Character Creation and the Method

The process of working on characters - believable, flesh-and-blood characters - comes early, way before you step into a role. You, the actor, will prove crucial in rounding out the screenwriter's and director's vision. Great actors bring themselves and an emotional understanding of the role that either makes or breaks a part.

Few actors in film have been as successful as those trained in The Method. Why? Because from the point of view of directors, screenwriters, and the audience, method acting works because it delivers the characteristics promised by a character.

One of the screenwriter's first steps is to write a character biography. This comes after the initial inspiration taken from the real cast of characters in the writer's lives. By taking one trait from one person and another from someone else, a real person takes shape in their mind.

For instance, they'll take Aunt Martha's jealousy of younger beauties and combine it with Mum's need to wipe off surfaces all day long even when there's no sign of dirt anywhere. This establishes, for the writer, someone who is insecure, aging, and trying to hold onto a sense of control. In remembering Aunt Martha, the writer smells her icky-sweet perfume, and sees her crusty makeup's mark on napkins and cups. These details provoke emotions (pity and disgust perhaps) in the writer. Method acting classes aims for a similar result, using the actor's own emotional memories.

When the director "takes the helm" of a script, the characters take another test of believability. Directors have their own references for a role. Perhaps it's a male friend who goes on drinking binges in response to his wife's cheating. The director remembers his yellow fingertips from smoking cigarettes and his shaky manner. As a real person, this friend is totally believable. Solid acting training gives you just the kind of honesty that will convince the director that you've turned into this guy. (For the time being, of course!)

Everyone has life experiences with real people in it. It's up to good acting schools and method acting in particular to point the way to how you can pass those "truth" tests with amazing results.

An actor bring a character out, from inside, using emotional intelligence. For the writer and director (not to mention producers and crew), the process stays trapped in their heads. An actor trained in method acting goes on a natural process of bringing personal emotional memories to serve the character's needs.

How well the actor does this is key. It's a lot to live up to, I know. But it's also one challenge method acting training is equipped to meet. As the leading provider of method acting classes in London, I can help you get there.

When you get there, you'll feel it. The director sits back, setting the script aside. All that matters now is you, the character, in action. That's powerful. And there's no faking it. Aunt Martha won't go for it.