Acting Coaches Los Angeles- Facing Vulnerabilities

by LongmanSex on Sunday, May 27, 2012

By Kirk Baltz


When it comes to acting, great abilities cannot be formed overnight. Training with acting coaches or participation in acting classes can help actors to acquire much needed skills to aid them in improving in their craft. One of the most necessary and yet difficult components of great acting is learning to rip past the facade that covers the actors themselves and the characters they create to reveal the true identities within.

Each person and character alike is multi-faceted as opposed to being one-dimensional and static. These dimensions consist of the individual or character's public persona, his or her deep-seated fears and vulnerabilities, and the tragic flaw. Training with an acting coach can both aid the actor in discovering these dimensions in himself as well as allow him to utilize these personal traits to create very real characters.

Carl Jung espoused the belief that the human person creates a public persona as a means of protecting his true self from others and conveying an image of strength and security as a means for survival. Expression of this persona occurs in all areas of our lives. Characters also have personas that they create to protect their true selves from the rest of the world and actors must learn to utilize their own personas to create those of their characters.

It is not uncommon for public personas to be initially viewed as an individual's true identity as many are highly skilled in using this creation to mask their deeper selves. However, the true identity of a person dwells within the difficulties, insecurities, and vulnerabilities that inevitably work to form each individual. Acting coaches are trained to teach actors to come face to face with their own childhood fears and issues in order to create a truly believable character with great depth and dimension.

These difficulties from our childhood remain with us to adulthood and shape the persona that we create to protect ourselves. Characters on stage or on film are no different. Covering up these vulnerabilities under a shield of stability is our means of appearing strong rather than helpless to others.

In order to become an exceptional actor, a student must learn to remove the superficial exterior of both his and his character's public persona in order to uncover the true self. Only in this way can characters be made relatable.

All persons in the audience, like the actor and the character, have both a personal core as well as a public persona they have created to protect it. Presenting a character of similar dimensions is sure to create a bond between the audience and the story being told. Being able to create characters such as these is what separates the average actor from the exceptional.




About the Author:



Leave a Reply