I am an actress and activist based in Los Angeles, California. My work as an activist has taken me to Haiti, Mexico and East Africa, as well as prisons and protest sites in the US. I have taught classes about acting for social change for the UCLA School of Theater Film and Television and have taught acting in prisons.

My blog is What is Your Film Presence? It’s about how acting can help change the world. I take my acting experience into activism, teaching acting skills in the following areas:

-Acting in a crisis

-Acting on camera (camera presence)

-Acting in front of groups of people (public speaking skills)

-Acting when you’re nervous

More information: http://www.whatisyourfilmpresence.com/

Are you an actor? Have you ever wanted to use your film presence for a good cause?

In the past, if you wanted to be an actor and change the world, you had to make some compromises. You’d have to get a job at a non-profit, then try to get more acting gigs on the side. But things are changing!

Today we’re seeing more and more opportunities where actors can act while also acting for causes they care about. This raises a number of questions: What is Your Film Presence? How can it Change the World? And what is this “world” anyway?

These are questions I hope we can discuss together here, at What is Your Film Presence?

We are living in a time of increasing violence, anger, and fear. It seems like each day brings news of another tragedy, school shooting or war crime. It is easy to feel overwhelmed, powerless and helpless. For many, film and television can be an escape from the real world. But what if we used film and television to create positive change in the world?

How can we use this incredible medium to spread messages of peace? How can we inspire others to act for a cause? Film is one of the most powerful ways to communicate with large groups of people around the world. What would happen if more actors and film makers used their talents to make movies that inspired audiences to take action?

In this blog I will share techniques to help you grow as an actor and spread your message through film. This blog will also include inspiring stories about actors who have used their craft to make a difference in the world.

I am very interested in acting for a cause. I have always been passionate about helping others and trying to make the world a better place. My friends and I are starting a blog site dedicated to connecting people with causes through film. We are still in the early stages of development, but it has really taken off over the past few months.

The idea is that everyone has something to contribute to society, which may not be apparent. For example, someone who is great at acting can use their acting talent to help with a cause, by creating awareness of the cause through film.

We would like your ideas on how we can connect people with causes through film and acting. Your thoughts on how we can get started and what our first couple steps should be would be greatly appreciated.*

The essence of acting is that you are responding to a given set of circumstances. You find your voice, your body and your emotional state in the moment. This is why acting is so challenging; the circumstances are always changing, just as life changes all the time. The best actors are able to let go of their preconceived ideas and allow themselves to be present in the moment, no matter what form that might take.

As an actor, you work with other people to create a film. They bring their own thoughts and feelings to the story and you have to respond to them. It is a true collaboration and this is one of the reasons I love it so much.

I also care about social change and creating a more just world for us all to live in. And I am starting to wonder if acting can help me do that….

When it comes to acting, most people want to do it because they want to be in the movies and they want to be famous. They might also throw “I want to tell stories” or “I want to make a difference” into the mix. But ultimately they’re thinking about how being an actor is going to affect them.

But what if you decided that any acting career you had was going to be completely focused on affecting other people? What if your goal wasn’t about becoming famous or getting rich, but instead about doing everything you can with your talents as an actor to help the world become a better place?

That’s the question I’ve been thinking about lately. And I’ve come up with some ideas. If you’re interested in acting for a cause, here are some ways you could use your acting skills to help others.

I was working on a project in South Africa when I first started to think about this idea. There is a lot of poverty there and I was having a hard time understanding what I could do about it.

When you see someone in need, you want to help. Even if you can’t change their situation, you want to make their life just a little bit better. You want them to know that people care.

So I started handing out money on the street. Just a few rand here and there, but it made me feel good and it seemed like it made them feel good too.

But then my co-workers started to tell me that I shouldn’t do that because it would encourage them to ask for money from other people as well, or even worse, they might become dependent on handouts instead of finding work. And I realized they were right.

But at the same time, I still wanted to do something! So instead we started buying food for those who needed it, or giving old clothes away. It wasn’t much, but again it seemed like it helped.

At the same time I was surrounded by actors who had come over from Los Angeles for a film shoot about AIDS in Africa (thanks Universal Studios!). These guys would go out every