What Do Actors Do?

In theory, the answer to this question is simple: actors portray characters on stage, in film, on radio or online. But of course, this begs the question, “How?” If you possess the natural intuition, aptitude, intelligence, and set of skills needed to bring a role to life convincingly, by all means forget about actor training and simply do it! Audition, rehearse and perform. It need not be any more complicated than that.

However, if you are not one of the very few natural talents who are born to the craft, then read on. Here is where things get a bit sticky. Everyone is capable of “portraying” fictional characters to some degree by mimicking the emotions, attitudes, or even physical traits attributed to a fictional character. But the vast majority of people cannot bring a character “to life” to the point where an audience believes that the character is authentic and “real.” That level of portrayal requires a very high level of skill–especially when acting live, on stage.

One of life’s truisms is that understanding a “thing” seems to help in the doing of it. However, even the venerated Constantine Stanislavsky (father of the “method” school of acting) seems to struggle with what is required of the actor. He states,

“…in our art you must live the part every moment that you are playing it, and every time.” (An Actor Prepares, p. 19) However later in his seminal work he writes,

“Never lose yourself on the stage. Always act in your own person, as an artist. You can never get away from yourself. The moment you lose yourself on the stage marks the departure from truly living your part and the beginning of exaggerated false acting…” (Actor…, 177.) And so, an actor is left with a problem: How am I to “live the part every moment” while simultaneously taking care to “Never lose [myself] on the stage?” This is the actor’s dilemma.