Whenever I get the opportunity to talk candidly with actors about the types of characters they like to play, I always get the same answer from almost everyone.
In one way or another, they describe dramatic characters as being their favorites.
It’s understandable. When you play a dramatic character you get to let loose and live in someone else’s world, one that is typically very different from your own.
That’s what being an actor is all about...
However, what I’ve learned over the years is that most actors don’t really grasp the complexity of playing dramatic characters and that keeps them from being cast to play their favorite types of characters.
When you play characters you are passionate about, it comes across in your performance and that goes a long way towards building your acting career.
Professional actors build their careers this way and if you want to be one too, you have to figure this out sooner rather than later...
Before we get to how to play dramatic characters, let’s first talk about what they actually are.
Some actors think dramatic characters are always serious or sad but a dramatic character can be on the comedic side too.
Here’s what I mean by that...
Dramatic characters are simply characters that operate at the extremes of their nature. They can be over the top on the comedy side or they can be over the top in a dramatic project.
Regardless of which side of the spectrum they exist on, you will actually end up playing them pretty similarly.
The core of the character will be the same, but their motivations and what they are trying to convey will be different of course.
When you play a dramatic character, you can pull from your past experiences on set and that makes your performances more powerful every time.
That’s why it’s no surprise that some of the most successful actors specialize in dramatic characters.
Let’s dig a little bit deeper into how a dramatic character will evolve on screen.
A big mistake that most actors make is taking a dramatic character to its extreme right from the start.
When you do that, there’s nowhere else for you to take the character making anything above that level come off as overacted and comical.
To play a dramatic character well, you have to amplify their emotions and actions incrementally. You also have to release the tension from time to time, usually by going to the opposite end of the spectrum.
A good screenplay will include scenes for you to do that, but even if you are working on a project where the screenplay doesn’t provide for it, you have to be able to identify places where you can do it.
Otherwise, your performance will be one dimensional.
A good way to identify that is to think of why your character is so dramatic. There will always be a driving factor behind the drama but it may not always be a part of the script.
Sit down and think of your character.
Think of whether it’s something in their past that causes them to be over the top and dramatic. Where they picked on in middle school and became the class clown as a defense mechanism?
Did that behavior stick with them into adulthood, causing them to always seek to be the center of attention?
Maybe they witnessed a parent or sibling getting a lot of sympathy when they were down on their luck and that caused them to always push the envelope, in terms of making things worse than they actually are.
Add another layer to this and think of whether or not this behavior is something your character is even aware of.
Then, think about the other characters.
Are they aware of your character’s deeper cause for being so dramatic? That’s a pretty important point that will affect the way they interact with people.
Let’s say that you are playing a character that had a flat tire on their way into work. When they meet a friend for lunch later in the day, the flat tire suddenly becomes a near miss with an 18 wheeler that caused them to run off the road and get a flat tire.
On top of that, their boss didn’t care about it and nearly fired them, never even asking if they were ok after the near death experience.
Whether the other characters are aware of the cause of your character’s dramatics will impact the nuances of how you play the scene.
If they are unaware, you would be searching for clues of whether or not the other people in the scene are buying your dramatic, made up story.
If they are aware of it, then you would be looking for confirmation that they don’t believe your story, so you can then express an underlying sense of disappointment because nobody cares.
That’s a subtle difference in your delivery, but the impact and the effect it has on screen is huge! We’ll go further into those nuances and how to play them, over the coming weeks.
They really are the difference between a good performance and an Oscar worthy performance. The script will give you some stuff to work with but it's up to you to build out the rest of the character.
Even after you master doing this, you will still need to work on putting the building blocks of your career in place, because talent only gets you so far. I created this to help you with some of the rest.
Even the most talented actors struggled to build a career until they put an emphasis on the other things that go into building an acting career.
One of those key things is visibility.
All the talent in the world won’t get you very far, if you don’t have the opportunity to share it with the world. This is a great tool to help you be more visible to the industry.
Once you increase your visibility to industry decision makers, you also have to show them that you are someone who truly wants to be a professional actor, not a hobbyist.
There are really only two ways to do that. You can either point to an extensive body of work with impressive credits or you can make sure that your industry reputation is in top shape. Here’s how I can help with that.
I know we went over a lot today so If you want to bounce ideas about how to do what we discussed, shoot me an email or let me know in the comments below. I’m always happy to help however I can because I truly want to...
See you at the top,
Scott