Sometimes I think the best thing that I can teach anyone about acting is how difficult it is to do it well, not so they will feel discouraged, but so that they will never become complacent. Good actors make it look easy, and it often doesn't seem like it requires any specialized knowledge, just walking and talking and not bumping into the furniture, as Spencer Tracey famously quipped. But the grace that a good actor exhibits in performing a role well is either the product of a freakish natur... Read Full Story

From the Los Angeles IndependentABC News' Denver affiliate KMGH-TV reported Friday that the Heene parents met as aspiring actors at the Lee Strasberg Institute of Theatre & Film in West Hollywood, and lived for many years in the greater Los Angeles area.See what happens when you study Strasberg?:)Although they did manage to fool everyone until the kid blurted out that it was all for show...Mother of Invention Acting School Read Full Story

A student emailed me today, and mentioned having watched a documentary about the making of "Jackie Brown". He says that apparently Tarantino always uses real props, and so the bundle of money in the final sequence of that movie, half a million to be exact, was real money.I am sure those actors all found it very simple to...invest in that scene.Mother of Invention Acting School Read Full Story

In the SF Chronicle today, Hillary Swank affirms the importance of hard work:Q: Many people probably think of you as the actress who won two Academy Awards. But between "Boys Don't Cry" and "Million Dollar Baby" you made nine movies, and between "Million Dollar Baby" and "Amelia" you made five. Can you talk a little about the mistaken idea that you just take a role, act, win an award - easy as that?A: I'm so glad you said that, because even with "Boys Don't Cry" people said it was an overnigh... Read Full Story

I arrive early at the space where I teach in LA on Wednesday nights. My classroom is off a hallway that has doors to studios where other classes are taught simultaneously with mine. Invariably, there are actors out in the hallway at a quarter to seven, clutching scripts (or sometimes not) and speaking earnestly to each other, apparently "rehearsing". Thet are all in street clothes, so it doesn't appear that they have given any thought to what they will wear in their scenes. Because they a... Read Full Story

Waznoo is a great list of the happening stuff going on in lA, theater, indie music, film galeries, checkitout!Mother of Invention Acting School Read Full Story

A question that I hear from time to time from serious students is: should I go to an MFA program? As I do when any such life decisions are laid at my feet, I evade. It's just not my call. However, having gone to a conservatory myself, I can make some observations.First of all, I will say that my three years at Yale were invaluable, and I am very glad I went, and very glad I stayed (although don't think there weren't times when I wanted to leave!).The second thing I'll say is that although... Read Full Story

This was a dictum I heard from one of my heroes, Richard Gilman, who headed the playwriting and dramaturgy program at the Drama School for many years. He is the author of The Making of Modern Drama, a fantastic study of the the way thea great playwrights of the modern era became who they are. It came to mind because I finally saw Inglorious Basterds yesterday. I had heard a great deal of good buzz about it, but the reviewers have been less kind. Here is what Kenneth Turan of the LA Times h... Read Full Story

So the refrain goes. Television production happens on a frantic timetable, and TV casting people need you to be able to deliver immediately. Just show up with your lines learned, looking your best, hit your marks, look your partner in the eye, and tell the truth. Therefore, goes the thinking, much of what goes on in scene study classes, that is, the preparation, the thinking, the WORK, is just not relevant. It's a quaint anachronism that the actor who understands the realities of today's ... Read Full Story

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