How to become an Actor - Part#3 - Steve Hopkins Media

How to become an Actor (actor’s blog)

If you want this career, you will have to try to stay positive during the ups and downs. And the rejection.

What I will be discussing below is just some general information and I hope it helps.

What you should know ahead of time

It is not all about having the right look. But this does help.

After practicing acting by going to classes for some time, you will find that you can become a better actor. This is how you develop your skills as an actor. The actors that you see on television and in the movies have probably been working on their craft for more than 10 years. It takes a lot of time.

You need to build up experience as an actor, then this fills up your resume.

This is a business, and you need to know what you are doing. In short, you need to know how to act to become an actor.

Let’s continue….

Auditions

Auditions are pretty much another opportunity to perform. This career is all about performing in front of others, and auditions are a necessary part of casting. The only thing is that during auditions you will not get much feedback. Usually none.

That’s where acting classes come in.

Acting ability & acting classes

In short, you need to put in the work. As I was trying to explain at the beginning of this blog post, you should be dedicated to working on your craft. Attend class and work on your acting skills. You will have to take risks in your performances and allow yourself to make mistakes. This is how you will improve. It will probably take 1-2 years to see an improvement in your acting. Keep going.

You need to be able to act naturally. If your character is a mailman delivering some mail to a house, what would he do in that moment? He would walk up to the house…etc. etc…

The lines in the script are just words. This is what I was told by one of my acting teachers. And it’s true.

Myself, I studied method acting and improvisation a few years back because I wanted to learn everything.

While you are taking acting classes you will get lots of feedback. You will be performing in class, and the teacher will basically try to coach you on the sidelines.

Remember what the teacher says and include those improvements the next time you are performing in class. This takes time and practice.

The Actors self tape

These are becoming more and more necessary and accepted these days.

Here are some preparation tips;

1. Try to make the best of what you have. Just use a decent camera, with decent sound. Yes, you are re-creating a live audition, but it doesn’t have to be perfect.

2. Have your reader (reading partner) off camera and off to the side. They only want to see you and not them. And, your voice must be slightly louder than theirs.

Remember, you and your performance are the focus. Don’t have anything going on that will create a distraction away from your audition.

3. I would suggest filming your audition (I mean self-tape) practice sessions 5-10 times and pick the best one to send in to casting at the end.

4. Hand in your self-tape on time.

For more information on this, see this article from a Casting Director for reference.

This is probably the most important part of this particular blog.

Why do you want to be an Actor? It’s very important to know this.

are you interested in becoming an actor to become rich and famous?

do you just need to be in the spotlight? Or would you like to work in the spotlight because you enjoy it? There is a difference.

It’s best to do it because you enjoy it. Not because you want to become rich.

do you like entertaining others? Are you a natural public speaker? Do you like to make people laugh? So maybe you really do want to be a working actor?

But you need to start somewhere.

All of this won’t happen overnight.

Where to start?

Volunteer

Volunteer yourself for acting roles in student films

I myself, worked mostly in the world of independent film, and then moved onto trying out stand up comedy. My latest Stand up video here.

I hope this little bit of info (mostly based on my experience) has been helpful.

Thanks for reading

-Steve

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