We have found 19,304 posts across 4 actor forums:
Headshot question by whaleforce9 • last post Sep 28th
Hey everyone, I’m going to get my first headshots done and join actors access. I recently went to a workshop and it was recommended to get three different looks for headshots. These will be my first headshots, so I was wondering if I really should get 3 different looks, or if 1 or 2 is good enough for starting out.
Ballpark of the best area to live for Acting classes in Los Angeles. by EFC94 • last post Sep 28th
I know to this day that LA remains the greatest location for film & television coaching and networking. With that in mind, I'm looking to move over for 3-6 months from next spring. Does anyone have experience living near a high collection of quality classes to audit and grow their professional network? I know there's acting classes everywhere but considering the size of the city, I'm wondering if there is one area it's recommended to get a place if you're a training/early working actor?
Are celebrity impression or character imitations necessary/look good on a VA reel? by AlanTheMexican • last post Sep 28th
I've put off becoming a professional VA for far too long, I love the art, I've taken acting classes, bla bla you dont need the life story but basically I want to start doing my VA Reel. I've heard that having basic performances like: "old man" or "Crazy man" are really good, as well as showing the range of your voice, but where do we fall on impressions or imitating previously established voices? I know that in the VA business is sacrilege to take an actor's character without asking first but is it allowed to play the character on the reel? Will employers hear that and ACTUALLY consider you? Or look the other way?
Having doubts as an actor. by Smilingtribute • last post Sep 28th
hello everyone! just thought I’ll post what I’m feeling right now. I’m a 22 year old, male. living in Scotland. I’ve been doing drama since I was ten years old. I love it. I studied it in high school and went to college for four years to study acting & performance (which was mostly practical) I loved it. I even won an award from my college for being the best classmate in my year. I worked so hard. however when I applied to unis and drama school. I got rejected from all of the practical courses. Even the drama school that I’ve done a few courses with. The only course I got on was a theory-based performance course which I do like but we only get to do a bit of practical stuff in the last semester. We don’t do any plays at uni, which I miss doing. They used to do a musical for the final year but they stopped due to COVID. However. It might start again next year for my final year. I started uni this month but I am enjoying the course despite it being mostly theory. I could have applied to another college who does a BA in Acting but I got rejected from them, a few years ago in a lower-level course. I’ve improved since then but I regret not applying for them. We have no agent showcase at my uni. However, I feel like the reason why that I got rejected from many places is that I have a speech impediment due to my disability of dyspraxia. I sometimes stumble my words. I sometimes tend to say my r’s as w’s. I didn’t realise this till a drama school pointed out to me that I had this. My parents never told me before. They recommend I use a bone prop which I used a lot. They gave me fantastic monologues to use and they gave me good feedback (I did a training course with them) my college also loved them but I still got rejected from most places. My speech has improved a lot since college. I just have problems with my diction sometimes. I’ve been attending a local young theatre group where we get to work with people in the industry (my college got me into it) which I love doing as it’s all practical. It’s given me a few professional credits and stuff for my showreel. I also attend a local musical theatre group in my spare time out of uni. I am not the best singer (I can keep a tune) but I can dance & act. I’ve been told I am a great actor by someone who attended a famous drama school in my area as she described my acting as truthful. My lecturers and classmates said I was good too. I am often typecast as a comedic actor and I can get younger roles as I look about sixteen to eighteen. I’m just having doubts that if I should just throw it away. I have a stable retail weekend job that keeps me going but I feel like many places and jobs will reject me because I have something that I can’t control sometimes. edit; I’ve also did Playwright, Flim & Poetry workshops during lockdown and got told I was good at that too. I’ve also did a few short films with minor parts.
How to relax in front of certain people? by nnylhsae • last post Sep 28th
I have taken acting classes before and done fine. I've done audition workshop things and done fine. I've practiced one-on-one with instructors and done fine. Now I'm needing to do a self-tape with my mom as a reader, and I'm no longer fine. I think the problem is that she severely judged me when I first told her I wanted to be an actress, and now I can't bring myself to simply be comfortable talking about it around her, much less act and record a self-tape. I'm very tense, I talk too fast, and I look so fake. I just don't know how to calm myself down internally. Any tips?
Actor interview by Dragons_and_Deba • last post Sep 27th
I am doing an English project where we have to interview someone in a discourse community. I have chosen acting and would like to interview someone with experience acting. Thank you.
What can I do Meisner-related at home? by Movie-Connoisseur • last post Sep 27th
Hi. Currently I’m taking a Meisner acting class every week. What we do is start with a repetition exercise for about 30 minutes and then Improv for 30 minutes. I’m really enjoying the class and feel extremely motivated. I feel bad for my scene partner each class because I feel like a waste of time to them with my very little experience. I’m not that good but still feel really motivated. I would really love to improve and become the best actor I can be. Is there anything I can do at home to help the process? I’m reading Meisner On Acting and I’m trying to watch his classes on YouTube, is there anything else I can do? Thank you!
If I ask a voice actor to read the alphabet, I can cut it together to spell out any word. But how do I make it sound natural? by pengo • last post Sep 27th
...like how a human might spell out their name on the phone. How many takes do I need? What do I ask of the performances? How long should they pause between letters? Do I need different recordings for first, second and third letters in a word or... what? Is there a word for this kind of thing that I can google? (e.g. for splicing together short clips to sound somewhat natural, like in satnav) It's for an indie game. Also would like to do both English alphabet and Nato (alfa, bravo, charlie...), possibly with a number of voice actors. Naturalistic is important for both realism (radio comms) and to lessen the player's cognitive load while they focus on more important challenges.
Getting frustrated with my agent by Snoo-8814 • last post Sep 27th
I don't have a lot of experience as an actress but I've been studying for a while and after almost two years I got an agent who supposedly manages a lot of actors who've landed major roles, and some of them I've actually seen in movies and TV series. It's been 8 months since he started managing my (non-existent) career but so far I haven't received any auditions for any role. I know things got super complicated due to Covid and he always tells me that now things are getting back to normal but at the same time I see other colleagues that he manages as well already working and I can't help but compare myself to them – I know I shouldn't, but easier said than done. When I ask if I could do something to improve my chances, he insist that my profile and videos and photos are all adequate and there is nothing wrong with me. I've asked him a few times about auditions over the past few months, and I'm getting kinda embarrassed to ask again. I feel like I'm not even close to getting anything. By the way, the last time I spoke to his assistant I was very upset because one of his justifications for why I'm not getting auditions is my lack of "good energy work/spirit/whatever the fuck he was talking about" so I can attract good things from the universe and then get an audition. Due to my lack of experience it is difficult to get another agent. I feel trapped. And I think these people find it easier to say I'm being anxious just because I'm new to all of this than to admit they're being assholes. Does that makes sense? Should I ask him one more time about auditions? Advice is welcome.
Scenes From a Marriage and I May Destroy You by youngcacky • last post Sep 27th
If you want a look at in-depth analysis of character study for two person scene work, watch Scenes From a Marriage on HBO. Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac are incredible. Also, shoutout to I May Destroy You- Michaela Coel and all of the actors in this show turn in amazing performances. Please, a little less of the agent questions and more of a call to greatness for this beautiful, intricate craft. Go watch these shows. What’s behind the eyes?
Can a young aspiring actor pursue this industry without playing the social media game? by Equivalent-Aerie7188 • last post Sep 27th
I love acting I really do but I loathe Tikktok and all that bs. What do you guys think?
Kinda sad because I think my manager is lying to me… by hoehoehoe96 • last post Sep 26th
So I had an audition this week. It was 13 pages, three scenes and 9 minutes long. I had two and a half days working on it. And I really wanted to work on it as much as I could, so I (stupidly) started taping it 7 hours before deadline. The deadline was 10AM and I started 3AM after my night shift. The problem is that I didn’t have a reader and had my friend pre record the other persons lines. Yeah, I know bad idea, but last time I did this, it was one of the best auditions I’ve ever done, and this time also having no one who could help me, I really didn’t have any choice. However, since the scenes was long and the pre recorded reader voice didn’t allow me to be free without feeling rushed all the time because “her next line is coming up in 3 seconds”, it all went to hell. The first scene went great though because I had plenty monologues and the reader had only two small lines at the beginning of that scene. After failing the other two scenes miserably, I called my friend 9AM panicking and had him read over phone and after a lot of difficulties, I was finished around 11.30AM. It took me around an hour more to choose, cut the scenes, upload to Vimeo. I obviously didn’t feel good about the tapes because I was dead tired while filming and had had a stressfull and crazy night. I even mentioned in the email that I didn’t feel great about them. Now, I have two managers I signed with a couple of months ago, one of them (“Joe”) is a really big deal. He’s always rly busy but makes sure to watch my tapes and give feedbacks weather he’s the one or the other manager giving me the audition. The other manager (“Matt”) is pretty new, whom Joe kinda took under his wings a year ago. He gives good feedbacks as well. I have had a handful of auditions with them and basically all of them aside from one (that had still turned out okay), I’ve been rly proud of. I sent a text to Matt who was the one who gave me this audition, about being sorry that it came late, he didn’t reply. But after watching the tapes he responded to the email that I did an excellent job. And Joe watched only scene one (I know all of this because I upload them on Vimeo that shows how many views). He loved it (again, the first scene did turn out great) and he complemented on how he always love my work because I’m always so natural and it never feels forced and that he thinks I’m a terrific actor. I was super happy. However, two days later I checked my Vimeo and realize that my slate video hadn’t even had a view. So obviously Matt decided to not submit the selftape, the slate that was required was very specific and he’s always viewed the slates before. And he didn’t even say that he wasn’t gonna submit it. To make it worse, he said “excellent work”. At least just say “Thanks for this.” Instead of that blatant lie. Because now I will never believe whatever he says. So now I don’t know what to think and I’m pretty devastated. And before everybody berates me for being late, I already know that’s not okay. I just feel like I’ve lost the trust between me and Matt!
Acting MFA - recommendations? by Lost_Win_4168 • last post Sep 26th
Who in the world can I ask for this? ​ I was bit of a petulant actor back in 2020 (literally right before the world went to shit) so the only director I've ever worked with doesn't seem very keen on writing one... I have an acting professor who I'm sure would love to, and my boss who, though adjacent to theater and would love to do it, is also not an director. So that makes two - but so many programs need a third. Do I just ask another (non-theater) professor to write a \~character\~ recommendation for me? Talking about what a hard worker I am (or something...?) Really feeling like I shot myself in the foot with my last director and not sure how I can move on from this.
I read through the method acting FAQ and I'd really like some thoughts on the questions I have in regards to behavior and acting. by Ouroboros612 • last post Sep 26th
Hi I've been complimented many times in life for having a good imagination and lots of creativity. On the subject of method acting, I think I have unintentionally/subconsciously done this my entire life. I have Asperger Syndrome. Diagnosed recently. One of the interesting topics with my psychiatrist was that of acting. That I always felt like I was playing a role in life. Mimicking people. From an early age I realized I had to act like others to avoid trouble. Something which in Psychology is called masking. I didn't just "act normal". I adapted and mimicked positive traits in others in terms of both body language and speech to be successful and liked. --- Here's 3 brief examples of things I have done. - I successfully sat down near some bikers at a pub once. And when one of them struck a conversation. I acted. I spent most of that evening socializing with them and they seemed to like me a lot. I observed with keen ears and eyes what they were like, what they liked and disliked, etc. The social dynamic of the group. They didn't like me because I was myself. But because I mirrored and copied what I had in order to "be" one of them. Acting. - At a new job I watched and learn who everyone was individually. And their roles in the group. So that I had a micro and macro view of the social dynamic. I then slowly started socializing and talking more and more to people. To gain information about made them tick, who they were, and for them to have a naturally positive disposition to me. It was a slow and subtle process. But I managed to adapt a personality that made me everyone's favorite guy on work. But it was just an act. Acting. - For a more general example. I have been able - through my entire life - to assume the viewpoint of others. And play the best role I can to blend in with the people I'm with. Acting to be who I need to be for maximum positive outcome. I've never been myself in life. I don't even know who I am, or what I really like/dislike. Why? Because my **entire life** has been an act within acts. I can charm a woman, I can get a mugger to back down, I can get an angry guy to calm down. I always intuitively knew exactly what body language and speech I needed to adapt whether with a single person or a group. --- Creativity, imagination, social engineering, manipulation. Call it what you'd like but... isn't what I've done my entire life method acting? I have quiet literally always acted as who I need to act as in any certain situation. I'm not talking about how normal people alter their behavior. I'm talking about **LIVING** and **BEING** the person I had to act as. If I've had roughly a 95% success on average with this in life. Increasing as I grew older and better at it. Wouldn't that indicate that I'm really, really good at it? If there are two social groups who absolutely hate each other, I can utterly effortlessly get to know them - act like them - be them - to get liked and accepted by them. --- So what I'm wondering is. Do you think this, without acting lessons, is enough to warrant a genuine attempt at becoming an actor? I'm photogenic so that also helps I guess. It's just that... my entire personality is a hollow vessel with the merged personality of hundreds of people I have adapted to. I'm like a hivemind of behavior and I can instantly and intuitively act as whoever I want. Wouldn't this also make my perfect profession a movie actor? I'd love some thoughts on this if anyone has the time. I don't take insults or criticism personally, and even when I do I have very thick skin. As someone on the autism spectrum I view myself and the world with cold logic, detached, objectively, without ego. Behavior for me is a mathematical formula, not something natural.
We interview Voice Actor/Audiobook Narrator RJ Bayley! by spencecorpuz45 • last post Sep 26th
RJ is an extremely talented narrator/voice actor and we were so excited to interview him. Please check out this interview and support him through the links in the description! Thanks to all the voice actors out there bringing so much joy to all of us who love to listen! ​ [https://youtu.be/gWIqGrZ58GQ](https://youtu.be/gWIqGrZ58GQ) ​ https://preview.redd.it/ydafhd0qnzp71.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0568835c7e49563331f1041cb380fa80b17fd1e2
Frances vs Meryl by MathematicianLeft07 • last post Sep 26th
Now that Frances has become the 3rd actress to win 3 oscars (all for lead) along with Meryl (2 lead and 1 supporting) and katherine (4 oscars) who do ya think is the best actress?
Joaquin Phoenix weird or unique by MathematicianLeft07 • last post Sep 26th
What makes Joaquin Phoenix so distinct from other actors working? I just can't explain he seems to be so different in terms of acting..
Being union is making me lose work… by FurmidableCat • last post Sep 26th
Long story short: I now have almost no jobs on union sets but end up losing tons of opportunities on non union sets because I am union. I have been in both of my acting unions for seven years and worked hard to get there. I used to get a good amount of work, but have had almost nothing for a year. The only things I got was union background work, student short films (which the union approves of) and paid non union work (which one of the union tolerates. They confirmed I have the right to do that). Since I am not getting professional work as an actor, I am trying to reinvent myself as a host or a public personality. I get offered a lot of paid opportunities to work on camera as myself, I could say I am pretty popular, but they end up refusing to work with me because I am union. The union confirm that I totally have the right to work non union as myself, and even offered to tell the producers I could do it, but so many productions refuse to hire union performers because they don’t want to pay union rates, that I am not even asking for. I end up not getting work on union sets and losing work on non union sets so I just have nothing. What could I do to fix that?
NYC and LA actor check in- what’s your survival job? by mraladdinsirwat • last post Sep 26th
Hi guys, what do you do to keep the bills paid?