How Well Do You Know Your Character?

You are given a script.  Your character is close to your height and weight and is your sex.  That is why you were chosen.  Now it is up to you to make choices to define and understand your character.  You find out that the role you are playing is that of a professor of mathematics.  He or she is living in New Jersey and is currently working at Princeton University, middle aged, have a wife and three children. Your hair is brown, eyes are blue.  The character drives a Saab.

The facts are known but these are just statistics.  Does the professor cheat on his wife?  Any phobias?  Does he love one child more than the other two?

These questions can go on and on as you pick apart the script looking for clues.  These questions carry with them deeper questions.  For example, why does he cheat on his wife?  Why is the professor afraid of using erasers on the chalkboard and prefers to have a damp washcloth handy instead?

Our job as an actor is to find and ACCEPT our characters flaws and idiosyncrasies, then play them out truthfully.  Not to judge them.  Judging them only defuses and debilitates the role.   The only rule that we as actors should follow is if that role causes us to go against our morality or principles.  If we allow that to happen for any reason, we lose touch of who we are.

David Wayne

“What I did for Love”

Talent and the desire to develop and sacrifice for it is frequently misunderstood by others who do not share the same abilities.  Actors and artists have within them something special.  It LIVES in them.  Whenever that something special is allowed to shine, it creates happiness and satisfaction that fills our souls. 

When it is ignored it is like a pillow is placed over our face, and the ” something special”  turns into an overwelming burden which suffocates the life out of us. When others see this, they may assume that we need a change in career, or possibly an antidepressant.  This could not be further from the truth.  Actors and artists see, feel and react differently than the average person.  We were born with that something special for a reason.  It is a gift that needs to be nurtured, developed then given away, every day of our lives.

David Wayne

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