What Makes a Great Actor Great

“Young actors, fear your admirers! Learn in time, from your first steps, to hear, understand and love the cruel truth about yourselves. Find out who can tell you that truth and talk of your art only with those who can tell you the truth.” - KONSTANTIN STANISLAVSKY


Christian Bale is my favorite male actor. As an actor, he will do anything to become the character he is portraying. It is awesome to watch!
In “The Machinist”, this tall, healthy man became literally a walking skeleton. He is six foot something and weighed 120 pounds during this movie. It was frightening. There are no special effects in the movie to make him look more sickly than he really looked. In an interview during filming, he said he had no muscle at all- just skin and bone. His performance was what made the movie powerful.

He, like Meryl Streep and Vivien Leigh, becomes the character he plays. You get sucked into the story completely because he is SO completely this person.
In “American Psycho”, he displays his mastery of the craft of acting. He plays a role that is unlike any character I have seen him play. The story is quite disturbing and his character is really disturbing. It seems like he is having fun playing the role of this sick person.

I think the secret behind the brilliant performances of the great actors and actresses is that they do it for art’s sake- not for recognition. What they care about is making a story come alive- filling a character with life, depth, subtlety. Learning to enter more fully into the world of the character they are playing is the challenge and ultimately their reward. The great artists strive to express truth in their performances. That is why it is so inspiring to watch them.