Acting Philosophy Statement

In my opinion, good acting is the art of feeling your truth through story. Many of

the greatest acting theorists discussed tapping into your existing pool of experience to

recreate a feeling and then use that feeling to guide your mind, actions, and voice. In

preparing for a role I often contemplate how my experience can aid me in my portrayal

of my character. This helps be build the world and understand why the decisions were

made that brought my character to this moment in time. I also believe that being an

empathetic person allows me to adapt to roles where my own experience varies greatly

from the experience of my characters. I may not be able to come close to truly

understanding how my character would feel, but I can understand how I might feel

through my own human experience. However, I do often have to draw on my own

experience to get my physical reactions, like crying and heart rate, to comply with my

acting demands. Building an emotional map for myself really helps me fall into character

and stay organized with memorization.

Acting is something that I have enjoyed since I was in my adolescence. Finding

your self is hard enough when you are that age and sometimes finding someone else

feels easier. Acting helped me facilitate connections, empathy, and understanding that

would otherwise not exist. Acting fostered open-mindedness and cultural awareness for

myself and those around me. It encouraged me to look outside of my own experience of

the world and not only see but adopt the experiences of others. I also found the acting

community to be open-minded and welcoming and my experience in this course felt

similar. I think the world would be a better place if a handful of acting courses were

required through the education system.

 Acting and entertainment play an imperative role in our society. There are many

facets of impacts. On one hand, our society leans heavily on entertainment to escape

from the hardships of this world. Detachment is essential for most people to live in this

society. Nothing can detach you from your own experience more effectively than to feel

and live someone else's emotion, or story. We look at actors to provide us this solace in

our strife. This phenomenon both aids and numbs us in our daily routines and at

moments it can cause more harm than we realize. When we are so detached that we

push through our lives without looking to observe the world around us we lose the

lessons our own experience can teach us. We are so focused on other peoples stories

that we can neglect our own. There is a balance in most things and I think it is important

to be reminded of this.

In contrast, acting can teach us some of our most valuable lessons. It can help

us through the hardest of times. It can raise our awareness and see something in a new

light. It can help us feel joy when there is little to feel joyful about. It can help remind us

that we are living an incredible life and encourage us to be grateful for the boons we

reap. It can draw webs of intrigue that helps us understand a culture we find difficulty

understanding. There is truly no limit to the lessons acting can teach, but it is necessary

to actively apply those lessons to our lives.