The Inner Actor - the psychology of acting and performance

Douglas Eby — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:06:11 +0000

Brooke Smith plays heart surgeon Dr. Erica Hahn on “Grey’s Anatomy,” and her extensive filmography includes the series “Weeds” and movies Vanya on 42nd Street and The Silence of the Lambs.

In an interview, she was asked if she has any advice for actors who “would love to have a career even half as fruitful as her own.”

She replied, “How about the fact that the reasons you don’t work are quite possibly the reasons you will work? The fact that I’m not like everybody else is hopefully what got me here. I think the danger is trying to figure out what everybody else wants you to be.

“Even when you’re at an audition, the kiss of death is the second you try to do what you think they want you to do. Just keep being authentic to yourself.”

[From Playing Doctor, by Jenelle Riley, BackStage.]

Related Talent Development Resources pages:
Eccentricity, Identity and Self Concept.
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brooke smith, building identity, eccentrics, being authentic

The Inner Actor - the psychology of acting and performance

Douglas Eby — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 01:08:00 +0000

Rex Lee plays assistant Lloyd to a “rabid boss” – agent Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) on HBO’s hit series “Entourage.”

In an article on Lee [Memoirs of a Gaysian, by Jessica Gelt, Los Angeles Times April 12, 2007] the author notes “Lloyd has become something of a pop icon — thanks in large part to the idiosyncratic touches Lee brings to the role: the bright ties and baggy-ankled pants, the fast-paced shuffle with head cocked to one side, his puppy dog sulks.”

The writer adds that Lee shares Lloyd’s unflappable self-confidence, which he chalks up to “inner weirdness.”

“I’ve always understood that I’m incredibly strange,” says Lee. “And at some point in my life I decided that I really liked myself the way I was and that a lot of this weirdness didn’t have to be stamped out of me.”

Related pages & posts on eccentricity / non-conformity
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Rex Lee, artistic confidence, eccentrics, celebrity and personal growth