ALT-2 Steps to Success in Acting
I got a BA degree in Theatre, and all through my undergraduate career I won award after award. I took to acting like a fish to water. I learned dance, and mime, and even worked professionally. I was, for a time, touring my own improv children's theatre. I was even getting roles in productions directed by such greats as Jose Farer, when he directed me in Arthur Miller's, Death of a Salesman. I had arrived, I was in the union. I acted in off Broadway productions, and was accepted in a national audition for a touring company. I was one of five actors hired to tour Europe, performing classical Shakespeare.
I was well on my way to making it, because I had talent, and I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time; I was meeting all the right people. I firmly believe acting is a talent you are born with, and studying the art of acting, only brings out what talent you already posses.
For the sake of argument, let us assume you have the gift, the makings of a great thespian. Like cream you will move to the top of your chosen art form, acting. There you will find hundreds of actors as good or even better then you. These are people who like you are also blessed with an inordinate amount of talent. At this point luck, contacts, and perseverance will prevail. There are pitfalls an actor must avoid. Actors are sensitive people, gentle people buffeted by even the slightest emotions, and many a great actor buckles under the emotional pressure of competition, but more often crushed by the occasional failure, unable to rise above harsh criticism. The hardest criticism, is any criticism.
The pain of feeling deeply, as most good actors' experience, sometimes leads to self- destructive behaviors, such as alcohol abuse, or drugs. A good actor sometimes finds his harshest critic is himself, and unless he has friends he can trust, to see him through difficult times and poor choices, he is doomed to a life of what could or should have been.
I do not mean to sound cynical, acting is the hardest profession there is, and although under rated, it is one of the most important professions on the planet. Actors make the world laugh and cry; they make all of mankind keep in touch with our humanness, our essence, and our very souls. What greater gift to humankind, then giving the gift of human experience, vicariously lived through the lines of a play, delivered by an actor, who makes those words turn into experiences we all share.
Aristotle said there are six elements to a play. I say there are thousands of elements to an actor. The ability to immerse oneself into a character in order for the character to have depth, with real and natural qualities, and to be believable, is the art of acting. When the performance is over and the actor is once again himself, I believe a part of the actor has been forever sacrificed for his art. I believe this is both the beauty and the travesty of acting. After how many roles, different characters, and countless performances, does it take the actor to realize, he no longer is the man he started out to be, if he knows who he is at all anymore.
Some of you are more than willing to take the risk of losing your identities, believing the illusion of youth, "it won't happen to me", like the combat soldier who convinces himself he won't be one of the day's casualties. Maybe it is this ability to always come back to center that separates the good actors from the great actors. I will never get the chance to find out, for I succumbed to the emotional pitfalls of too much emotion at too tender an age. I had to numb out the pain in order to continue, until I could no longer continue. If you have the talent, the drive to succeed, and the tenacity of will, you might succeed. If you have the ability to lean from others mistakes, and grow from those mistakes, as well as grow from your own mistakes, you might just be the next great actor of our time. My prayers go with you, may you prosper, and may you help others on your journey.
