The life of an actor is tireless, experimental, and continually active. The exhausting nature of what you do isn’t only because you have to put your whole self into your acting, but also because your job never stops! When you’re on the job, you’re taking notes, you’re performing, you’re evoking emotion. When you’re off the job, you should be an active student of life and engaging in experiences that open you up to evolving. It’s a constant conscious effort on your part, but it’s so very easy to fall out of the habit.

Our friends at Backstage published an article 5 Skills Actors Must Work On Constantly – here’s our favorite excerpt:

Creating characters. You should constantly be thinking about creating different characters. Keep writing backstories for different characters. Create profiles, composites. Keep exploring their physicality. That is always the way into finding out who they are. What are the most controversial events that could have happened to them? Read lots of biographies. It will inspire you to find twists and turns. Interview folks, ask them about their lives, and uncover their secrets. It will give you ideas!

Knowing how to work in front of the camera. Yes, practice makes perfect, but the moment a camera is filming you, everything is different. Learn to watch yourself and learn from it. It’s important to understand if the choices you are making are reading. Look at what your body is doing; look at what your face is doing; see how you take direction and implement the adjustments quickly. As you try out different choices, find out which one is the strongest and which one plays the best.

For us, beyond creating characters, there is also importance in character study and people watching. Being a student of the world. Immersing yourself into every experience and applying your real-world experience to your craft. The goal is to be an AUTHENTIC actor – to present a character that’s believable. Remember to keep yourself in check and keep practicing these things every day, and you’ll be well on your way!