I’ve been very fortunate in my career to have worked with some incredible actors. I’m always interested to see what they do, how they work, and how they keep an open mind while working. It can be very easy to get caught up in your own performance and forget that you are still a spectator.
We all have our processes, and many of them are different. Some are good, some aren’t. Over the years I’ve had the opportunity to observe a variety of actors at work and have learned a lot from watching their process and how they keep an open mind while working on a set or stage.
Here are three things that I’ve learned from actors who were able to keep an open mind while working:
1. They were willing to try anything once.”I don’t know if I can do it this way” is not acceptable when it comes to trying something new. As actors, we must be willing to try anything once and then evaluate whether it worked for us or not. We cannot discredit something until we’ve given it a fair shot. On the other hand, if you try something and it doesn’t work for you, by all means tell your director that you don’t think it’s working
I feel like the most important thing to remember when working as an actor is that you are not a doctor. You are not saving lives. You are not curing disease. You are not putting out fires and you are not feeding the starving.
You may think that your role on this show or in this film is the most important thing in the world, but it’s really not. I know this because I am the first person to get sucked into the vortex of believing that what I am doing is more important than what anyone else is doing, but it’s simply not true.
We all have plenty of time to do our jobs, and we all have plenty of time to give each other a break when things don’t go as smoothly as we had hoped.
I firmly believe that keeping an open mind on set can be one of the most valuable tools an actor has in his or her arsenal. It also happens to be one of the most difficult things for actors to do while working, especially when they are under pressure from producers, directors, fellow actors or crew members who may be counting on them to deliver certain lines or perform certain actions exactly how they want it done.
In the entertainment industry, we are constantly told to “keep an open mind”. The idea is that if you keep your mind open and don’t judge anyone, you will be more approachable and people will want to work with you. I’ve never liked this advice. It seems to indicate that as actors we should make ourselves so open that we accept anything and everything thrown at us, even if it’s bad for us.
The truth is that when you work in the entertainment industry, you need to have a strong sense of self in order to know what kind of work you want to do, who you want to work with, and what kinds of things you are willing to sacrifice for your career. Your identity shouldn’t be so changeable that it shifts with every new person or situation you encounter.
We often get our sense of self from our relationships with others, but these relationships will change throughout our lives. It is important that we also understand ourselves beyond how others see us so that we can maintain a solid sense of who we are.
I’ve worked on many productions and have seen many styles of acting in my day. Some actors are very method, others use their imagination to create a character. I can tell you from experience that there is no black and white answer to how to create a character. There are so many tools you can use, but it’s up to you to find the ones that fit your style and make them work for you.
The one thing I’ve noticed about actors who are truly great at their craft is that they keep an open mind. They don’t get attached to the way they think they should create a character or the way they think they should play a scene. They realize there are many ways to do it, and they are open to whatever might come their way.
Most of us fall in love with being right and we get attached to being right because it makes us feel safe. But what if someone comes along with a different idea? Are you able to be open minded enough to listen? Are you able to give up your own idea if it doesn’t work? It’s important that we stay open minded in our work because when we do, we allow ourselves the freedom to discover new ideas and new choices which will make us better actors.
The more tools we add
I have been taking acting classes now for over 10 years and I have learned so much about myself and the craft of acting. In my life, I have had many experiences on stage, film, and in life. For example, when I was little girl, I would sit on my dad’s knee and watch movies with him. We would watch back-to-back movies for hours and we would pretend to be the characters in the film. It was so much fun! When the movie ended, my dad would let me be another character in the film. I remember being enthralled by this exercise as a child.
I knew that there were no limits to what I could do as an actor. My imagination was so vivid at such a young age and it still is today. My father is an amazing actor and he always told me to stay true to myself as an artist and as an individual. He taught me how to be open-minded while working on set or even just walking down the street with him. My father taught me how to really immerse myself in any given situation because you never know what you will learn about yourself if you aren’t open-minded enough to take chances.
My father gave me great advice when I was growing up
I’ve been on a lot of sets where the director has a really clear vision for the character and I’m like “Oh, ok…that’s not how I saw it at all.” And that’s what you need to do as an actor – because you are working with a director, you are working with other actors, you are working with producers and writers and writers tend to write for themselves. They write for who they know and it is your job as an actor to make their vision your own. Which means that on many occasions you have to step completely outside of yourself.
You can’t be an actor if you are precious about yourself. You can’t be an actor if you think that your view is the only view or that your voice is the only one that matters. Because honestly, this industry will eat you up and spit you out in no time flat if that’s the case.
The best advice I have ever received is this: “Just say yes.” Say yes to every opportunity that comes your way because you never know where it may lead. Even if something doesn’t work out how you planned or how someone else wanted it to work out – even if it falls flat on its face – there is always something to learn
Sansa Stark’s story arc that she has been on since the very beginning of Game of Thrones is nothing short of amazing. She seemed so naive and lost in season 1, and now she is one of the greatest leaders in all the seven kingdoms. I always loved Sansa Stark, but what really made me fall in love with her was Sophie Turner’s interpretation of her.
This is why I was so excited to see her in X-Men: Apocalypse. I am a huge fan of the franchise, and I just knew that she would be great in it. And now that I’ve seen it, I can tell you that she was even better than I thought she would be!
She plays Jean Grey, a young girl who has powers that she does not understand. She can read minds and move things with her mind. She is also the most powerful mutant ever born. She is the only one with unlimited telekinetic power, which makes her incredibly dangerous when combined with her ability to read minds…
