Voice and drama coach Daniel Dresner offers his tips to acting students and graduates
I fell into it. I was living in Tokyo and someone asked if anyone knew a stand-up. Someone pointed at me, so I wrote and performed an hour-long routine, not realising I could have done just five minutes. I then got a job directing in a 2,000-seat theatre and was cast in plays, films, TV and commercials. I thought I should study before I got found out, so I went to Lee Strasberg in New York, having never heard of him or the Method. That was almost 30 years ago – and the rest is history.
I was an actor and teaching a little when someone suggested I become a life coach. So, I looked it up, found a place to study, got some qualifications and found a client base. There’s a definite pattern forming here!
Enjoy it! You can make a living doing what you love. Get help and find enjoyment in the journey, as well as the destination. Listen to everyone, but make your own path. Don’t give up unless it really isn’t for you. And bring your own stuff to it. As Oscar Wilde said: “Be yourself as everyone else is taken.”
More funding for those wanting to get into the business, more affordable training during their careers, and reopen the Actors Centre.
Meryl Streep is a genius. The way she makes every syllable informed and different and makes her hard work seem so effortless. Also, my client David Ajala, who has an incredible work ethic. He’s nearly always working, but when he’s not, he goes to classes. He can do the job brilliantly without assistance but chooses and pays to get coaching. That is confidence. Not getting help is not a strength.
The ability to reset. Whether with sensitive relationships or with the craft. To not hold on to previous performances, takes or mistakes. Let the audition go when you leave the room. Move on to something else.
Have a life outside the business. Also, life is supposed to have downs as well as ups. Accept it and move through it all. As artists, it is essential for us to have as broad a spectrum of emotions as possible.
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