Biggest Problems With Acting, And How You Can Fix Them
By: TMA Team | June 29, 2022 5:15 AM
If you are struggling as an actor, you are not alone. It’s been said; that acting is the most difficult profession around the globe. This opinion stems from some tremendous challenges that seem to rear their heads consistently with almost every actor.
However, as an actor, you may be blessed with diverse strengths. It is essential to recognize your acting potential and strengths. Your strengths will motivate you through your challenging career trajectory. But, if you really want to prove your acting mettle and emerge as one of the greatest actors, it is essential to work through your weaknesses and challenges.
Wondering how to effectively overcome these challenges and make your way to one of the top-notch actors? Don't worry; we have curated acting challenges 101 to help identify and overcome these challenges. So let's begin.
What Are The Three Challenges Actors Face?
Every actor has a different journey, fraught with various struggles. Many of them even start doubting their career choice. We will talk about the top three struggling aspects new actors face while stepping into the professional world of acting. Read on to identify your biggest challenge that holds you back:
🧱 Fear: Your fears and self-doubt can immensely keep you from progressing as an actor. It can totally shatter your career even before it takes off. Acknowledge your fears and give them some time. With time, you will learn how to overcome them and might even forget you were afraid of what you are regularly doing. As a tense and apprehensive actor, you might never be available for a fully immersive performance. An engaging and captivating performance requires an actor to be in a relaxed state. It allows an easy and unconscious flow of emotion. It would be best to let go of all the fears and tension that hold you back and deliver a lifetime performance every time you face the camera or hit the stage.
🧱 Credibility: Credibility is the key for actors to hit the right chord in their audience's hearts. As an actor, it is your job to make the audience believe and relate to you. A successful actor always builds an emotional connection with the audience. An emotional connection that hits the right pitch of your audience and adds life to your scenes is absolutely essential. Most actors try to fake emotions to impress the audience, making their performance weary. Not just this, the actors also need to be self-aware and connect with their partners. As an actor, you should act and respond to your fellow actors to sound natural and enhance your performance credibility.
🧱 Rejection: Getting rejected for a role you desperately want to play can be extremely painful. Due to refusal, budding actors and actresses are especially susceptible to demotivation and depression. Many new actors even develop mental illnesses owing to constant rejections. If you ever see yourself falling into the pitch-darkness of demotivation and depression, remind yourself about the journeys of legendary actors who took years to become who they are today.
Read More: What To Do When Your Confidence Just Isn't There
How Do You Overcome These Challenges?
Here are some of the most effective techniques for you to overcome your acting challenges.
🔰 Practice: As cliche as it may sound, only practice can make an actor perfect. Like any other skill, acting lives inside your body. If you want to climb the success ladder quickly, it is imperative to practice. Practice helps you to know yourself better as an actor. The more you work on your scenes, the better you perform. Nothing better than practicing helps to refine your skills and your craft. It also allows you to build problem-solving skills, which are incredibly functional in your professional life.
Practicing will help you to step out of your comfort zone and help you meet your fear eye-to-eye and overcome them. Pick new characters and demand scripts. It will all pay off in the end. Once you overcome your fears, nothing can stop you from picking new roles that capture your variances and make your performance relatable, surprising, and captivating.
🔰 Realistic acting: To build the credibility of your performance, act realistically. However, unfortunately, the harder you try to impress your directors or audience by looking real and relatable, the worse it seems. But don't worry, here's a little trick to do that. You have to give an effortless performance and make it look like you are not even performing.
If you want to make your characters look believable, it must come from within you and your inner truth. Combine your inner and outer skills and your daily observation to give an effortless performance. Besides this, it is also essential to connect with the writer's world. Understand his words and intention to deliver a realistic and compelling performance.
🔰 Stay pragmatic and level-headed about your rejections: Failures and rejections are a part of almost every profession. Develop a practical and level-headed approach to your failures and rejections. It is important to quickly move on to the next role and let it be a surprise for you if you land your dream role. Plus, you can always work on a better strategy next time. You could change your look, vigorously practice for your next audition, and watch more movies. That said, do not let rejection and failure affect your mental health. Many actors tend to develop anxiety and depression. If you are developing severe symptoms, don't be afraid to seek help early.
Key Takeaways For Budding Actors
Yes, acting is not easy, and these are just a few problems yet the most challenging ones that almost every other actor undergoes. But as we discussed with practice and some practical strategies, there is a brilliant ray of hope for every actor out there. And usually, it comes back to two things: practice and letting go of your fears. If you successfully address these issues, there is a fighting opportunity for you to prove your excellence in acting.
In what ways do you overcome your biggest acting hurdles? Share your thoughts in the comment section below! For more articles like this follow The Modern Actor blog and check out our latest product here.