NOTES ON ACTING BASED ON MY EXPERIENCE AS AN ACTRESS AND DIRECTOR
An audience wants to see characters in compelling situations. As an actor, your focus should be on the situation the character finds themselves in, rather than playing an emotion. By immersing yourself in the circumstances, the emotions will naturally follow. The key is to fully inhabit the character’s world and respond as they would.
The script provides essential details about the character, including their past and the world they live in. These are the "given circumstances" and are non-negotiable. They are the foundation of character development, so your job is to build from these facts without questioning them.
Learning lines by rote helps them sound more natural. In real life, people speak without overthinking each word, so your delivery should reflect that. The goal is to speak as the character, not to "perform" rehearsed dialogue. Let the words flow from the character’s inner life. Be specific about why the character says what they say—this is your subtext. Always ask, "What am I thinking as the character?" Your thoughts will shape how you deliver the lines and engage with the scene.
Acting is about more than just reciting lines—it’s about what you mean by those words. This is the subtext, or inner monologue, of the character. People often say things they don’t mean, or mask their true feelings. A character may say "I'm fine" while feeling broken inside. As an actor, your job is to convey the deeper meaning through behaviour and tone, not just words.
Every script involves relationships between characters. It’s crucial to establish a specific feeling or point of view toward each character. Do you like them? Distrust them? Admire them? These feelings should be clear from the moment you interact with them in the scene. This specificity adds depth to your performance.
A script is an imaginary world, but your job is to make it feel real. Personalise the script, the lines, and the objects you interact with. Make the circumstances meaningful to you, whether it’s a book you’re holding or a drink you’re sipping. Let these objects be part of your inner life as the character.
Before any scene begins, have a strong emotional preparation. Characters, like people, don’t start from a blank slate—they come from somewhere, with feelings and thoughts already in motion. Make sure your emotional preparation is logical to the scene, so you enter fully immersed in the character’s world.
Good acting often involves withholding information, just as people do in real life. Your character may have secrets, unspoken thoughts, or hidden motives. These elements add complexity to your performance. Watch how people behave in real life—they rarely reveal everything, and neither should your character.
For film, your face is your stage. Every nuance of emotion should be visible, especially in your eyes. What you say is less important than what you mean when you say it. A line like "I love you" could be delivered with anger, tenderness, or fear, depending on the situation. The camera captures these subtle shifts, so make sure your eyes and expressions reflect the true emotion of the moment.
To make your performance believable, engage your senses. Tap into the sensory experiences we use every day—smell, taste, touch, hearing, and sight. This sense memory technique allows you to relive and recall both real and imagined situations. By activating your senses, you create a more vivid and truthful portrayal of your character’s world.
"All human responses are the result of sensory experience… When one reacts with an imaginary object, the response is exactly the same as if the object were not imaginary."
This technique helps you with quick transitions, enabling you to shift between emotions or actions efficiently. For example, working on a seduction scene followed by a moment of shock requires immediate and precise changes in behavior.
Always maintain an awareness of your internal thoughts. It’s important to have something running underneath the surface—an additional layer of feeling or tension that may or may not be related to the scene. These extra layers make your performance richer and more dynamic. Robert De Niro once said that the best acting comes when he’s aware of both the character’s thoughts and his own.
Feelings can be cultivated and sustained throughout a performance. Actors must live through the emotional journey of their characters while also relying on technical skills like body control, speech, and voice. The goal is to live truthfully in the moment as the character, free from tension and self-consciousness.