Every actor I have ever met absolutely loves to talk about their process, so over the years I’ve become very familiar with a wide variety of acting styles.

Some actors take a very serious approach to building characters and preparing to perform on set.

Others take a rather laidback, if not altogether lazy, approach.

The most talented and successful actors fall somewhere in between. You will see why in a moment.

They are the actors that can pick up a script and step right into a role with seemingly minimal preparation.

They don’t hesitate, over act or over-react either.

If you are going to learn from someone, they are the actors to study closely. While no 2 actors have the exact same process, there are many similarities.

So, if you want to become a world class actor and unlock the door to many more opportunities, faster than you thought possible, here’s where to start...

First and foremost, the most successful actors don’t wing it. They always have a process for everything.

Whether that’s for creating opportunities or creating characters, there’s always a method to what seems like madness to everyone else. More on that in sec.

There’s always an order in which they do things, and of course there’s reasoning behind that as well.

To start with, they carve out time every day to generate new opportunities. This means networking, marketing themselves, and making sure that they stay top of mind with industry decision makers.

In fact, the most successful actors put this above anything else, because in their words “you can have all the talent in the world, but if you can’t book a job, what difference does it make?”

They don’t leave this to chance and hope to one day be discovered, nor does this get off loaded to an agent either. They make a conscious effort to meet decision makers and be highly visible to the industry.

This is such an important part of building an acting career but most actors sort of leave this as an afterthought, usually because they don’t know how to go about it.

Because of this, I created a tool that you can use right now to make yourself visible to industry decision makers on autopilot. Click here to get the details.

Only after they have taken care of that, do successful actors move on to working on their skill set.

Something that almost no one talks about, or at least talks about accurately, is people watching as an acting exercise.

When you are working on your characters, you want to model them after what real people do. That’s how your performances will become believable and really resonate with the audience.

Method actors do this, and take it to the extreme, literally stepping into the shoes of the people they are modeling.

If that works for, great!

Most actors, however, don’t have the time to spend a full week in character, so when you do people watching as an acting exercise, you are “hacking” your way to method acting.

It’s very simple.

Carve out a few hours and pick a spot or two where you can sit inconspicuously and observe people.

Make sure that you can easily blend into the background, so that people don’t alter their behavior because of your presence.

Then sit and observe closely. Watch the way people talk to each other. What do they do, what hand motions do they make and why?

Pay attention to the expressions on their faces and imagine what’s going through their minds.

What about them can you inject into the character you are working on?

Is it the way that someone tosses their hair and raises an eyebrow when she orders a drink?

Is it how someone taps their fingers rhythmically while walking through a crowd, even though they are not wearing earbuds and there is no music playing?

When you notice something like this, expand on the thoughts that could be going on in that person’s mind so you can figure out why they are doing what they are doing. Maybe they have some social anxiety that is triggering it and that small trait can add another dimension to your character.

Do this for a few hours or until you have picked up on some character traits that help you make character choices.

After that what the most successful and talented actors work on is vocal tonality.

This goes beyond knowing when to raise your voice or when to speak softly. There are some very particular things you can do with your voice that will make your characters legendary.

Remember, how you say something is many, many more times more important that what you are saying. It’s no different on set.

While I could write an entire book on this subject alone, here are a few things you can do to make sure you are on the right track.

If you were to pay attention to your speech patterns throughout the day you would notice that your inflection changes dramatically depending on what you are trying to communicate to someone. It also changes depending on who you are communicating with.

When you are communicating something serious or want to be taken seriously, your voice will go down in pitch at the end of a statement.

When you are excited, trying to get someone else excited or are trying to be friendly and build rapport, the opposite is true. Your voice will go up in pitch at the end of a statement.

If you are nonchalant, don’t care what impression you make, or if you are trying to break rapport with someone and duck out of a conversation your vocal pitch would remain neutral.

99.99999% of your character choices will fall into one of those 3 categories, so use this a guide and your on set conversations will flow naturally and effortlessly, making your characters connect with the audience deeply.

Try the 3 exercises we just talked about, in order, before your next audition. Do it this way so that you layer the nuances of your character correctly, rather than trying to make a character trait fit retroactively.

Often, we find ourselves getting really excited about the way a line is delivered then try to fit that into blocking that doesn’t mesh well. That’s when the disconnects happen.

If you don’t have an audition or an acting job to prepare for, take a look at this to help you get the ball rolling.

Start every day by focusing on what you can do to get your next opportunity cued up.

Yes, that’s considered an exercise because the more you work on it, the better results you will get. Just like training a muscle.

That’s the one thing that you can’t afford to leave for another day because of course, none of this matters if you are not getting enough opportunities to showcase your talent.

So how can I help you become a successful actor? Let me know in the comments below or shoot me an email anytime.

Whether it’s helping you make character choices or prepare for an audition, I’m always here to help because my goal is to...

See you at the top,
Scott