The 13 top acting tips I've learned

I thought I’d compile a list of simple yet powerful top acting tips that I think of often when teaching and acting.

After studying and acting for over 2 decades, there are some simple truths that can help out beginner and advanced actors.

Let me know in the comments below what acting tips you turn to time and again!

Really ask the question

If your line has a question in it, consider it may not be a rhetorical one. Really ask the question to you partner and expect a response.

If you don't feel it, don't do it.

Sometimes you've rehearsed a scene in a certain way, and in the moment of performing you're in a different place. Rather than push to where you were, keep to what you're feeling in the moment.

Don't pretend

If you're looking for something in the scene, actually look for it, don't pretend to look. If you doing something, don't pretend to do it, actually do it. This goes for drinking, eating, or anything else that you can actually do in the scene.

Warm Up

Going into a scene cold is like running a race without walking before hand. Warming up your body, voice, + touching your emotions before performance helps you to access your instrument at its most receptive + available.

Know your boundaries

You have power as to where your boundaries are. No one will voice them but you. So get clear on your physical, emotional, material, and time boundaries + practice verbalizing them without apology.

Trust that you are enough

There is no need to push out of insecurity. You are enough. If you've done your homework, you can let your body experience, you don't need to "show" your work.

Simplify your objective

Often we over complicate what our character wants in the scene. Let it come to one simple action phrase. If you've complicated it, keep asking "why" until you find the root of what they are working for.

Don't play the end of a scene

There is usually a moment of change within a scene. If you go in playing the end, you have no where to go. Consider the arc of where you start + how you're changed by the end.

Have a cool down ritual

Some scenes are really intense and we need a ritual to bring us back to ourselves, hang up our character's energy like a garment, + find let go of lingering emotions that were stirred up.

Find the joy in creating

If we're constantly working to pay bills or get a step ahead, we miss the fun and the play that lives within acting. Touch the joy of creative expression + watch your work thrive.

There is no right or wrong

Everyone will have their own interpretation of the story, and the director will collaborate you to make it as full as possible. It's not about getting it "right."

Don't take yourself so seriously

There's a reason clowning and acting go hand in hand. If we are too afraid to make bold choices because we're worried about how we will look or be perceived you limit your genius.

Use your Chakras

Chakra work in Acting is one of the quickest + most embodied way into Character that I have found. Consider how your Character holds their Chakras, in balance or out of balance - all will help you access dynamic impulse.

Many of these are touched on in the MAW Online Course - Acting with the Chakras 8 Week Self Guided exploration! Find out more here!