One of the first things I do when meeting and working with an actor is go through their “special skills” line by line.

I often find hidden gems that they are not using to their advantage, at least not fully.

More often than not, I even find that they have skills that they don’t leverage at all, even though they could be a tremendous help to their acting career.

See, there are tons of projects that require actors with a variety of skills and you don’t make your skills widely known, no matter who obscure you think they might be, you could be missing out big time.

I’ve seen 1 liners turn into much bigger parts simply because the actor who was booked for a 1 liner had a “special skill” that gave the director an idea.

There is a sort of balancing act that comes into play and if you don’t leverage your skills the right way your talents will be seen as scattered at best, or even as a work of fiction.

So, if you want to be more than just a 1 dimensional actor (and you have to be if you want to be a successful, professional actor) then you have to learn how to balance your multiple talents and how to use them at the right times to give move your career forward.

When done properly, you can unlock new career opportunities most actors or even agents know exist. This leaves you will practically zero competition.

Here’s how...

Most actors think of characters as being static.

In reality characters always fluid. They evolve and change from the moment they are first created until the project has wrapped post production.

There is plenty of time to expand characters and take them in multiple directions.

With a good director, it happens all the time. A fellow member of our boost my star tribe, was cast in a great guest spot on a primetime show.

Her role had a decent amount of screen time and she was very excited about it.

One of the reasons she was cast in this particular role was that she had a background in dance. She was very talented in that regard and it put her above the competition, because the character she would go on to play had a small dance routine in one of her scenes

On set, the dance just wasn’t feeling right. It was out of place and detracted from the storyline.

Most actors would simply roll with the punches and let the chips fall where they may, even if that meant most of her scenes would end up on the cutting room floor.

Being a part of our tribe, she knew better and made a suggestion. “Why not turn it into a tango?” she said.

She quickly choreographed a tango routine, coached her costar through it and the director absolutely loved it!

When production wrapped for the day, the writers room went into a flurry. The character went from a few minutes of screen time in a single episode, and turned into a 3 episode arc.

Nothing changed in this situation, other than the actor properly leveraging her talents.

The key here was that she knew the character well and the evolution made sense. There was a lot of mystery surrounding the character as one of the series’ leading character’s love interest.

Their dynamic was supposed to be fun and intriguing, yet their mutual attraction was mostly unspoken (at least between each other). The tango was a perfect fit, as she suggested, and it worked so well that the character took on a new life, leading to the expansion.

Using a talent besides acting isn’t simply about being a good dancer, or a good singer, in addition to being a talented actor, and it goes way beyond just adding it to your resume.

Your multiple talents should spark ideas and evolve characters that already exist. Often you have to be the one to bring this into the character, if doesn’t already exist.

To keep from going overboard, you should never try to force a character trait. If it doesn’t fit organically, let it be.

If it doesn't advance the storyline, let it be. That said, this doesn’t mean it has to advance the story in the same direction.

Often, you will see “mini arcs” form simply because they are too good to pass up. For example, a talented songwriter also being a talented vocalist and trying to steal the spotlight from the singer she is writing for, is a natural progression and could turn into a mini arc.

A talented songwriter turning into a breakdancer is not a natural progression for the character or for the story.

Look for opportunities that you can use your talents in a way that makes sense. Fair warning on this...
9 times out of 10, you will find that the current characters will remain unchanged.

However, I have literally lost count of the number of times I’ve been told by an actor that they were passed up for the role by a Casting Director, but were asked to come in for something completely different.

Of course this only happens, when Casting takes you seriously as an actor.

Here’s how I can help with that.

See, you can have all the talent in the world but if decision makers don’t see you as a professional, they won’t put themselves on the line for you.

When you look at the casting process, that’s exactly was Casting Directors do. When they advance you in the process, they are putting their stamp of approval on you and that’s a big commitment.

If you are cast and drop the ball on set, you will hear about of course but that’s not where it stops.

The heat goes all the way back to the casting office.

Because of this, CDs use a number of tools to lower the risk they face when casting an actor they’ve never worked with before.

Get the details on their leading tool and how you can use it to your advantage here.

If you want to build a career as a professional actor, you have to work on your talent, while also putting energy into making the industry take notice of you.

Let me help with that, so you can focus on what you do best.

Taking that burden from you is what I’m here for and I’m happy to help every actor I can, because my goal is to...

See you at the top,
Scott