Ego Is Not Confidence

I see it has been a month since my last post.  Nothing much has prompted me to share my reactions with you until just the last couple of days during which I have been made aware of the overblown egos of some aspiring actors. 

The thing is that ego is not talent, nor charm, nor confidence.  Actors need talent and charm and confidence.  But they do not need ego.  When an aspiring actor contacts me and starts by telling me how he or she is so talented, good looking, and charming, a red  flag goes up.  I immediately become suspicious. Most always these Egos also say that they want to be a star or want to be famous.  And those are the wrong reasons to want to be an actor.

The problem with ego is that it usually masks inadequacies.  Psychologically, those overly filled with self-praise are usually covering up their fears.  Talented, charming and confident actors do not need to tell you they are those things because their actions and accomplishments demonstrate that they indeed have them.  Only the inadequate needs to tell you he or she has one of those things because otherwise you would never know it.  The story about Bernard arguing a case before the Supreme Court in "Death of a Salesman" makes the point. Willy says that it is strange that he never mentioned it, and Charlie says that he doesn't have to mention it, because he is going to do it.  

Very young aspiring actors are always telling me how their families and friends are putting down their aspirations.  They need to read "Death of a Salesman."  Don't talk about it, do it. And related to this is how can they convince their parents to support their aspirations to be actors?  Simple.  Be such an outstanding actor now that they will be proud to have you be an actor.

Then young people say to me, "Well, I need self confidence to be able to audition and to put myself forward  if I am going to be a success.  Therefore, I need to know I am good."   You need to know you can do it, and therefore you do it.   But you needn't act as though you are superior in any way.  There are many who can do it.  When you have the courage and confidence to meet strangers, you need to focus on them rather than on yourself.  The last thing a person who has just met you wants to hear coming out of your mouth is how good you are.  

Actors have resumes and head shots to demonstrate their talent, attractiveness, and charm.  Agents and casting directors can see those things in your documents and in your demo reels.   It is quite charming to meet someone who has true confidence, and a lack of ego is always refreshing.

How to be a Success

I have been criticised for being negative about becoming a success as a professional actor, so today I am going to be positive and let everyone in on the secret of success.  I am deeply indebted to the Reverend Les Brown for the motivation for this post.

Okay, let's assume you have the talent, the look, and the personality to be an actor, or is that even possible to assume?  Because this is all about personality.   We will assume you have scads of experience and maybe even some professional training.  Those are basic.  What I am going to tell you now is how to parlay those into becoming a professional actor.

1. You have to have a fire in your belly.  You have to be so hungry to be an actor that nothing else has priority over it.  You have to want it BAD.  And you have to be willing to give up almost everything else to get it.  Please read Career, a play by Lawrence and Lee.

2. You have to do the most difficult things connected with being an actor.  If you have to move to another city or state, you do that.  If you have to work horrible jobs to support yourself, you do that.  If you have to study long hours, you do that.

3, I have said this in other posts, I believe, but you have to hang out with only quality people.  If your pals are losers, negative, do-nothing people, lose them.  If you are the most successful person in your group, you are in the wrong group.  Only hang with people who are doing professional acting.

4. You MUST develop communication skills.  You have to be able to walk  up to strangers and introduce yourself. You have to meet agents, producers, casting directors and directors, as well as other actors, and be able to present yourself in an educated, clear, and forceful manner. The power of excellence in speaking to others so they know how able you are is everything.  When you open your mouth, you tell people who you are. You MUST develop proper English skills, lose your dialect or speech impediment, and have a great vocabulary and literary knowledge. You have to be an educated person.  In almost all cases this means going to college, but it is possible to read at least several of the Great Books (see Wikipedia for clarification).  And it is possible for you to read plays and writings on theatre and acting.

5. Make  yourself a special individual.  We are all unique, but to make it in acting, you need something very special.  Watch the films of  the greatest actors, Bogart, Gable, Guiness, Olivier, Wayne, Eastwood, Widmark, Palance, etc. (sorry I am male and i thought of men first. There are as many women of note.)  Find your big difference and learn to show it and use it.  You can't be a success if you just go around saying, "I'm just me."  NO, you are not just you. You are SPECIAL and you have to be special to be a professional actor.

6. Finally, as I have said many times before, you have to network. Network, network, network. That is how doors are opened.  (See "Networking for Success" on my web site, The Tao of Acting.

So some of these  have been neglected in my other writings, and some even said they weren't needed. But they are needed, all of them, and you have to do them. 

How long after an audition will they let you know if you are cast?

There is no set time for notifying those who have auditioned if they have been cast or not.  It varies a great deal from production to production. Some companies have a policy of notifying everyone within a couple of days.  Some companies never notify actors if they have not been cast.

The best thing to do after an audition is to forget about it  and get on with your acting experience and training.  If you don't get it, they will probably not contact you. And if you get a call back, it will be a great surprise and you can go from there.

An actor should never put all his or her eggs in one basket. That is to say that it is foolish to count on getting a part even if your audition went very well and the casting people were enthusiastic about it.
The next actor that walks into the casting session may be exactly what they are looking for and have that one little quality that you lack.  I think it is important for an actor to always be acting in something--even amateur theater.  It is always a positive thing if you can say you have just finished such and such a role, or are currently appearing in such and such a play. That makes you an actor.

The  great struggle every actor has is to keep trying, even in the face of rejection after rejection when in spite of a really good audition, he or she is not cast.  For the beginning actor getting one in every fifteen or twenty parts auditioned for is a high level of success.

By combining your efforts at networking with your agents' efforts to find auditions for you, there is a good chance you will be getting some roles.  But remember, never make too much of an opportunity that you have.  It may well amount to nothing.  That happens a lot in this business of acting--things just fizzle out. 

Always remember that in this business the only thing that counts is what you have finished doing.  What you plan to do or what you have an opportunity to do means nothing.  It is the mark of a seasoned actor to only talk about his accomplishments, not his possibilities.

The Academy Awards

Award shows for actors and films and everything else have gotten out of hand. It is difficult for someone in a good role in a film not to be nominated for some award or other. The Academy Awards are probably the oldest film achievement awards, but in recent years they have become a platform for political statements or simple popularity contests. They just don't have the meaning for being a real mark of achievement for quality in cinema any longer. They have become what all the award shows for film, TV, stage, music,etc have become, a simple publicity event often of questionable taste, at least so far in what the participants say and do. 

I stopped being excited about them years and years ago. And then when I became a screen actor and when I studied film acting, I realized that it is impossible to tell what makes an actor's performance good in a film. It could be the directing, the editing (mostly that I think), the script, the special effects, and a myriad of other contributing factors.

Mostly the actors don't have to do much. In film most of the work is done for them. Anyway, for one, I am sick of the hoopla over award shows and not at all excited about the Academy Awards, The Golden Globe Awards, The SAG/AFTRA Awards, The People's Choice Awards, etc. etc. etc.

They are all just something that tries to convince, and in most cases does convince, the public that actors and actresses are very special people who live in glamour and spotlights. It is all fake. People who are actors are not much different than other people, except they act. Their everyday lives are not as glamours as the awards shows make them seem.

Worst of all is that these programs make the actors believe they are special and as such are ezperts on poltics.  They may have strong political conviction-even I have that.  But if they happen to also have fame and money, they can parlay that into a public platform for their ideas.  Sad, but true.  And especially sad when they use the award shows for political statements.  Acting used to be an art.  Artists used to be apolitical, because if they became political they became propagandists.  Some artists politics favor propaganda.  Mine favors truth.

I Need A Monologue

When one starts out in this endeavor of trying to help aspiring actors,  he seldom realizes that he cannot nor should not try to help them all.  Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of people want to be actors.  Only a few have what it takes to succeed.  Why should we waste our time and effort encouraging those who are never going to make it?  Then again, what makes someone like me think he is so great that he knows who is and who is not going to make it?

Well, expereience working with aspiring actors is one thing that helps me recognize who may have the qualities for success.  How much the aspirant has done on his or her own is another indicator.  And here is where the topic of this post comes in. 

I am forever being asked for help in finding or chosing a monologue for someone.  They need them for a play audition or for an acting school audition, or for an agent audition, or for heaven knows what.  So when I first got into the actor advising game (for me it is not a business and I do not make any money at it.) I became a co-dependant for the unqualified applicant.  I developed a web page that gives sources for monologues and regularly gave it out to anyone with a monologue problem.  Even now I will still  suggest specific monologues for people.  But I don't think this helps them very much.  The reason for that is that most of these people are never going to make it because they have not done enough playgoing and play reading  and acting to have built up their own sources of monologues.

When a person has to ask for help in finding a monologue, it generally shows that this person has not put in enough effort to be a professional actor.  It is just another of those little signs that experience teaches an old dog like me. 

If you want to become an actor then you must be an actor.  You must do a lot of plays and see a lot of plays and read a lot of plays, because that is what an actor does.  Yeah, there are exceptions. Someone who has never done any of the above is chosen to star in a film.  I have worked professionally with such people.  They were just born with what it takes and happened to be in the right place at the right time.  I must also report that they often are accomplished in other artisitic fields. 

How Do I Convince My Parents?

This is another question that I am often asked.  While most of those asking it are young teens, the seniors in high school preparing to go to college often tell me, "My parents insist that I get a degree so I will have something to fall back on if acting doesn't work out."  These college bound seniors also have not convinced their parents that they should be actors.  If they had done so they might be going to an acting conservatory or be headed for  a BFA Acting program at a good university.  

The problem is long standing.   It is almost traditional for parents not to want their children to become actors.  So many actors get bad publicity, are involved in affairs, substance abuse and divorces that the profession gets a bad name.  Historically, actors have been looked down on and considered no better than thieves and prostitutes by the government, the church and the public.  This is so even when an actor like Ronald Reagan became President.  Puritanism still has a strong influence on the public when it comes to shielding offspring from harm.

The answer that I am going to provide for the problem will not be popular with all of my readers.  The way to convince your parents that you should take acting lessons or go to acting school or to become an actor is for you to have demonstrated to them that you truly have the outstanding talent and personality to succeed at acting.  If your participation in school theatre, competitive acting events in the school speech program, and other drama events at school and in the community do not rise to the level of persuading your parents that you have sufficient talent to succeed,  I am afraid that there is not much hope for you to ever convince them.  If your parents do not believe in you, then who will?

I have in the past recommended that young people seeking to convince their parents about their participating in acting should read all they can about the profession so they can answer their parents' questions when discussing it.  But this is just discourse.  To be convincing, you must show your parents that you have what it takes.

I really hate to be less than encouraging, but acting is a tough life.  It is tougher than can be imagined.  Until one tries it, he or she can only say they know that, but they will not know the reality of it.  However, I must be even more discouraging to the aspiring actor.   It is truly rare that someone comes along who has the look, the courage, the charm, and the talent to succeed.   It is easy to become enthralled with the idea of being an actor, but it is a long way from the chorus in the grade school musical to a professional career.  The fact is that most who aspire to become actors do not have what it takes.

The reason why most parents need convincing is that their children are just not talented enough to succeed. The parents can see that and they insist their children to to college where they can learn to do something  at which they can succeed.   It is a pity, but real talent which includes personality and look does not exist is most people.  I will not be so popular as I answer this question in the forums in which I participate.  My answer will be, "If your parents need convincing, you probably do not have enough talent to succeed."

How Does an Actor Develop Charisma?

More important than talent for an actor to become a success is his or her personal charm or charisma, as it is called.  What is this thing that is more important than talent?

Charisma has three components according to an article I read recently, and I will add a fourth..  First there is 'presence'. That is the quality that draws all eyes to a person when they enter a room.  Presence is created by one's look, posture, voice, and focus. People with charm are composed and not distracted. They include everyone in the room in their eye contact, and make them all friends.  The second component of charisma is confidence.  Not braggadocio, nor strutting and posing, but honest command of the situation. If an actor is auditioning, his charisma should let the auditors know that he not only can handle the role, but that he is the best selection for the role. The third component is warmth. The person with charisma is genuinely interested in others and emphathizes with their situations. Finally, the actor with charisma has great energy in what he does.  He is not a bulldozer set loose with no driver, but he is vital in all he does and says.

While many people are born with charisma, some do develop it later in life, after they have become successful and more confident.  I tend to believe that charisma is a component of an actor's talent. It is unlikely that an actor is ever going to be successful without presence, confidence, warmth, and energy. If you want to be an actor and you don't have charisma, you need to start working on it. The most important thing about this charm is that it is not "put on" for the occasion, but it is truly a part of who you are in all occasions.

Charisma can be improved by people learning to control their body language and not fidget or have distracting mannerisms.  Additionally, actors do not want to give away any weaknesses through their body language. They can learn a lot from professional poker players who work very hard not to have "tells" or bodily signals that give away the strength or weakness of their hands.  People with charisma are not impatient, nervous or insecure.  They think before they speak and are never in a rush to answer a question or finish the job at hand.  I think of President G. W. Bush, who was reading to school children when he was told of the 9-11 attacks.  His composure did not falter and he finished the story before leaving the school in a likewise composed and not hurried fashion. Like him or not, that was great charisma.

To have real charm, you have to make others feel good about themselves. The components of charisma make people who meet you feel important and part of what is going on.  Therefore, I suggest that those who want better charisma should read the  lists of positive actor personality traits listen in my book The Tao of Acting.  One list is from True and False by David Mamet and the other is a list of professional behaviors from Rehearsal by Miriam Franklin. Nothing could be more important for the aspiring actor to set as a goal than to make these traits part of his personality. Memorize those lists and make them a part of who you are.