Acting is training. Training is not acting.

School doesn’t matter. Your commitment to becoming better does.

It is common for me to be asked about my thoughts on acting training often. I am approached by parents and students daily, asking what theatre school I would recommend for ultimate success.

First, I must declare that I am a huge believer in theatre schools and acting training.

However, it is not the be-all and end-all. It does not guarantee success.

The most important thing is that you commit to becoming the best actor you can be. It does not matter whether you have gone to RADA, Juilliard, or Yale. Are they great schools? Absolutely. If you don’t get in, does it matter? Not in the least. As we have many stories of successful actors who went to these schools, we also have as many stories (if not more) of those actors who were not successful in having the same success or more. The lesson here?

If you are committed to being a great actor, you will find a way no matter where you go or what teacher you have. Becoming a great actor takes more than just luck and whatever theatre school you went to.

You must learn to be a student of humanity. You must work on your craft every day when it comes to enhancing and protecting your instrument (yourself). You must have great humility and be able to see all sides of the story. You can’t judge a character, and you need to be a curious detective looking for the seeds that made that person who they are. You must learn the musicality of tone and subtext. You must have a keen idea of body language and what it means. You should have an awareness of the atmosphere in a scene and how human beings react in certain circumstances. You need to have a massive heart and a huge amount of empathy. You need to be the most aware in the room of how people are feeling and be the first to offer your hand (the difference between being nice and being kind). You should have a love for all languages and study the sounds and shapes of words. More importantly, you need to know where words come from and their historical importance.

In short, many of these you can learn in school. But most, if not all, you can learn on your own. Some choose school because that environment makes sense for them. They want the time, guidance, and intensity that come within those walls. But it is not the only way and it does not guarantee an actor’s success.

The power to become a great artist and actor lives in you.

Related posts:

The most successful supply chains are and should be adaptive and resilient in nature. An adaptive supply chain can respond quickly to changes and disruptions. A resilient supply chain can recover…

From the investor side of things, this isn't really something people tend to think about, but for founders and portals, it's an everyday struggle. There are a host of reasons for all of this, and not…

Some movie genres have pushed the boundaries of visual effects technology, allowing filmmakers to create incredibly detailed and immersive worlds and characters. There are some movies that are widely…