How to Become an Actor or Actress

Series Summary

An actor is a person who suppresses or augments aspects of their own personality in order to reveal and illustrate the motivations and aspects of a character's personality. Acting has its roots in ancient Greece and over time has become one of out most compelling and revered artistic enterprises. Actors must possess a range of skills including: singing, dancing, imagination, clarity of speech, physical expressiveness, vocal projection, and the ability to emulate emotional and physical conditions. In this free video series, learn some general acting and singing advice. Paul Louis is an accomplished actor, songwriter, puppeteer and illustrator. He discusses some general tips to start an acting career. Find out how to attend acting auditions. Also, get tips for picking a song for a musical theater audition. Curious about how to start singing? Let Louis give some practice tips to improve singing ability. He evens demonstrates how to draw cartoons! So, take a moment, and watch this free video series today.

Video Transcript

"They say if you can make it in New York City, you can make it anywhere. Well here we are in New York City, my name is Paul Louis, I'm an actor and today I'm going to talk to you about how to become an actor. Now, you don't have to live in New York City to be an actor. No matter where you are on this planet, you can be an actor. All it takes is a little bit of research, time, patience and persistence. The way you go about doing it basically is just to get training, get experience. If there's a production in your town, a community production, a church production, get involved with it. Audition for it. It doesn't matter which part. It could be the lead part, it could be the third guy from the right, it could be the part of a tree leaf, who cares, its experience and that will help build your resume. So the more work you get, the more talent will emerge in that actor within you. So, go on the Internet, research different plays, different monologues. Find an acting coach, that's always great. Get familiar with the things that are on Broadway here in New York City. All the current shows, who knows, maybe a touring production will come to your town and maybe they'll need someone to step in and you're there. It doesn't matter where you are. New York City is a great place to be. Chicago is a great place to be. California is a great place to be an actor. Those are three major places to be if you want to get into the acting profession. But again, it doesn't matter where, you just pursue acting and sooner or later you will definitely be a professional actor. This is Paul Louis and this has been how to be an actor."