Love. It’s our natural state. It’s all around us. It permeates everything we do. It’s the greatest force driving our actions and creative lives. (Although fear can be a very powerful distraction!) Think of love as a metaphor for our acting. Why we do it is very important to remember. I think one of theRead more
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Listening is an act of discovery. It completely has the power to transform our lives. In our acting, it is the principle that can take us to unexpected places of feeling and experience that can shock us, surprise us, make us fall in love, and express things we never thought were inside us. Listening’s powerRead more
Stop apologizing. When you’re at a restaurant and ask the waiter for more water, “Sorry, can I have some more please?” Or you lean in at the Starbucks condiment counter grabbing a packet of sugar, “So sorry, just want to grab this!” Or passing someone on the street and you accidentally bump them, “So sorry!”Read more
It’s easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than to think your way into a new way of acting. That goes for life and for acting. Why is this? Because the more we sit around thinking about something, the less likely we are to take action as the thinking process redRead more
Happn. Heard of it? It’s the latest app that tracks where you are in real time. (Do we need yet another app tracking my every move?) When another user passes your current location, their profile shows up in your feed and you can then talk to each other if you mutually “Like” each other. WhichRead more
Science has recently discovered that a human being’s attention span is that of a goldfish – 6 seconds. That’s scary. Especially if you think that lots of the things we ruminate on within those 6 seconds are based in our neuroses, fears, anxieties, flaws and failings. Pretty much left brain stuff. Well if we’re reallyRead more
Robert Duvall says acting is simply “talking and listening.” If that’s true, then connection is an essential part of the equation. You can’t actually listen to someone with your head buried in an iPhone or while staring at the text of your scene during class. Connection requires something deeper. It requires presence, eye contact (ideally),Read more
I get asked hundreds of questions by actors and I thought this week I’d tackle one of the most common ones posed to me – and also seems to be the one that most actors struggle with everywhere. “When I’m in my head and trying to get present, is there something I can do physicallyRead more
I’ve lectured on it before. Compare-and-Despair-ism. Don’t do it. It’s a zero-sum game you can never win. You’re comparing your dress rehearsal to everyone else’s opening night, and when you do that you’re always going to be cast as the ugly duckling. Put down those magazines that trade in on people’s insecurities and create comparisons.Read more
Tony Hale is best known for his career breakthrough role on Arrested Development. What it took him to get there, I’m sure, is what it looks like for most artists: surviving rejections, overcoming obstacles, perseverance, and commitment. What was surprising (not really!) is what it looked like once he arrived. Disappointment. He said, “It didn’tRead more