The Full Spectrum Actor

How I Imagined My Way Into a Movie Role

I have been an actor for almost 30 years and although I grew up with a lot of seeming advantages in terms of the Hollywood prototype – blond hair, blue eyes, I, like too many others discovered upon my arrival to Tinseltown that what worked back in my home town did not necessarily apply in the “Entertainment Capital of the World.”

After a lot of auditions the pattern became clear – I was what casting directors called “interesting.”

I used to think of this as a bad word – it meant I wasn’t “normal” or of the popular variety, and instead I was destined to play character roles and odd ones out.  But I soon recognized another pattern – it was my creativity in the room that was making it this way; I just had a lot of unusual ideas about how to play the roles I was seeing on the sides I was being sent by my agents.  In hindsight, I can see that a vastr majority of the roles I have landed happened as a result of me taking the character in directions the casting director, producer or writer hadn’t yet imagined.  So this article is for those of you who want to try things a little differently.  Maybe it will work for you too.

You have to play up your weaknesses. I walked into an audition where I was smaller than anybody else going into the role to play a villain. Me against the big Samoan body guards. I told the director, in the audition that he’d have to shoot to shoot “screamers” (extreme closeups) of me in the movie so that what was going on in my face and eyes was more important than my actual stature.

I also told him that I felt the dialogue for my character in the script was cliche.  Sure, I took the risk but when I saw everybody else in that waiting room, I realized that they were all wearing flip-flops and gold chains so I went against that type, and told them I take the character in the direction of Hannibal Lector doing the Lord of the Flies.

You have to do these things because if you don’t the amount of competition puts you in a very long line.   If you try to play it safe then you are just like everybody else. If you go against the grain, you might freak some people out, but if you do it right, you can spark the imagination.  Let me state that again – the object isn’t to be weird for its own sake, but to find a new way of looking at the character and sharing that with the filmmakers.  They want to feel like they are in collaboration with you, not standing in judgment.

So there I was, in the room with the producer and the director/screenwriter and perhaps they saw there was indeed an opportunity to elevate this otherwise stereotypical villain above the page.

I’m a screenwriter myself and I know that a lot of the dialogue I write is provisional. I hope that the actor will take it to a new level, a third dimension.   This is precisely what I wanted to show them I intended to do with the character – I quickly gave them a whole invented back story I had created and why he was in the predicament he was in.  I created ideas for them in the room that showed them possibilities that they hadn’t thought of before.

Of course my reading of the dialogue had to back this up somewhat.  They brought me back in the next day to see it again.  This time they wanted to see more, something different, so I gave it to them a whole new way – much wackier and wild – just to prove that there was space to move around.  You see, if I had simply memorized the WAY of reading, then I couldn’t have had the flexibility to grow and change and adapt with the project and the job.

Acting is about freedom, and yet too often people make it feel like a prison cell.  Yes, there is a lot on the line, but really, what have you got to lose?  Use the imagination that made you love the idea of acting in the first place, and then you can really create something memorable that people will want to see more and more of all the time.  Create that sense of wonder, and come at it like you are there to serve the story.  You can’t go wrong, because if you are having fun with it, you are already succeeding.

Understanding What You Mean By Success

Too often actors become obsessed with getting feedback or validation from their audition, their acting class scene study, their agent’s reaction to their new headshot and then when they get a tepid response or even a suggestion or criticism fall to pieces.

Every bit of input is valuable and precious improvement material.  Be thankful every time you get it; it doesn’t actually hurt you either way.

Disappointment is tied to expectation.

Success, on the other hand, is tied to improvement. There is a concept in Japan known as Kaizen which essentially means “constant and never ending improvement.”  Anthony Robbins shortened this phrase to simply C.A.N.I.

Everything you learn makes you invariably and irrevocably better.  Recently Malcolm Gladwell discussed the ER admission doctor who realized that he never actually found out what happened with the patients whom he sent up to the Emergency ward so he started going up to visit them after an hour to determine whether the medication or method he had suggested actually worked.  Regular Family M.D.’s have the advantage that they have follow ups with family members and so learn from their experiences.  The ER doctor could have continued for years and years without getting feedback and been doing more damage than good.  Feedback, criticism and learning are your allies.  Hear it, process it, and take what you need from it.  Then move on.

Think about how you talk about those who are successful – it is a reflection of your own feelings about success.

Observe how you talk and feel about the things above you, the things you desire; they are the reflection of how you feel about attaining them. The things you fear about them, are the very things that are preventing you from obtaining them. You subconsciously apologize in advance to people when you discuss these things and thus subconsciously let them know that you are incapable of holding that position.

For example, one of my students discussed that she couldn’t stand Pairs Hilton because she felt that Paris did nothing to deserve her success and fame.  This reflects the student’s belie, that merit requires some sort of sacrifice, that an audition requires a pound of flesh, self-torment and tribulation in order to be “deserved”.

Roles are earned, but they are also matches to the correct actor for the part. For example, Cold Case is a very tough show to book because it is always about a flashback, and so actors have to be matched between their older and younger selves.  Don’t look sideways at others for what to do – honor and respect that they are right for what they do, and so are you.  Leave your negativity behind and work and making yourself a more interesting, better educated and capable actor.  Mix that with persistence and availability and you will eventually land the role that only you can play.

Welcome to The Full Spectrum Actor!

The Full Spectrum Actor is a site that will be dedicated to helping aspiring and professional actors live a happy, well-rounded life while continuing to develop their skillset as actors.

We look forward to unfurling this community and resource and sharing our collective experience so that we can live rich lives as the unique and fascinating performers that we are.