Everyone actor starts out thinking that they suck. You go to different classes, workshops, and auditions second guessing yourself. You know you love acting, but you also think that you’re not good enough to get an actual role. Everyone else believes in your talent, but you just don’t see it yet; and then it happens.
You might be sitting in class about to film a scene, or leaving an audition walking to your car; it happens differently for everyone, but it happens. A switch turns on in your head and the light bulb flashes. You realize that you don’t suck. In fact, you’re awesome. You’re full of potential and now all you want to do is get better and better at your craft.
That’s the goal starting out, right? To feel good about yourself and gain confidence. A lot of actors struggle with confidence for a long time. So how do you get it?
Time.
Time is our greatest frustration, but it’s also our biggest confidant. No matter how bad you feel about yourself, you will always get better in time. That’s the great thing about acting. You can’t compare yourself to any other actor because they are at a different spot on their own journey.
Here are some of my own personal tips that have helped me gain confidence and ignite the switch:
- Don’t compare yourself to others
- You will only feel worse about yourself if you’re comparing your abilities to someone who has been acting longer than you, or may have had a lucky break. Instead, focus on yourself and know that in time, you’ll be better than you are now.
- Train consistently
- The only way to better yourself is to work on your craft. You can’t simply go to a class once a year or do a couple workshops and become a better actor. You must be consistently training your acting skills, much like an athlete trains his muscles. If you stop, you’ll be taking steps backward from where you want to be.
- Watch yourself on playback
- Everyone sees small things that they hate about themselves on playback. So why not get used to it? I hate watching myself back in class. I move my eyes a lot and talk out of the side of my mouth. But since I watch myself, I can start to correct that and see my progress on a week-by-week basis.
- Don’t give up – Keep Going
- The only people who’ve failed at acting are the actors who gave up. Keep pushing yourself, even when you aren’t getting jobs or it seems hopeless. The only people who fail are the ones that never really pursued what the were passionate about.
Tiffany Feese 