Role Models

As an actor, who inspires you? More importantly, what is it about Robert De Niro or Meryl Streep's work that says to you 'Wow! This is what great acting looks like'.

One of the great things about being an actor is that you can chalk up going to the theatre or watching movies as an extension of your acting courses. As an actor you'll learn a great deal about your craft in acting courses in london, from your teachers and fellow actors, and from your own efforts to master roles. After hours, watching the legends of stage and screen can also be an important part of the learning process.

The thing about great acting is that it doesn't look like acting. It's hard to separate the actor from the character. If you ask 'How do they do it?' the answer may not be obvious - because the experts do it so well.

It's worthwhile studying the techniques used by the actors whose work blows you away. You can download film scripts from the web and try playing suitable scenes yourself. Having the words in front of you may help you to identify just what the actor is adding to the scene.

That could be the emphases, tone and pacing of their verbal delivery. It could be the way they marry gesture and movement to the spoken word or the way they use the performance space. If you can get a sense of how different actors amplify and add texture to the roles they play you can use that insight to analyse and enhance your own technique.

Of course you can't see an actor's approach to the role and the way he or she prepares. No amount of watching films or plays will reveal how top actors achieve the task of dissolving the boundaries between their own persona and the character they are playing.

Luckily, one way to do this is an open secret, though not all acting schools teach it. Many of the most celebrated actors of our times use the techniques of method acting to prepare for a performance. One principle of method acting is that drawing on emotion-laden memories helps actors to focus and to break down those boundaries.

That results in the seamless performance that is the hallmark of the greats. If you take the time to study their performances, the actors who entertain and move you can also be role models and teachers, from whom you can learn a lot.