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There’s something special about the art of acting. What acting is, which makes it different from most any other kind of art, is the creation of art using human beings as the primary medium. You could argue that if you built a statue with live human beings and dressed them up as a sculpture that would also be using human beings to create art, but it would be different, because you wouldn’t be using the individuality of their personalities, their various unique expressions and emotional reactions to the reality surrounding them as they live out life, you wouldn’t be using their souls – you would be using their looks alone, and we all know that those make up but a tiny fraction of what makes a human being. In movies, television and theater we can explore the infinite complexities of humanity through our art – carefully manipulating and creating art through the use of personality, spirituality and human souls. It could be argued that there isn’t anything ultimately more interesting to most human beings than what makes them tick. Most of us understand that as human beings we are unable to fully understand what we are made of – psychically, spiritually, psychologically – scientists, doctors, psychologists, etc. continue to study the complexities of human nature and behavior with no conclusive results. With every jump in technological and scientific understanding of our world and our place in it, we learn something new. We certainly are nowhere done learning about it, and may be only at the beginning for all we know. That makes the territory we explore as thespians all the more interesting – there are parts of it completely uncharted.
Because of the complexity of the artistic medium we are using (ourselves and our fellow human beings), the combinations and possibilities are endless. I tell my students that nobody else can play them as well as they can. What I mean by that is that every person who makes him or herself vulnerable to being used as an artistic toy, if they’re doing it right, is allowing his or her own uniqueness – the things that because they are concocted and put together just so, make them different from every other person on the planet – to be put on display for the whole world to see and to interpret individually (as every viewer of a piece of art does.) That’s no easy task on so many levels, but what makes it so rewarding is that nobody else anywhere can play your vulnerabilities the same way you can – nobody else can use your very soul and individuality in a piece of art the way you can. You can study her moves and characteristics your whole life, but you can never act the same role the same way Meryl Streep does, because she’s using her very being in every character she plays – what she has that you don’t is the essence of her. Likewise, as good as she is at character study, Meryl Streep can analyze your moves her whole life and never be as good at playing your essence as you are. As well as admiring your favorite stars, I suggest you learn to admire yourself for what you can do which nobody else can – which is to be yourself.
People criticize actors for being egotistical, but the truth is all artists are sensitive beings – usually more so than the rest of the population. Actors never need to be “brought back down to earth” by the people around them, because deep down inside they are bringing themselves up and down constantly. It’s human nature. On some level they must believe in themselves completely in order to succeed in doing what most people are too afraid to do, which is to allow themselves to be vulnerable in front of the whole world. As actors we cannot be afraid to build our self-confidence at every opportunity in order to do the best we can do every time we are asked to expose our souls for the sake of our art.
It’s my opinion that directors, casting directors, agents, acting coaches, producers and writers who need actors to channel their work should be doing everything they can at every opportunity to boost the confidence of the actors they work with. What those people need from actors is a window to their very souls – it’s better for the art and therefore better for them, if they can keep those windows open. I believe that one of the reasons there aren’t more incredible performances and/or productions is because many of the people along the creative way to building an artistic masterpiece from human beings don’t understand this fundamental rule. I’m not talking about giving someone a trailer with their name on it and exotic foods – I’m not encouraging the creation of divas here – I’m talking about appreciating the difficulty of the work they put in, being respectful of them as human beings, trusting their abilities and encouraging their creativity. If you want to be moved by the performance of an actor for the sake of your art, whether you are the actor or you fill another creative niche in the artistic process of making art of homo-sapiens, your best bet is to be ready to celebrate the uniqueness and the beauty of each and every soul you have the privilege of not only viewing, but playing with. That’s your gold, and it should be polished and pampered.
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