There is a prevailing belief that actors aren't smart, that actors are the people who failed in school and that's why anyone would choose this profession. Maybe it is the case for some, but to be a truly amazing actor you have to be intelligent, well-read, and generally a well-rounded person.
This past weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to take acting classes with two talented and intelligent actors, Ashley Judd and Val Lauren.
One take-away I got from the class with Val was how important it is to study your text and understand every word you say. He said, "You can never act something better than you understand it." Sounds like something that should be obvious, but I can't tell you how many times I have been in a play and had the director say, "that's just a throw away line." I guarantee the writer put that line in there for a reason and this is just an excuse for an actor or director who doesn't know why it is there. I hear this phrase a lot when it comes to Shakespeare, because you know there's a writer who doesn't know what he's doing. *facepalm*
Val went on to say, "Every play is a puzzle and the words are the pieces." In well written plays, each word is there for a reason. It is the actor's job to figure out why those particular words are in that particular order.
Ashley Judd is a big advocate for actors to continually educate themselves and often takes college courses, including a philosophy course she recently took at Oxford. She recommends actors study both philosophy and psychology to give actors a greater understanding of the characters they are portraying.
If you would like to hear all that Ashley had to say in our class check out my friend, Leigh Ann's wonderful blog post about it: Ashley Judd does PHW. Leigh Ann says everything I wanted to say, but better.
Actors are asked to portray all kinds of people. Life experience can help you understand many things, but it is only through expanded knowledge that we can understand the vast spectrum of humanity.
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