

Happiness, my friends, comes from within. You have to be happy with yourself, for who you are. And if you aren’t, no shift in scenery or notoriety is going to change that. I don’t need to tell you about all of the very famous actors who are no longer with us because, in spite of the fame, the notoriety, and the pay packet, they weren’t okay. And listen,  it is okay not to be okay, but you don’t need a million followers and an airconditioned trailer to fix your problems – what you need is therapy. Great places to look for UK, US, Australian and International therapy seekers. 

Our society teaches us that if you are famous you are valued; that if you are well known, and people ask for your autograph, that you are worthy. That if you look perfect, dress well, have the appropriate proportions for that fashion cycle then you are somebody. What if I told you that were somebody all along; all it takes is for you to believe that. No amount of money, or movie deals, or Lamborginis can give you that. It starts and ends with you. Sure all of those things are nice, not having to worry about rent and bills would be nice, but it ain’t going to fix your life. Only you can do that. Potentially you and a therapist. Again hit those links above. Therapy, folks. It’s great. Get around it. 

Still here? Okay fine. Let’s talk about how some famous people got there.

Traditional Trajectory to Fame

Please allow me to rip through a couple of super famous actors who have cracked it in the big time and we can examine their stories.

Famous Actors Case Studies

Benedict Cumberbatch – UK

The ‘Batch was born in 1976 to a wealthy family, both of his parents were actors, and his ancestry traces right back to Richard II King of England. A role he later played in The Hollow Crown. He did drama at school and was regarded as exceptionally talented, went to University in Manchester and got a BA in Drama before doing his masters in classical acting at LAMDA. After he graduated, he got picked up by an agent, began auditioning for projects on the West End. He spent 5 years doing smaller roles on TV shows like Spooks, Heartbeat and Silent Witness. He graduates in 2000 and doesn’t book a film job until the 2006 film,  Amazing Grace. It is another 6 years until he ‘makes it’ in Sherlock a gig that sets him up for the rest of his career. He does his first Marvel film in 2016 Doctor Strange. 16 years after graduating from his second degree in acting. 

Voila David – USA

Viola Davis was born in 1965 in South Carolina, the second youngest of six children, she ended up going to high school in Rhode Island where she participated in drama classes and showed a lot of talent. After high school, she went to Rhode Island College and studied theatre before successfully getting into the full-time acting program at Julliard. After graduating in 1992, she gets work in professional theatre and it takes four years for her to book film or TV work while receiving critical acclaim for her theatre performances. Through the 2000’s she plays numerous roles in films like Solaris, Traffic as well as a bunch of Law and Order’s. In 2008, she breaks through in Doubt followed by the simply incredible Fences in 2010 with the film version earning her an Academy Award in 2016, which catapults her to fame. Nearly 25 years after graduating from her second degree in acting, Davis becomes a household name and receives the recognition she deserves for her undeniable talent, work and dedication.

Hugh Jackman – AUS

Australia’s favourite son and all-around triple threat, Hugh, was born in Sydney in 1968. He went to a high-end private school and showed talent in drama. After graduating he did a one year course at The Actors Centre Australia. He was offered a role out of this on Neighbours but turned it down after successfully getting into the full-time course at WAAPA. Jackman graduates in 1994, on the night of his showcase he gets offered his first job. Technically he was unemployed for 13 seconds. By the end of that year, he is hosting Carols in the Domaine and has been on TV shows like Law of the Land, Halifax and The Man from Snowy River. In 1999, he starred in Oaklahoma onstage and onscreen and booked Wolverine in X-Men in 2000 a role he would reprise again and again in multi-million dollar films right up until 2017. In 2013, he wins a Golden Globe for his work as Jean Valjean in Les Misérables a role that if he wasn’t already famous, etches his name in history, again close to twenty years after graduating from his second acting degree. 

What Can We Learn About Becoming a Famous Actor?

So, what can we learn from these three actors, all incredibly famous, all at the apex of their careers, all playing roles in everything from Shakespeare to Marvel? How did they get there? Well, they all went to drama school. They all have two separate degrees or qualifications in acting, with each of them having at least one of them from the best drama schools in the world. They are also undeniably talented and were noticed from a young age. But perhaps more importantly, they have devoted themselves and their lives to their craft. These actors and the thousands of other famous actors like them have not just turned up on set and done it. They have not been ‘discovered’, they have trained. They have worked their asses off. This isn’t a flight of fancy or a fluke for them. They sacrificed and committed themselves to their craft. In the same way that Jordan, Messi, Williams, Bradman, Allcot, Brady, Biles and Phelps did (some sporting references for you all). Years of their lives, a commitment to being the damn best they could be and making sacrifices to get there. This is what it takes to be a famous actor.

Others that have followed this path: Mel Gibson, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt, Glenda Jackson, Sophie Okonedo, Allison Janney, Ben Whishaw, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Paul Rudd, Jessica Chastain, Danny Glover, Denzel Washington, Winona Ryder and many, many more. The best thing you can do, if you want to be a famous actor is start training and strap in for the long haul. 

Non-Traditional Trajectory to Fame

Now, I can hear a bunch of you saying ‘That isn’t always the case! So and so got discovered in a supermarket! Why can’t I if I go to the right supermarket?!’ And look. It might happen. It has happened. But it is kind of like basing all of your investment strategies on the right racehorse. Yes. Your horse could win the Derby. It could happen. But equally, it could break a leg on its first day or never be at the right race at the right time. It’s not exactly a sound investment strategy. In the effort of fairness however to my statement above, I am going to go through three other actors with unconventional paths and we can think about their paths too.

Dev Patel – UK

Born in 1990, in Harrow, North West London, Dev Patel was an extremely talented kid. He topped his high school drama, with a self-written practical performance that was so powerful he moved a visiting examiner to tears. He also made it to the National Championships for Tae Kwon Do but that is neither here nor there. In 2006 his mum saw a casting ad in the paper for Skins which, despite no experience and only high school for training, Patel booked. He did two seasons of the show while finishing up at high school. He graduated in 2007, and successfully auditioned for Slumdog Millionaire. A Danny Boyle feature that would be his breakthrough success. He followed this with the excellent Newsroom, internationally acclaimed Lion which he was awarded his second Oscar nomination, ten years after his first part in Skins.

Jennifer Lawrence – USA

Lawrence was born in Kentucky in 1990. She did church and school plays and shows through primary school and showed a high level of interest in drama. On a family holiday in New York, she was 14, she was spotted by a talent scout and encouraged to audition for an agent. After reading for a few roles, agents said that she was the best talent they had seen at that age. Her mum thought they were lying! She signed for a big agency at a young age and began auditioning for LA projects, she dropped out of school and moved to LA to pursue her career. Her first job Company Town failed to sell but she got small parts on Monk and Medium. Her first big job came in 2008 on The Burning Plain opposite Charlize Theron. 2010’s Winters Bone was a huge success and was followed by her best-known work The Hunger Games series in 2012. Lawrence’s exceptional talent and powerful performances meant that from her first role in 2006 by 2012 she had won an Oscar for Silver Linings Playbook. An exceptional actor. 

Heath Ledger – AUS

Heath was born in Perth, Australia in 1979 he played Peter Pan in a school production when he was 10. He sat his high school exams early at 16 and drove across the country with a friend to take a small role in Clowning Around in Sydney – he played an uncredited orphan in the indie feature. Off the back of that, he got roles in Ship to Shore, Home and Away and Blackrock which served as his actual feature debut in 1997. Two years later he had a breakout year with Two Hands (which became an Aussie classic) and the much loved US hit 10 Things I hate about you. As we hit the early 2000’s Ledger became hot property in the States, Monsters Ball, A Knights Tale, The Order, Casanova and Lords of Dogtown all followed. In 2005 Brokeback Mountain came out for which he received a Golden Globe, Oscar and BAFTA. Tragically, Ledger died in 2008 following his incredible performance in The Dark Knight a role for which he posthumously received a second Oscar amongst many other awards.

So what can we take from these unconventional actors? Well, mainly that it is possible to find fame as an actor without going to drama school. But instead of doing your training at university, you do it on the job instead. You can also see how early all of these actors got into their work. All three of them started working as actors in their teens, by the time they were in their twenties they were at their peak, by thirties, veterans. They started early, and they all sacrificed a lot. They all unequivocally committed to their craft. Ledger and Lawrence moved across the country, Patel spent months touring India for Slumdog Millionaire, they sacrificed and worked and pushed themselves. This is not something that can be done overnight. For every overnight success you can find, I will show you the decades of work it took to get there!

What are you prepared to do to get there?

Which brings us to the question of what are you prepared to do to get what you want? Are you prepared to prioritise acting, to devote your time and effort and energy to it – in the knowledge that it does not owe you anything in return? Bryan Cranston says, ‘If you can do anything else, you should do anything else.’ If you have the ability to fix cars, or build furniture or manage a spreadsheet and you enjoy it – then acting isn’t for you. If you are obsessed with acting, you want to work on it all the time and you have an unquenchable desire to be successful at this wild craft then sensational! It’s time to get your act together. The very best thing you can do – outside of moving to New York and hoping to be discovered like the millions of other people that do that every year, even to this day – is to go to drama school. Get training, get experience and get yourself in the right place and the right time! That is the best way to get famous. With a complete and utter dedication to craft and a determination to follow it through no matter how hard things get.

Conclusion

If you are still reading this, and you are still committed to being famous – I commend you. I don’t think being famous is what being an actor is about, being famous is a symptom of being a good actor, not the other way around. You can see from all of our examples today that hard work, talent, determination, grit and passion are the key factors you need to be a famous actor. If you are looking to start that journey and you want some guidance on your path then you should check out our StageMilk Scene Club by clicking the link below!

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The best auditions are authentic, vulnerable and connected performances where the actor shows us who they really are, under imaginary circumstances. This article contains some of those auditions, watch them and take note of what these actors do so well, to add that to your own work!

#10 Michael Cera – “Superbad”

Michael Cera is a massively underrated actor. The criticism he cops is that too often he is ‘playing himself’, but I think that is a massive strength rather than a weakness. The reason Cera has worked consistently across film, theatre and TV from the time he was a child is that he is not afraid to show the camera who he is and how he feels about the world around him in everything he does. He is vulnerable and authentic and most importantly, unpredictable in this scene. The way he turns on his friend, the way he uses sarcasm to attack is all really alive and grounded in impulse rather than a rehearsed choice that he looks to execute. He is wonderfully present here and importantly, he listens wonderfully to Rogen. His choices are unique, in the sense, they all genuinely come from him. So often, actors are caught trying to do something they think the audience wants to see, as opposed to doing what they would actually do if they were in that situation. Cera does all of this wonderfully here and Superbad was a colossal success partly because of his performance.

#9 Brie Larson – “Scott Pilgrim vs The World”

Okay, look: I love Scott Pilgrim vs the World, it’s one of my favourite movies, and the clip here from Brie Larson is super small but there is a reason it makes the list. The reason it makes the list is how much of a strong choice she makes here. She has created this heightened character that is this super cold, emotionless creature with this deep velvety voice. Can you imagine how bad this could have gone? So bad. This could have been a total disaster, but she nails it here. This is a great tape to watch to remember to back yourself and believe in your choices. If you go for a big choice and you believe in it, and importantly it is grounded in the text then you will be rewarded for your risk! Do the work, believe in yourself and when in doubt go for something more ambitious rather than less!

#8 Tom Hanks & Robin Wright – “Forrest Gump”

Two for the price of one. Damn, this is delightful. These two actors, obviously incredibly talented and these are more screen tests than they are first auditions, but there are a couple of things here that I think is worthwhile examining. The first and clearest thing for me here is tone: these two actors understand the tone of this film wonderfully. Their performances are genuine, spontaneous, delightful and impulsive, but they’re also hyper-aware they are not in a sitcom or something stylised like Brie Larson above. They understand the sensibility of the screenplay and look to bring it authentically to life in this moment. Additionally, their relationship is really clear. You understand exactly what they mean to each other at this moment. The combination gives them real freedom to play in the moment which is where we get so many of the truly delightful moments in this scene. Great stuff. 

#7 Shay Mitchell – “Pretty Little Liars”

And now for something completely different, Shay Mitchell found huge success in Pretty Little Liars; here, she shares her audition tape on Youtube. This is interesting because you get to see her live reaction to her own tape, it’s a great example of actors judging themselves really harshly. I think of every creative role in the world, actors give themselves the hardest possible time. Shay finds this tape really difficult to watch back, but it’s clear why she got the job! Her image work here is sensational, she really sees the world around her and ensures her eyelines are in the frame while she does it. She has a great connection to the text and a clear understanding of the relationships in the scene. As with the other tapes so far, you can see how authentic she is here, she isn’t trying to pretend anything, it’s really genuine! And her story of getting the job and that experience that she talks about at the end is heartwarming too, take a look!

#6 Adam Driver – “Girls”

It’s hard to remember a time before Adam Driver was a household name, but back before Girls, he was just a regular everyday guy like you and me. He was the first person they saw for the role of Adam in Girls and hearing Lena Dunham, the show’s creator and star, talk about him is sensational. While he does make a big physical choice in the impro (that is super risky and we wouldn’t recommend doing – especially not without consent from the other actor!) What I really want to draw your attention to here is the scene they do about texting when they are sitting down together. Watch Driver’s eyelines and images here! Check out his listening! The guy is so alive and present and authentic in his performance. Importantly though, he makes sure we don’t lose him for a second of this. We watch him listening to her, he hardly looks at her through the scene and when he does it is significant. We feel his aloofness, his intelligence and her anxiety and playfulness. The combination is exactly who these two characters are in the script. It’s a nigh-perfect example that it is not the acting that gets the role it’s the actor. You are already the character, you just need to show us who you are under these imaginary circumstances. 

#5 Ruby Barker – “Bridgerton”

Now we are starting to get to the point in the list where we are seeing actors combining the successful attributes of previous tapes and pulling it all together. Barker here has a wonderful understanding of the relationships between these two characters, the environment the scene takes place in, she uses images and eyelines wonderfully, she understands the tone of the show and delivers her performance pitch-perfect for the format. But what is most impressive, is that she comes off as empathetic in a scene where she says some very harsh words to her scene partner. The reason this happens is that because she is so authentic about it, she is not pretending anything in this scene! The way she challenges the reader here, she fights every damn minute for the status in the scene and refuses to back down is breathtaking to watch. A masterclass. 

#4 Dean Norris – “Breaking Bad”

I love this audition. If you have watched Breaking Bad (and if you haven’t, what the hell are you doing reading this article? Open a new tab. Find Breaking Bad. Watch it. Come back. Go. Go now!) If you have seen the show, you’ll know this is the exact same size, shape and type of performance that Norris brings to six seasons and a movie of this show. He is the perfect epitome of your alpha male, arrogant, annoying uncle. He thinks he’s a real hotshot, but somehow amongst all of his obvious flaws, he is very likeable. Norris here is incredibly authentic and genuine. We really feel like we are at a barbeque at his house listening to a conversation with him and his in-laws. The other thing that I love about this tape is that he makes a mistake! He calls another character, his own character’s name! And it doesn’t bother him at all, he just drives on through, total water off a ducks’ back. How many times have you got a name wrong in a script and it’s ruined the moment for you, or you have laughed at yourself, or you have started again, embarrassed with yourself? So often that ruins takes, Norris here pushes on and books the job with this! A wonderful example that it is the life – not the lines that matter. Brilliant. 

#3 Dacre Montgomery – “Stranger Things”

What, did you think we would have a list of great auditions and not put Dacre’s tape for Stranger Things in the list? Please. Who do you think we are? This is a sensational tape for a lot of reasons, yes he dances shirtless between scenes and plays some cracking jams but the real point here is his quiet intensity, and the incredible work he does with his eyes. Watch that first scene and take a note of when he blinks. By my count, in a 2 min scene, he blinks 4 times. We just do not lose his eyes for the whole time. The eyes are the window to the soul, if we don’t see your eyes it might as well not have happened, whatever the moment is! Montgomery does a sensational job of seeing the environment around him, being connected to imagery and staying right on his reader all while keeping his eyes open and in the frame. No one likes watching someone blinking!  Also, listen to how he uses volume! Montgomery knows the mic is going to be close to him, and instead of getting loud at the climactic point of the scene, he gets real quiet, and real threatening. It’s fantastic to watch.

#2 Gabourey Sidibe – “Precious”

Now this one, this one really choked me up. Gabourey Sidibe is nothing short of completely sensational in this tape, and what she gives us here is something I haven’t talked about in-depth yet: emotional connection and stakes. The stakes here are so friggin’ high, Sidibe has personalised the world and the information in the scene so much that it is genuinely affecting her in the moment. She is super raw here, super vulnerable and so connected to the emotional stakes of the text. There is not a moment of this where we feel like she is pretending, or acting or false in any way. It is all distinctly coming from her, it really means something to her, more than something it all means everything to her. Also, listen to the reader, check out how little the reader is giving her? She is working in tough conditions as an actor and absolutely excelling. This tape really affected me, my stomach clenched up, I teared up a little bit and it is just the freaking audition! Incredible. 

#1 Henry Thomas – “E.T.”

The O.G. of auditions. This is incredible. Let me set the scene for you. You’re Henry Thomas, you have auditioned for the lead role in the new Spielberg movie E.T. You get through rounds of auditions and it all comes down to this. You’ve done the scene a bunch of times, you are in the room with Spielberg, a reader, your parents and a bunch of other people from the studio. Spielberg gives you an improvisation, that the reader is going to be an FBI agent come to take E.T. away and you can’t let him. Off you go—oh,m,n and this whole time, you’re 6 years old. I don’t know what the actual hell I would do in that situation, but I can show you what Henry Thomas did, and it’s incredible. Relationships, given circumstances, objective, environment, eyelines, emotional connection, stakes, bold choices and a huge amount of authenticity, it’s all here. That voice you hear at the end? Yeah, that is Spielberg saying ‘Okay kid, you got the job!’ Sensational stuff. Enjoy!

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To act drunk you have to understand your given circumstances, just how drunk are you? How does that affect you? What have you been drinking and for how long? Most importantly, it is better to do less than more, trying to hide how hammered you are will serve you best!

Understand the Given Circumstances

As with any other emotional or physical state in a text, the place to start is with the given circumstances. Who is this character? Why are they drinking? Where are they drinking? Who are they drinking with? How long have they been drinking for? Each character in each text is going to have a different response to these questions which will undoubtedly affect their behaviour on stage or on screen. Let’s take a character like Falstaff in Henry IV by William Shakespeare. Falstaff spends their time primarily drinking at the Boars Head Inn and is described as a fat, vain and boastful knight.

There is a big difference in this character doing a scene at the Boars Head Inn, surrounded by their friends and deep into their cups (say on his 8th beer) than this character drinking whiskey alone and doing a soliloquy to themself. In the pub, he is more likely to be loud, confident, sloppy, slurry and stumbling. Alone is a different matter. Drinking alone usually implies a degree of sadness that may result in more of an emotional vulnerability.

Just because a character is drinking doesn’t mean every kind of drunkenness is the same. There are varieties, shades of grey and intricacies that encompass every type of drunkenness and only by getting deep into the script analysis and given circumstances are you going to be able to figure out where your scene sits for your character.

Richard Roxbrough, famed Aussie actor of Moulin Rouge, Van Helsing and Rake amongst many others said “‘Remember that the person that you’re playing almost invariably doesn’t want to appear drunk,’ he said. ‘In bad drunk acting, you see somebody wobbling around all over the place and slurring their words in a very overt way.’” You can read the full interview here instead, work for subtlety! Less is more when it comes to drunk acting.

Reflect on Your Own Experience

Importantly, reflecting on how you behave when intoxicated is a very important activity at this stage. Alcohol affects everyone a little differently, for example I am a 6’2 near 90 kg male and I really love drinking alcohol. It’s delicious. For me, after four or so beers I have a nice buzz going, my confidence is up and my inhibitions are starting to drop. Four beers for my partner however and she is ready for bed. Forget about it, she is heading straight for her PJs and ready to hit the hay! Take notice next time you are out drinking about what you are consuming and how it affects you and the people around you. You might even notice that different alcohols affect you differently.

Rum for example has a reputation of making people more aggressive, red wine particularly varietals like Shiraz and Syrah have a reputation for making people sleepier, gin has the reputation of making people sadder. Again, this is going to be different for everyone. My sister for example gets very argumentative while drinking Prosecco but nothing else! It can be without rhyme or reason!

What is important here is authenticity, and going right back to given circumstances basics, if you were in this position, how would this particular alcohol affect you? And how would you be behaving?

Don’t ‘Act’ Drunk

This is the big one, as in the Roxbrough quote above, drunk people, more often than not are trying to hold it together and not appear too drunk. Let’s be honest, while it is an accepted part of culture in many places, being obviously drunk can get you in trouble with the bar, the police and other strangers in your general area. Most of the time, people who are drunk do not want to appear too drunk. In that same interview with The Times Roxborough said “The more determined they are not to seem drunk,  the more clearly drunk they will seem.” Now this is great advice from an experienced actor here. Roxbrough made a late career hit with Rake which has since been syndicated in the UK and USA largely off the back of his character, an alcoholic lawyer. 

The mistake many young or inexperienced actors make is trying to do too much with their performance, over acting the drunkenness of the character to the point that it is clearly fake. Instead, the actor must have a good grounding in the given circumstances and look to achieve less is more, hiding away their drunkenness and appearing to be as sober as possible. This tension line internally for the actor generally brings about a more convincing drunk performance.

Get Dizzy

Another tip, particularly for that later stage of drunkenness when things are all starting to get a bit blurry is using dizziness to your advantage. Both Asher Keddie star of Offspring and the Danish actors behind the acclaimed film Another Round have subscribed to this tactic, they were interviewed by BBC Culture a few years ago. Literally spinning on the spot as fast as possible before a take! 

‘To help themselves seem properly dizzy, the actors would spin around before each take – well, some of them. “I don’t think Mads Mikkelson did that,” notes Vinterberg.’ You can read about their experience and views on acting drunk here. 

Spinning around can be a useful trick to help create that unsteadiness in the body that is required for believable drunk acting. Wherever safe and possible, it is always good to have a physical sensation that you don’t have to completely invent. Dizziness is an easy sensation to achieve that can help you, in combination with your given circumstances work and an active imagination!

Get Loud

Alongside that unsteadiness that excessive booze gives you, another key factor of the drunk is volume. Generally speaking, your drunkard gets louder rather than softer. This works nicely in combination with that dizziness sensation above, but importantly make sure you are still really talking to the people that are in your scene. This is an easy one to overdo, no one wants to hear excessive yelling for long periods of time. Think of it as going for extra resonance rather than simply yelling. From that same BBC Culture article ‘ the next stage of drunkenness is when “nobody’s listening anymore, it’s just people talking very, very loud”.

Volume can be an excellent vocal tactic to play with to enhance the drunkenness of your performance. Additionally a slight slurring of the words can be useful too, but be aware –  Less is more again here. Watch this video below from Rake on ABC TV featuring Richard Roxborogh doing this wonderfully. He is a little loose, a little unsteady, this volume is slightly raised and there is a subtle slurring of the ends of words. A pitch perfect performance.

Get Confident

The final and most important tip to act drunk onstage or on screen is confidence. Imagine that your confidence is on a volume dial on your TV. I want you to grab your internal remote, and ramp the confidence right up to 11! What happens with alcohol consumption is that your internal levels of inhibition go down, you are literally less inhibited to say or do things that you wouldn’t normally do. Drunk people are more inclined to jump off that roof, or put money down on that game or take that risk. What that is about, is confidence. And for you the actor attempting to play someone who is drunk, ramping up your confidence is really going to help.

You can see it wonderfully in that clip above from Rake – just go and check that out again. See how Roxborough’s character is saying things that would not be appropriate in a social situation, the mostly drunk wine glass in front of him and the very cutting dialogue tells us this character has clearly been drinking for a while and is prepared to speak his mind! If you were to play that scene, then having a clear idea of what you’ve been drinking, how you feel about the people around you, how the alcohol is affecting you and where your inhibitions are is going to be vital.

Next time you have to play a drunk character, start with confidence! Try ramping that confidence up to 11, and in conjunction with the given circumstances, the dizziness and the volume you are on a good path for a convincing performance.

If Appropriate, Get Experience

See the first part of that sentence? If appropriate! You have probably noticed at no point in this article have I recommended you actually get hammered. This may well not be appropriate for you and your circumstances. I can say unequivocally that it is NEVER appropriate to turn up drunk or even under the influence for an audition, a role, a performance or a shoot day. It is never the right thing to do, and it is never necessary.

Richard E. Grant, the famed British actor, has a medical issue with alcohol. For his role in Withnail and I, the director insisted he got drunk on his own time, to ensure he unstood what it would be like for the character. That BBC Culture article tells the rest of the tale: ‘Grant dutifully worked his way through two bottles of champagne, and was retching in agony for hours while his wife asked, “Why don’t you just try acting?”’

Personally, I side with both the director and Richard’s wife! I think if you are playing a character who drinks a lot, then you should experience what that feels like for you, if it is safe, possible and most importantly if it is legal for you to do so! Alcohol is an addictive, controlled substance that is regulated for a reason. However, if you have no idea what it feels like to be drunk, you are really going to struggle to portray it. You want to have some reference point for the physical effects of booze on your system, so when it comes time to perform, you are able to recall the physical sensations to bring an authentic performance.

Similarly, John Travolta was preparing for his role in Pulp Fiction where he played a hitman with a heroin addiction. Travolta’s character at one point in the film has to shoot up heroin. Now the actor, understandably not wanting to try one of the most dangerous, illegal and addictive substances in the world, instead went and did his research. He talked to recovering addicts and asked them what it felt like to do heroin, and learnt that the closest thing to it was to be drunk on tequila in a sauna. When you watch the movie and see that scene, being drunk in a sauna is what he is recalling in that moment! And it is incredibly convincing!

All of that is to say, if you are unwilling or unable to try alcohol that is absolutely fine. Do your research instead! Watch and study drunk people in real life and on Youtube! Google the physical symptoms of alcohol consumption and play around with what that might feel like and find something similar that is appropriate for you. As long as you can find something similar, that works for you and helps you tell the story of the moment, you are on the right track!

Conclusion

There you have it folks, a definitive guide to how to act drunk! As a recap it is all about understanding the given circumstances, making it real and appropriate for yourself, getting dizzy, getting loud, getting confident but most importantly do not overcook it! Remember that most drunk people do not want to appear drunk! Try and keep it together, the more drunk your character is, the bigger the need to keep it together! And finally if it is safe and appropriate for you to do so, get some experience with alcohol away from acting in a law abiding way or find something else that approximates the sensations to help you believably act drunk! If you would like to regularly practice your acting, you should come and join us at the StageMilk Scene Club below!

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