Reply to Topic
What does it take to become an Actor/Actress? I have always thought that I could do a pretty good job at acting. But what kinds of qualifications are needed?
What does it take?
Someone just asked this same basic question, recentlyhere. They were asking what they should do, which is a little different, I guess, but you should check out that thread.
"What it takes" depends, really. Getting an education is a very important part of it though. The most successful actors out there are educated and very smart, even if they may play people who aren't. Bruce Willis, for instance, has a degree in business. Sharon Stone has an IQ of 150. You have to be able to understand things in order to communicate them, and you never know what you'll be asked to communicate next, so study anything and everything that interests you.
Read. Boleslavsky, Stanislovsky, Uta Hagen (Respect for Acting, start with this one) are all famous teachers of acting. Also read biographies on actors you like. You can learn useful things from them.
It also takes knowing how to use your body to communicate. Study dance, play sports, take martial arts. Watch how other people move, how they talk, notice what it makes you think about them. Take care of your body.
Train your voice. Take singing lessons, even if you don't plan to do musicals. Actors use their voices a lot and using it wrong will damage it. If you can't talk, you can't act. (unless you're Melanie Griffith) Learning how to use your voice correctly will save you surgery in the future.
Do theater. Movie acting is different, but the skills you build doing theater make it possible to have control over yourself that helps a lot in movies. You also learn acting from other actors, and learn how to be part of the whole scene. Also, the trend in Hollywood right now is toward using theater actors, because they're more trained, have developed their craft and skills and are less trouble than "movie stars".
If all of this sounds like too much work... go do something else. This is just the prep work.
"What it takes" depends, really. Getting an education is a very important part of it though. The most successful actors out there are educated and very smart, even if they may play people who aren't. Bruce Willis, for instance, has a degree in business. Sharon Stone has an IQ of 150. You have to be able to understand things in order to communicate them, and you never know what you'll be asked to communicate next, so study anything and everything that interests you.
Read. Boleslavsky, Stanislovsky, Uta Hagen (Respect for Acting, start with this one) are all famous teachers of acting. Also read biographies on actors you like. You can learn useful things from them.
It also takes knowing how to use your body to communicate. Study dance, play sports, take martial arts. Watch how other people move, how they talk, notice what it makes you think about them. Take care of your body.
Train your voice. Take singing lessons, even if you don't plan to do musicals. Actors use their voices a lot and using it wrong will damage it. If you can't talk, you can't act. (unless you're Melanie Griffith) Learning how to use your voice correctly will save you surgery in the future.
Do theater. Movie acting is different, but the skills you build doing theater make it possible to have control over yourself that helps a lot in movies. You also learn acting from other actors, and learn how to be part of the whole scene. Also, the trend in Hollywood right now is toward using theater actors, because they're more trained, have developed their craft and skills and are less trouble than "movie stars".
If all of this sounds like too much work... go do something else. This is just the prep work.
__________________
Review: Cabin in the Woods 8/10
Review: Cabin in the Woods 8/10
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
Originally Posted by SamsoniteDelila
Someone just asked this same basic question, recentlyhere. They were asking what they should do, which is a little different, I guess, but you should check out that thread.
"What it takes" depends, really. Getting an education is a very important part of it though. The most successful actors out there are educated and very smart, even if they may play people who aren't. Bruce Willis, for instance, has a degree in business. Sharon Stone has an IQ of 150. You have to be able to understand things in order to communicate them, and you never know what you'll be asked to communicate next, so study anything and everything that interests you.
Read. Boleslavsky, Stanislovsky, Uta Hagen (Respect for Acting, start with this one) are all famous teachers of acting. Also read biographies on actors you like. You can learn useful things from them.
It also takes knowing how to use your body to communicate. Study dance, play sports, take martial arts. Watch how other people move, how they talk, notice what it makes you think about them. Take care of your body.
Train your voice. Take singing lessons, even if you don't plan to do musicals. Actors use their voices a lot and using it wrong will damage it. If you can't talk, you can't act. (unless you're Melanie Griffith) Learning how to use your voice correctly will save you surgery in the future.
Do theater. Movie acting is different, but the skills you build doing theater make it possible to have control over yourself that helps a lot in movies. You also learn acting from other actors, and learn how to be part of the whole scene. Also, the trend in Hollywood right now is toward using theater actors, because they're more trained, have developed their craft and skills and are less trouble than "movie stars".
If all of this sounds like too much work... go do something else. This is just the prep work.
"What it takes" depends, really. Getting an education is a very important part of it though. The most successful actors out there are educated and very smart, even if they may play people who aren't. Bruce Willis, for instance, has a degree in business. Sharon Stone has an IQ of 150. You have to be able to understand things in order to communicate them, and you never know what you'll be asked to communicate next, so study anything and everything that interests you.
Read. Boleslavsky, Stanislovsky, Uta Hagen (Respect for Acting, start with this one) are all famous teachers of acting. Also read biographies on actors you like. You can learn useful things from them.
It also takes knowing how to use your body to communicate. Study dance, play sports, take martial arts. Watch how other people move, how they talk, notice what it makes you think about them. Take care of your body.
Train your voice. Take singing lessons, even if you don't plan to do musicals. Actors use their voices a lot and using it wrong will damage it. If you can't talk, you can't act. (unless you're Melanie Griffith) Learning how to use your voice correctly will save you surgery in the future.
Do theater. Movie acting is different, but the skills you build doing theater make it possible to have control over yourself that helps a lot in movies. You also learn acting from other actors, and learn how to be part of the whole scene. Also, the trend in Hollywood right now is toward using theater actors, because they're more trained, have developed their craft and skills and are less trouble than "movie stars".
If all of this sounds like too much work... go do something else. This is just the prep work.
