You Already Have Everything You Need

The most interesting person you'll ever play is you.

[laughs] Not literally.

Please don't play every character exactly the same, but don't abandon yourself either.

Every role should become a conversation between two people, the character and you.

The writer provides half, you provide the other half.

That's collaboration.

Now, imagine an artist and the artist is painting with gloves on.

It's technically possible, but why? Your fingerprints are what make the painting yours.

Actors sometimes do the same thing.

They spend so much time trying to disappear into the character that they accidentally erase the very thing that made the casting director invite them in.

You were called because of something uniquely yours.

Don't leave that in the waiting room.

I'm gonna talk about an actor who taught me something.

Now, this was years ago.

I watched an audition that honestly I still think about.

Now, listen, the actor wasn't famous.

He didn't have an extraordinary resume, didn't do anything flashy.

In fact, if you asked me to describe the performance technically, I probably couldn't have.

What I remember is how I felt.

There was honesty, gentleness, curiosity.

The actor wasn't trying to convince us.

They were simply living inside the circumstances.

Afterward, someone in the room quietly said to me, "I believed every second of that." That sentence has stayed with me for years.

[laughs] Notice what they didn't say.

They didn't say, "What incredible acting." They said, "I believe them." That is the highest compliment an actor can receive.