my husband only recently started expressing interest in becoming an on camera actor and I’ve been nothing but super supportive- helping with self tapes, encouraging him to take hard acting classes etc.

I do however struggle with the intimacy scenes he will be eventually doing:. and i think he will be peer-pressured into actually rehearsing real kissing in his classes because others chose to do it too instead of taking modifications like hugging or hand holding instead of kissing in class.

in addition, his scene partner (W) wants him to come to her apartment next week to rehearse the scene and I’m afraid they will try one of the intimate options I’m not comfortable with him doing… just because its so normalized in his class.. and then he will tell me abt it later and try to make it seem like its so normal - even though we discussed boundaries in scenes like that prior.

should I suggest they rehearse in a real rehearsal space instead of her apt??

Looking for some online acting classes to take for a beginner! I’m in college and have a job, so I want something flexible. Because of school, acting isn’t really something I prioritize right now, but I want to go ahead and build a resume so I have a solid base when I am ready to put all of my focus onto it. Please let me know if you have any recommendations or tips, thanks so much!

Greetings fellow actors!!
As the title states, I’m looking for study recommendations.

I’ve been going to an acting school for the past year and a half now and the teacher is also a director. He has opened my eyes to a level of acting I didn’t know I could attain! Helped me believe in myself. I now say “I’m an actor!” as opposed to “Yeeeah, I do this acting thing” because of him.

He will be shooting his first independent feature film next month and tapped me for the lead role! Not gonna lie, I’m feeling the pressure as I’ve never done anything of this magnitude. The most I’ve done in class was the fight scene in Marriage Story and it was 9 pages, his project is 85 pages!

Now, I don’t have any issues with memorization but I would like to know how does one study a script that size? I’ve just been reading it, not memorizing anything yet.

Any suggestions and recommendations are welcomed and appreciated!

So i am 23M i always wanted to be an actor but never got any chances nor i was available for acting due to my carrer but now as i am well settled amd going good in my career i want to live upto my dream back again and i want to pursue my carrer as an actor , but now i dont have any leads nor i know about the pathways
Pls guide me or suggest me ideas

been acting in theater my whole life, screen acting for several years now. 26F and im consistently in acting classes, good headshots, can book roles, solid resume, film clips, personal acting website etc. So why tf can't i get signed. I am fortunate to have these opportunities where i get to perform for agents and managers and i've done so multiple times. so what gives... the worst part is, these agents and managers actually ENJOY my scenes that i present to them. i see people on my instagram getting signed like its no brainer. these agents dont want me. guys seriously im at a loss. pls ill take any advice i can get.

I'm a high school student and I need to ask some questions to someone who has experience in this career of acting. My project consists of asking questions like what made you interested, tips for beginners, and difficulties. General questions.
I'm interested in this career path, so that's why I'm doing this project. Answer ASAP.
If possible, I would need to do the questions in another social media app, you suggest which one.
Thanks in advance.

Hi Winnie, I am Ajay, an aspiring actor from India. This is my written work for the monologue about missing a friend.

Objective: To admit the painful truth to myself/friend that I am still holding on, even though it hurts.

Relationship: Talking to my late friend in their room.

Dialogue & Tactics:

Pre-conversation: Looking at his old photo, feeling the silence.

Tactic: Opening up about the struggle.Dialogue: "You know what’s the hardest part?"Inner Thought: I've been keeping this inside for so long.

Tactic: Admitting the exhaustion of faking strength.Dialogue: "Pretending I don't miss you anymore."Inner Thought: Everyone thinks I'm okay, but I’m tired of lying.

Tactic: Realizing the painful hope.Dialogue: "Because a part of me still waits for you."Inner Thought: Every time the door opens, I still expect it to be you.

Tactic: Accepting the permanent truth of my love.Dialogue: "And honestly... I think a part of me always love you."

Inner Thought: This pain is never going away because the love is always here.

Hey everyone! I’m currently in pre-production of a series I’m going to post on YouTube and I have a question. The cast for my series is a bunch of my friends so they aren’t professional and I’m not able to pay them so they are doing this for free. I really appreciate their help and I want to try my best to make it fun and stress free.

For the days that we start filming, there are 2 days which I think will be quite a work heavy day and there’s quite a high chance we might not film everything those 2 days which I don’t have a problem with. I was just wondering if anyone here had any suggestions of making the film process a little more fun for my friends so they don’t feel like the day is dragging.

I appreciate the suggestions and I hope you all have a wonderful day 🙂

This is some advice for actors who already have a bit of a foundation. If you’re just starting out in the industry, this might not be super useful to you yet.

I’m not going to analyze the current state of the industry or the casting process here. I just want to focus on the absolute maximum effort we can put in on our end as actors.

I’ll break down my 6 years of auditioning experience into 3 parts and share some advice I really wish I had known earlier.

The Pain Points:

1. We usually get very little time to prep for an audition.
2. There is a massive gap between analyzing the script/memorizing lines and the actual performance (True Understanding + Embodiment).

Let's not talk about audition "hacks" or how an audition performance should differ from a real one—like the old clichés of how to grab a casting director's attention or stand out. In my eyes, an audition performance shouldn't fundamentally differ from a real performance, at least not from the actor's perspective. Truth is always the most attractive; Truth is always the funniest; Truth is always the most touching.

But getting there within the few short days you have for an audition is tough. The hardest part is hitting that true understanding + embodiment. Once you have those two things, you find truth. Otherwise, you're just playing pretend.

No fluff, just the practical stuff:

Part A: Script Analysis

• Read it all the way through at once. Don't break it up into pieces on your first read.
• Use your own system. Stick to whatever analysis method you are most familiar with.
• Find and deeply analyze the "bumpy lines." Lines that feel really awkward to say are often little cheat sheets from the writer—they hide the fundamental differences between you and the character.
• Trust your first impression. The feelings you get during your first read are usually your most accessible path to embodiment. Use that feeling.

Part B: Memorizing Lines

I don't know how many times I’ve done this: The tape is due tomorrow morning. I ask my roommate to be my reader at 8 PM. After 2 hours of rote memorization alone on the couch, I feel like I've got it down and understood the scene. But when we start recording, and the reader actually throws the cue at me, all my brain sees is the visual format and order of the script on the page. I stumble just to get the lines out. After one take, something feels off, so I do another, and another. I watch them over and over. My roommate has to go to bed, so time's up. Even though I’m still not satisfied, I send Take 3 to the CD. Then I lie in bed overthinking it for another hour.

The Reasons:

1. You memorized an image of the script's format and order. You didn't actually memorize the scene.
2. You’re trying to understand a scene by memorizing it like a monologue. When the cue comes, your first thought is, "What’s my next line?" instead of reacting based on the character's objective.
3. You kept the exact same posture in the exact same spot. Your audition environment isn't your couch or your office; it should be a dynamic environment that you believe in, even if it only exists in your imagination. The ideal standard is being able to say your lines naturally while standing, sitting, running, cooking, or driving. Your body can help you with this far more than you think. Get on your feet.

Tips:

• Memorize with cues. You need that process of reacting to truly understand the character.
• Motivation > Rote Memorization. When you curse someone out in real life, there's a reason behind it, which is why the words flow continuously without you having to think. You don't just use one "cursing template," right?
• Science shows that understanding the motivation behind the lines makes you remember them 2–3 times better than rote memorization. With so little time for an audition, higher efficiency is a huge advantage. (Credit: Craik & Tulving, 1975; Noice & Noice, 1996, 2006)
• Memorizing lines while doing different physical actions and in different locations increases retention by about 20–30%. If your rehearsal space resembles your audition space, it can jump another 40–50%. (Credit: Godden & Baddeley, 1975; Madan & Singhal, 2012; Noice & Noice, 2001)
• Getting some sleep after memorizing lines and before recording your audition helps consolidate and understand the material. Word-pair memory can even double. (Credit: Plihal & Born, 1997; Marshall et al., 2006, Nature; Diekelmann & Born, 2010, Nature Reviews Neuroscience)

(I actually built an app called Offbookly that helps actors rehearse with cues and understand intentions on camera when they don't have a reader. It's free for beta testers—DM me if you need it.)

Part C: The Actual Audition

Don’t agonize over your "choices" (even though that’s our greatest authority as actors): Recording take after take, watching it over and over, and still ending up unsatisfied... Knowing you have unlimited chances to re-record will destroy your audition performance. Watching yourself from a third-person perspective while trying to exist in the first person is fundamentally contradictory.

Regarding choices: I believe every choice you make while acting is just a variation of how the character achieves their objective (the real term being Action/Intention). I've seen many actors with their own "bottom-of-the-box tricks." For example, if it's a flirting scene, they instantly put on a "flirting mask" that looks the exact same every time. But the truth is, once the intention behind the action of flirting changes, that mask might not work anymore. If the character wants to fall in love with the other person, the action looks one way. If the intention is to scam them out of their money, the action looks completely different. So my point is: Only when you truly understand the intention behind it will you find truth. When you have truth, the "choice" isn't as important. (If you want to dig deeper into this, I highly recommend reading Chris Fields' "Leave Yourself Alone".)

I don't recommend reviewing lines 20 minutes before performing: Cramming lines 20 minutes before an audition is a signal of insecurity. You're telling yourself: My lines aren't solid yet. This makes it too easy to slip into a "safer, going-through-the-motions" mode. In this self-preservation state, you tend to prioritize getting the words out perfectly over letting the character actually exist.

I won't elaborate on how important confidence is to a performance. What I really want to talk about is how rare the stage of "forgetting" is.

Let me give you an example: Your audition scene is this: You (the character) just found out that the admissions decision for your dream college comes out today. You are at the computer, your heart pounding. You know you’ve fought for this exact moment for years. Your parents just want you to learn a trade in town to help the family. Your eyes are fixed on the "View Status" button, but you're too scared to click it. You know this decision might change your life trajectory, maybe you can instantly turn your family's finances around, and your dad might genuinely be proud of you because of this. Then, you click it. The screen flashes. A letter appears, and it says: "Since you have withdrawn your application to this university, we are unable to provide a decision..." But you never did that.

Much like the feeling you probably had just reading that paragraph, you were in an unknown stage just like the character. Because of that, you didn't have to design how to feel, or tell yourself "what my objective is." It was just a raw reaction.

But what if you do it again? You already know your application was withdrawn by someone, so how do you act this situation? What if you do it 10 times? Will your reaction be the same as the first time? Can you accept it if your reaction isn't exactly the same as the first time?

I'm sure a lot of actors will agree with me on this: Keeping the character's unknown information truly unknown is one of the hardest things in acting. I don't have an absolute solution for it either. But I’ve found that deliberately not thinking about the lines or what happens next for a period of time after I've memorized them really helps me. Just trust that you've already done the work, focus on the character's objective, and let what happens happen. That is the powerful charm of acting.

Hope the advice above helps. Genuinely wishing the industry gets better and better.

If you guys want to hear me talk about what I consider the 3 hardest parts of acting: Coexistence, Forgetting, and Stepping Out... let me know in the comments.

Stan

Hi, I’m trying to understand something about my own procces and my acting “technique”.

I’ve noticed that a big part of my process involves awareness of my face and body. I don’t mean that I’m thinking mechanically like “move eyebrow here” or “make this expression.” It’s more like I have a kinesthetic awareness of my instrument — my face, body, tension, posture, breath — and I adjust from the inside until something feels truthful and connected.

When I try to only focus on the partner or only I often feel less connected. But when I let my body and face be part of the process, emotions and impulses seem to come up more naturally. It feels like my face/body awareness helps me access the moment rather than pulling me out of it.

At the same time, I often hear actors say you shouldn’t be aware of your face, or that thinking about your body/expression means you’re “indicating” or not being truthful. That has confused me, because this awareness doesn’t feel fake or disconnected to me. It feels more like an anchor.

I’m wondering:

Can body/face awareness be a valid part of an actor’s process if it still allows listening, reacting, and truthful impulses?

Where is the line between useful physical awareness and “performing an expression”?

Have any of you worked this way, or trained actors who use strong physical/kinesthetic awareness?

I’m not looking for reassurance as much as trying to understand the difference between healthy technical awareness and something that becomes artificial.

Looking for a female (Asian) to record a short video clip (1–2 minutes max).
Task is simple: you’ll be given a short script with a few lines to say on camera. No acting experience needed, just clear speaking and decent phone camera quality.
Paid gig.
Requirements:
Female
Asian
Comfortable speaking on camera
Can record in a quiet environment
Send a quick sample video or a short intro if interested.
Details and script will be shared privately.