YOU Are the Foundation of Your Character

YOU Are the Foundation of Your Character

You are the blank canvas from which your character gets to live.

A private student of mine recently had an “Aha!” moment in one of our sessions.

I love it when that happens.

It makes me leave the lesson buzzing with excitement - analyzing what it was that brought us to the place where things really became clear for them.

He was performing a comedy scene - from a very well-known show. When this is the case, a common trap actors can fall in is adopting the original actor's performance as their own. Removing all organic instincts and portraying what was deemed “right.”

However, that wasn’t the case with my actor.

He avoided watching said show for quite some time - and brought an original performance that was uniquely his own.

But he was doing one thing I wanted less of:

Performing.

If you work with me, you’ll hear me say it often:

Don’t perform for me.

Or the alternative:

Don’t feel the need to perform.

It sounds counter-intuitive.

What do you mean, “Don’t perform for you?” I’m an actor. I love performing. It’s what I do.

It’s also what we do in life when we don’t want to reveal our true selves.

We perform.

We wear masks.

We do it all the time.

Everyone does.

Performer. Or not.

On set, on stage, and on screen, I want you to take the mask off.

Show me YOU. First.

But wait. I’m a character! I don’t want to show you me!

I get it. It’s scary.

And it actually wasn’t until I went through a hardship in life where I didn’t have the energy to “perform” in my work. I only had me. I didn’t have the energy to layer on a character.

And it was then that I started working. Professionally.

I realized - Oh. This is what acting is.

You have to strip down to nothingness. Only then can you layer on a character.

But if you don’t strip down first - all your audience will ever see is a veneer of your true art.

Vulnerability is arguably the scariest part of what we do as actors.

Shedding every layer and simply being. Not knowing what you’re going to do next. Allowing the waves of whatever the scene and your scene partner bring to you to crash -and miss - or flow - together.

Actors know this feeling.

It feels like flying when you’re in it.

There’s a sense of freedom in the unknown.

You get a rush of excitement when the scene is over because you know you were truly IN it. You weren’t pre-planning how to say your next line. You weren’t thinking about how you were going to end the scene. You weren’t even thinking about making your director happy.

You were just in the moment.

*Living* moment to moment.

Authentically.

Breathing.

Being.

When that happens, you realize: you gave it your all by giving it nothing.

Side note - this does not wipe away character work. If your character is living through a TON of stuff, this is the starting point of where you get to layer on THEIR life.

This is the blank canvas you now get to color on.

What does your blank canvas look like?