Something actors struggle with is the desire to be seen, while simultaneously not wanting to be truly seen. That means being seen for who we are, not just how we want to present ourselves to the world. That’s scary. Personas are so easily designed and manipulated on social media sites like Instagram or Facebook theseRead more
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The maestro, Martin Scorsese was recently quoted in Harper’s Bazaar talking about Sharon Stone in Casino and the process for the actor auditioning (and then working) for a director. “What you’re looking for, always, is not for someone to give you exactly what you envision but to surpass it, to use their own intelligence andRead more
I realized the other day that there is no primer for understanding the phases of life that we inevitably go through. I thought it odd as so many people have come before us, and yet, I personally haven’t seen a manual describing what I might expect to find around the next turn in the road.Read more
I think we’re living in an exciting time, because the rules of acting that are really becoming popular (and understandable) are those that follow the same rules of life. It’s not really hard to stop “acting” and get real. But then again, look how often we don’t want to do that in life. So whatRead more
1). Stay open when you want to hide, shut down or retreat. This sounds easier said than done, but staying open and leading from the heart is going to be the major calling of our lives. It’s so easy to let our resentments and judgments (primarily formed from the past) seep into and distort ourRead more
I was at my dental hygienist the other day and she was telling me about her latest dating woes. As I looked up from my reclining chair into her eyes – somehow clear and glassy even through her gigantic safety goggles and SARS-like mask reaching well above her nose almost obscured them – I suddenlyRead more
Why are we obsessed with doing things perfectly or “right?” Why do we believe there’s some magic formula to creating or acting or life itself? As maverick filmmaker, John Cassavetes said, “It is all surprise and discovery and deep feeling. It is all vulnerability and creativity and mutability. It is all heart and hammering andRead more
Just stay open to receive. I can’t take someone else’s hand in my own if I continue to clench my fists. It all sounds so easy. And at one level, it is. But we become so conditioned by the conversations of the mind that eventually, we become more shut down to life (and it’s possibilities)Read more
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
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