How to Get Started in Acting
Buy a monologue book and start trying out parts by yourself., Take acting classes, write and act in some homemade skits, or try out for a low-key role., Use pacing and volume to match the energy of the scene., Reduce your character to their defining...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Buy a monologue book and start trying out parts by yourself.
Found at most bookstores or for free online, monologues are to actors what long runs are to track athletes.
You may not ever use most of these monologues, but the practice is invaluable.
Read over each one, then make up a character to fit the speech as you read.
You should pick one or two and practice them over and over, honing your skills.
Once you feel like you have them down, move on to more.
Each one will help you train new emotions and characters.Ask yourself-- what does the speaker of the monologue look like? Keep it simple for now
-- what do they do with their hands when they talk, for example? What is the key emotion of the speech? What lines do you need to "sell" to make this emotion obvious? What is the progression of the monologue
-- is the speaker in a different emotional or intellectual place by the end of the speech? -
Step 2: Take acting classes
The best way to practice acting is to get out there and act.
While you will absolutely be nervous, classes and small productions are great, low-risk ways to get over your stage butterflies.
Everyone is in the same boat as you, and you will all learn and grow together.
Look online, check your school's courses and extra-curricular activities, or just make your own videos to start acting.
You can study and learn by yourself all you want but acting is, by its very nature, a performance.
It requires an audience
-- and you have to get comfortable performing in front of one, even if it is just the internet. , Likely, your first instinct is to nervously rush through the lines, trying to match the emotion without changing pacing and volume.
But the way you say your words is the essence of acting, not the words themselves.
Pauses, bursts of volume, sudden rushes through difficult phrases, and other pacing tricks are what make characters appear human.
Think about how you naturally talk when feeling certain emotions, such as:
Nervous or fearful characters usually rush the words out.
Mad, angry, or upset characters their voice and often slow down speech to make a point.
But they can also get faster when overflowing with anger.
Happy/excited characters tend to speak with an even volume, and quick tempo, or they raise volume as the speech goes on.
Pacing can, and should, change within scenes.
Your character might start calm and cool, then get more frantic as the scene develops.
Your speech must reflect this., Every character has desire
-- it is the basis of plot and story.
Your character wants something, and they decide to try and get it.
What, exactly, do they want? It seems like a basic question, but that's because you must answer it to learn how to act.
What, above all, motivates your character? Love? Greed? Power? Fate/Destiny? Hunger? Any of these motivations can help an actor make a memorable character, even something as simple as hunger (look at the multiple movies of Harold and Kumar, for a silly example).
Great actors find glimmers of this motivation in every single Characters, especially well-written ones, can have conflicting, changing, or nuanced motivations.
Portraying these scenes, when motivations shift, is often your character's biggest moment., You've likely never saved the planet from a last-second alien invasion, but you may have desperately worked against a deadline to finish a project in time.
While the events are completely different, the feelings of worry, rushing, steely determination, and passion all carry over.
Great actors find the humanity in the script
-- the basic human emotions that everyone recognizes, and channel those feelings into their performance.
Once you make a decision for a character, commit to it.
If you feel like their lines are sad, slow, and thoughtful, you should feel confident in your decision.
Do whatever it takes to get those emotions across. -
Step 3: write and act in some homemade skits
-
Step 4: or try out for a low-key role.
-
Step 5: Use pacing and volume to match the energy of the scene.
-
Step 6: Reduce your character to their defining desire.
-
Step 7: Step into the shoes of your character by relating your own experience to their emotions.
Detailed Guide
Found at most bookstores or for free online, monologues are to actors what long runs are to track athletes.
You may not ever use most of these monologues, but the practice is invaluable.
Read over each one, then make up a character to fit the speech as you read.
You should pick one or two and practice them over and over, honing your skills.
Once you feel like you have them down, move on to more.
Each one will help you train new emotions and characters.Ask yourself-- what does the speaker of the monologue look like? Keep it simple for now
-- what do they do with their hands when they talk, for example? What is the key emotion of the speech? What lines do you need to "sell" to make this emotion obvious? What is the progression of the monologue
-- is the speaker in a different emotional or intellectual place by the end of the speech?
The best way to practice acting is to get out there and act.
While you will absolutely be nervous, classes and small productions are great, low-risk ways to get over your stage butterflies.
Everyone is in the same boat as you, and you will all learn and grow together.
Look online, check your school's courses and extra-curricular activities, or just make your own videos to start acting.
You can study and learn by yourself all you want but acting is, by its very nature, a performance.
It requires an audience
-- and you have to get comfortable performing in front of one, even if it is just the internet. , Likely, your first instinct is to nervously rush through the lines, trying to match the emotion without changing pacing and volume.
But the way you say your words is the essence of acting, not the words themselves.
Pauses, bursts of volume, sudden rushes through difficult phrases, and other pacing tricks are what make characters appear human.
Think about how you naturally talk when feeling certain emotions, such as:
Nervous or fearful characters usually rush the words out.
Mad, angry, or upset characters their voice and often slow down speech to make a point.
But they can also get faster when overflowing with anger.
Happy/excited characters tend to speak with an even volume, and quick tempo, or they raise volume as the speech goes on.
Pacing can, and should, change within scenes.
Your character might start calm and cool, then get more frantic as the scene develops.
Your speech must reflect this., Every character has desire
-- it is the basis of plot and story.
Your character wants something, and they decide to try and get it.
What, exactly, do they want? It seems like a basic question, but that's because you must answer it to learn how to act.
What, above all, motivates your character? Love? Greed? Power? Fate/Destiny? Hunger? Any of these motivations can help an actor make a memorable character, even something as simple as hunger (look at the multiple movies of Harold and Kumar, for a silly example).
Great actors find glimmers of this motivation in every single Characters, especially well-written ones, can have conflicting, changing, or nuanced motivations.
Portraying these scenes, when motivations shift, is often your character's biggest moment., You've likely never saved the planet from a last-second alien invasion, but you may have desperately worked against a deadline to finish a project in time.
While the events are completely different, the feelings of worry, rushing, steely determination, and passion all carry over.
Great actors find the humanity in the script
-- the basic human emotions that everyone recognizes, and channel those feelings into their performance.
Once you make a decision for a character, commit to it.
If you feel like their lines are sad, slow, and thoughtful, you should feel confident in your decision.
Do whatever it takes to get those emotions across.
About the Author
Gloria Cooper
Brings years of experience writing about creative arts and related subjects.
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