Professional Actor Training - Your Mind

When it comes to acting training, far too many actors focus primarily on acting technique; however, one of the most vital skills you must master is acting within your mind. Acting training begins internally, and little do you know, but as an actor you are constantly bombarded by training information.

As an actor your training begins at birth through cultural development. Cultural development is one of the most under-estimated forms of training; however, without truly grasping this method of learning the skill of acting, your performances will be bleak and without true realism and sincerity.

Actors are artists. Just like painters who have a canvas, actors have their body, voice and mind. And just like any other artist, you are a student of life - continually learning and growing within your understanding of the human condition.

As you develop your acting techniques, you will draw upon the vast pool of human knowledge and your own personal experiences. I have spent many years working alongside actors who thought their training stopped when they left the acting studio; however, the sad truth is these actors performed lackluster scenes that were void of true emotion.

Mental training begins the moment you open your eyes and take those first groggy steps out of your bed. As an actor, I always carry a notepad with me and take notes of personality traits I run across, or simply jot down an interesting conversation I had with a stranger.

However, internal mind training does not stop at simply observing the world around you. You must learn how to truly read a script, examine the story line and its plot as well as exploring the psychological and physical characteristics of your character.

One of the most effective ways of creating a character, and strengthening your acting skill, is to relate to a character through your internal training. When you read a script, imagine the emotional, psychological and physical objectives and challenges of a character. By calling upon your life training, class training and ability to delve deeper than the words on a script you can gain access to your character's core objective within the script.