How to be a better actor?

Guess who knows exactly how to make it as an actor in San Antonio?

Nobody.

Guess who knows exactly what every casting director is looking for?

Nobody.

Guess who should ultimately know your performance better than anyone?

You.

You know what a truthful performance feels like. Your character choices should come from your instincts, your preparation, and your understanding of the material. If you constantly rely on some industry “professional” to tell you whether every choice is right or wrong, eventually you stop trusting yourself. And confident actors make confident choices.

Hands down, one of the best ways to grow as a performer is to watch yourself on camera, learn how to take direction, and become completely comfortable performing in front of the lens.

If someone strongly disagrees with that, I’d probably question how much real-world set experience they actually have. Below are a few reasons I think consistently working on camera can do wonders for your development as a performer.

1. Confidence

The best way to stop thinking about the camera is to spend a ridiculous amount of time in front of one. In the beginning, you might look like you’re performing. That’s fine. Most people do.

Keep getting in front of the camera until eventually you forget it’s there. Your body relaxes. You stop presenting the dialogue. You stop anticipating your next line. Eventually, it starts to feel like you’re inventing the words right there in the moment. That’s where things start getting interesting.

2. Control

Working on camera consistently teaches you how to control a scene. That doesn’t mean your character always has to be the loudest person in the room or the one driving the conversation. Sometimes the strongest moments happen when your character barely says anything.

You start learning how to carve out moments. When to react. When to hold back. When to let something land. When doing absolutely nothing is stronger than doing too much. And one of the best ways to learn that is simple:

Watch yourself back.

You’ll start seeing things you never noticed while you were performing. We offer training 4 nights per week. Here is a link to our calendar.

3. Developing Characters

Developing a character comes down to making choices. And sometimes your first choice isn’t the strongest one. Neither is your second. Maybe not even your third. That’s why repetition matters. The more opportunities you have to perform, experiment, watch yourself back, make adjustments, and try again, the stronger your instincts become.

You stop searching for the “correct” performance and start discovering more interesting possibilities. And that matters because, oftentimes, the person who books the job isn’t necessarily the actor who gave the technically “best” performance. It’s the actor who made the strongest, most specific, most memorable choices. That confidence only comes from reps.

Get in front of the camera. Make choices. Watch yourself. Adjust. Do it again.

That’s training. Interested in hearing more? Click here.