My friend and teacher Stephen Tobolowsky was fond of telling us, “If you’re going to steal, and by all means do, then steal good.” It’s a smart practice if done properly. Creative types are always “borrowing” ideas, often blurring the line of outright theft, but we should at least take something useful.
(Ultimately, my rationale is this: in the end, I’m either going to do it consciously or unconsciously, so I may as well fold it into my mindfulness practice and be aware of it.) Read more…
If I have a regret in my professional life it’s that I didn’t get a degree in theatre. Countless people have done fine without it, of course, but I would have benefitted from it. I’ve studied, and have returned to doing so, but there’s something to enrolling in a program that teaches you everything from voice to fencing to working with text, and makes you sweat it out for a few years exclusively. Read more…
The best thing to be on set is the least talented person. If that sounds horrible, try this angle: by being the least talented person, assuming you have some basic skills and awareness, you will be forced to raise your game to a new level. A challenge surely awaits, and nothing is better for creative growth than a stiff challenge. Nothing. Read more…
Last summer I did a film in which I had to deliver speeches to crowds. And every time after filming, I nearly lost my voice, which caused me no end of embarrassment. How can a professional actor not know how to support his voice for two days? It was another reminder that I had gotten off-track in nearly every aspect of my life. Read more…
I did something today I’d not done in over a decade: I presented a scene in a class. I expected to be nervous, but somehow a preternatural calm came over me, as if I belonged. Still, it wasn’t until after the critique that I understood the full impact of what I’d done. How can I put it? I resuscitated a shark. (This will make sense in a few sentences.) Read more…
There is no higher art than learning itself. Returning to study this month has reminded me why I started in on this profession of acting in the first place. We need it to understand ourselves, and, at its best, those of us who put our faces, bodies and voices on display are offering a way to make sense of our collective experiences in this lifetime. We aggrandize the normal in order to highlight its significance. But I’m not so naive to believe these things are always offered with such noble intentions – there’s that little matter of narcissism, ego, and an unhealthy need for attention that seems to linger in most actors. Still, there are two sides to this coin. Read more…
