Actors Art

Esper worked closely with Meisner for 17 years and has spent decades developing his famous program for actor's training. The result is a rigorous system of exercises that builds a solid foundation of acting skills from the ground up, and that is flexible enough to be applied to any challenge an actor faces, from soap operas to Shakespeare.

Every time you deliver a speech, give a presentation, or simply tell a good story, you are taking centre stage. Here, one of the world’s leading voice coaches introduces the simple exercises that great actors use to hold people’s attention – and reveals how anyone speaking in public can use them. Drawing on 25 years working at London’s National Theatre, Jeannette Nelson explains how to warm up your voice and body before a big speech, how focusing on your breathing can improve your clarity and pace, and much more.

Constantin Stanislavski (1863-1938), arguably the most influential director in the history of the theater, was the founder of the renowned Moscow Art Theater. A pioneer of psychological realism and improvisation on the stage, he devoted his life to developing the performance techniques now emulated throughout the world.

In this essential guide to acting, internationally renowned directing coach Judith Weston demonstrates what constitutes a good performance, what actors want from a director, and what directors do wrong. She also goes over script analysis and preparation and how actors work, and she shares important and helpful insights into the director/actor relationship.

With a foreword by Academy Award winner and theatre legend Horton Foote, this inspiring new book will strengthen in you the most essential and vital skills of great acting! It will lead you to a very personal way of working, as an actor who is absolutely authentic and tremendously simple—so rare in today's theatre.

To tie in with the release of his first James Bond film, Live and Let Die, Roger Moore agreed to keep a day-by-day diary throughout the film's production which was published just ahead of the premiere in July 1973. From the previous October, when he was unveiled as the new 007, through to his first scenes on location in New Orleans and his final shot in New York, Moore describes his whirlwind journey as cinema's most famous secret agent. Taking in the sights of Jamaica before returning to Pinewood Studios, Moore's razor wit and unique brand of humor is ever present.

Uta Hagen, one of the world's most renowned stage actresses, also taught acting for more than 40 years at the HB Studio in New York. Her first book, Respect for Acting, published in 1973, remains a best seller in print. In this brand new audio edition of her second classic book, A Challenge for the Actor, she greatly expands her thinking about acting in a work that brings the full flowering of her artistry, both as an actor and as a teacher.

In this step-by-step guide, an actor and improvisational teacher brings his tested methods to the page to show how actors can take risks and gain spontaneity in all genres of scripted theater. Through 28 lessons - each of which includes warm-ups, points of concentration, and improvisation exercises - Improv for Actors provides insights into thinking and reacting with fluidity, exploring a character’s social status, using the voice and body as effective tools of storytelling, and more.

In 180 easily cross-referenced selections, Master Acting Teacher Peter Frisch embraces the notion that the joy of acting is in the specific work of transformation through imagination and belief. His innovative techniques are complemented by pragmatic answers about auditioning, camera work, casting, training, comedy, etc.

The Authentic Actor: the Art and Business of Being Yourself illuminates for today’s actors the skills, strategies, and mental approach to navigating the intersection of art and commerce. It’s the culmination of Michael Laskin’s over forty years in the profession, and thousands of hours of classroom work and private coaching. Today’s “Authentic Actor” is someone who has successfully merged their highly developed talent with their fully examined identity. Defining, refining, and understanding your indelibility as an actor, your “blink-of-an-eye” factor, is key.

Stanley Kubrick, the director of a string of timeless movies from Lolita and Dr. Strangelove to A Clockwork Orange, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Full Metal Jacket, and others, has always been depicted by the media as the Howard Hughes of filmmakers, a weird artist obsessed with his work and privacy to the point of madness. But who was he really?

In this candid and empowering A to Z of being an actor, Julie Hesmondhalgh draws on her decades of experience on-stage and screen to lift the lid on the realities of life in today's industry, and show you how to navigate it. Written with refreshing honesty and self-deprecating humour, An Actor's Alphabet is an audiobook for anyone who dreams of becoming an actor, wants to be a better one, or just wants to learn what being one is really like.

In this elegant and compelling biography, best-selling writer Shawn Levy writes of these many De Niros - the characters and the man - seeking to understand the evolution of an actor who once dove deeply into his roles as if to hide his inner nature, and who now seemingly avoids acting challenges, taking roles which make few apparent demands on his overwhelming talent.

Jenna Fischer's Hollywood journey began at the age of 22 when she moved to Los Angeles from her hometown of St. Louis. She was determined, confident, and ready to work hard. So, what could go wrong? Uh, basically everything. The path to being a professional actor was so much more vast and competitive than she’d imagined. It would be eight long years before she landed her iconic role on The Office, nearly a decade of frustration, rejection, and doubt. If only she’d had a handbook for the aspiring actor. Or, better yet, someone to show her the way. Jenna wants to be that person for you.

This comprehensive course is designed for actors aiming to master the diverse range of accents found across the United Kingdom and Ireland, offering an extensive foundation in both technical and cultural aspects of accent work, while maintaining accessibility for the novice learner. With an emphasis on authentic performance, the program provides step-by-step guidance on dialect production, using a wide variety of oral posture guidance, pronunciation exercises, and practical lexicon that actors can apply directly to their work.

Actors! Engage your mind and your body in order to develop your characters fully. The Lucid Body technique breaks up stagnant movement patterns and expands your emotional and physical range. Through energy analysis, this program shows how to use physical training to create characters from all walks of life - however cruel, desolate, or neurotic those characters may be.

With numerous examples and exercises, Michael Chekhov's To the Actor seamlessly synthesizes his many years of theater and theater instruction into a concise, engaging handbook of techniques essential for every actor. With his tested methods you will learn how to more easily call up emotion, develop a character, strengthen awareness and train your body and imagination to reach its full potential.

Richard E. Grant’s life changed almost overnight when he was cast as the lead in Withnail & I in 1986. He kept a diary of the experience, the bestselling With Nails, and now it is published for the first time in audio, read by the author. Funny and revealing, told with trademark candour, join Richard E. Grant on the shoot of a lifetime.

Interested in pursuing a career in VO? Curious what goes on behind the scenes in a business where people talk funny for money? This updated edition of the award-winning audiobook offers a fun and comprehensive look at what it takes, what goes on, and what it's like behind the mic from two (still) working pros who started from scratch.

Actor Stephen Tobolowsky has appeared in over 200 movies and television shows. He has played everyone from Ned Ryerson in Groundhog Day to Sandy Ryerson in Glee. He has amused thousands with his true stories on The Tobolowsky Files at Slashfilm.com and iTunes. Here he shares some homespun philosophy and more true stories that prove tales of sex, drugs, and rock and roll are often the most humiliating and almost always the most enjoyable.