Why Natural Actors Still Need Training While an actor might be a natural performer, he or she is also a human being. (Jim Webb) ____________________________________________________________________________ Training is vital to the actor’s life. Being…

Actor Stories: Jenna Fischer’s First Day in LA, as an Aspiring Actress It was my first day in Los Angeles and everything felt perfect. Then, nothing happened for six years. (Arranged by AM…

The Super-Objective Unlike short-term or moment-to-moment objectives, the super-objective influences and guides the character’s actions throughout the entire course of the story. (By Tonya Tannenbaum) ____________________________________________________________________________ The “Super-Objective” is the primary goal that…

    “There’s a wide, wide, wide river of actors and actresses. But there’s only a tiny pond of real talent.” (Charles S. Dutton)   ____________________________________________________________________________ Dutton went on to explain: What I…

The Unbroken Line. When this line is broken, Stanislavski believed, the actor gets “lost” in the role, the life of the character “stops” and the actor loses the overall thrust of the character….

Don’t Be Afraid to Politely Ask for an Audition Do-Over The goal is not to be nice, the goal is to leave the audition room feeling good about the performance you put on…

  Continuity (by Tonya Tannenbaum) ____________________________________________________________________________ Continuity, as it relates to on-camera acting, is the effort to create the illusion of one continuous time and space, even though the process of filming the…

Atlanta is Becoming the Hollywood of the South If you’re an actor who lives in Atlanta, it may no longer be necessary for you to move to Hollywood to elevate your acting career….

Quote of the day: “You might sometimes act badly, sometimes only satisfactorily (it often depends on your inner mood), but you should always act truthfully.” (Mikhail Shchepkin) _____________________________________________________________________ Brief Bio The “father of…

What is a “Backstory”? (by Tonya Tannenbaum) _____________________________________________________________________ In acting, creating a “backstory” generally refers to the process of inventing details about the history of the character’s life, where those details are not…

  Actor Stories: Charles S. Dutton Charles S. Dutton began his amazing acting career in “the hole”, a tiny, urine-infested, concrete box, reading his first play using light that seeped from under the…

Actor Stories: Tyler Perry Tyler Perry, the actor/director/playwright, proves that you can go from broke, homeless dreamer to Hollywood Mogul if you believe in yourself and never stop trying. (by AM Staff) ____________________________________________________________________________…

3 Good Reasons to see BlacKkKlansman. This film will delight you with its wit and charm. And, while witty, it also manages to bring some heavy moments. (by AM staff) ____________________________________________________________________________ If you…

Quote of the day: “The modern film actor knows that real people in real life struggle *not* to show their feelings. It is more truthful, and more potent, to fight against the tears,…

Local Hire Can Mean Playing with Fire Why risk it? It’s probably much safer to get creative about discovering new acting opportunities where you live. (by Tonya Tannenbaum) ________________________________________________________________________________ Having family or friends,…

What is the “Magic If”? The “Magic If” is an acting technique that seeks to put the actor in their character’s shoes by asking a basic question, or series of questions, centered around…

Quote of the day: “When I act, I become very focused and I get a better sense of who I am and so, acting was always a way for me to transcend my…

7 Basic Facts About Konstantin Stanislavski Whether you are “Meisner” or “Method” or draw influence from the teachings of Stella Adler, Uta Hagen or others, you are likely studying an offshoot of Stanislavski’s…

  Fall in Love with Acting, All Over Again! So, if you’ve lost your love for the craft of acting or lost your love for the struggles associated with being an actor…just remember…

Top 10 List of Actors Who Found Success Later in Life If you feel like you’re too old to begin an acting career, or too old to continue one, just remember one thing:…

What is the “Substitution Technique”? Using substitution, actors can justify, to themselves, their character’s actions in various moments, now that they have related those moments to truths in their own lives. (by Tonya…

3 Brilliant Portrayals of Martin Luther King, Jr. In honor of Martin Luther King Day, we’d like to highlight three brilliant, recent portrayals of this iconic Civil Rights leader. (by Darryl Green) ________________________________________________________________________________________________…

Actor Kristoff St. John found dead The veteran actor was 52 years old (Carmichael Phillips) ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Kristoff St. John, one of the stars of CBS’s The Young & the Restless, was found dead…

What are the “Given Circumstances”? By analyzing the given circumstances, the actor can better understand who they are, where they are and understand the motivations of the character. (By Tonya Tannenbaum) ________________________________________________________________________________________________ The…

  Quote of the day: “I love entrances and exits. I love doing all the work about, “well let’s backload about where my character’s coming from, and why, how he got here and…

“I’m Geoffrey Owens and I am an actor!” “When it first happened, I thought it was going to be devastating; I thought it was going to be catastrophic, and it has been the…

4 Great Reasons to Audition with Your Sides In Your Hands Question: Now that you are off-book, should you bring your sides into the audition room with you? Should you use them during…

5 NFL Football Players Who Became Successful Actors Just in time for the Super Bowl, we bring you our top 5 list of NFL football players who became successful actors! (by AM Staff)…

4 Quick Facts about Actors and Blackface With all the recent uproar over the subject, it’s a good time to revisit some basic facts about actors and the use of blackface. (by James…

Quote of the day: “Acting is *not* showing. Only bad actors try to cry. Good actors try not to. Only bad actors try to laugh. Good actors try not to. Only bad actors…

  Don’t focus on HOW you say your lines. Focus on WHY you say your lines. Once you understand your character’s “why”, you will naturally emphasize words based on that “why” (by Tonya…

What is a “Callback Ratio”? (by Darryl Green) A “Callback Ratio” is a two-number combination that represents the number of callbacks an actor receives, relative to the number of auditions the actor went…