How to Become an Actor With No Experience

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts. . - William Shakespeare (As You Like It)

In this verse, the great playwright has provided clues to aspiring artists, while also expounding a very profound philosophy about life and acting in general. The very life you live is abundant with experiences that you can draw from when acting on stage. You may think that you have no experience in acting or any entertainment job, but you have loads of it on the real stage of life itself, playing multiple roles of a son, father, brother or daughter, mother and sister and so on. Nothing can prepare you for acting, better than life! That's the seed of the central idea, which you need, to understand how to become an actor. In this article, I have expounded this idea some more, which has been already developed into the form of 'method acting' technique by theater greats like Constantin Stanislavski. I do not claim authority on this subject, to go so far as providing you with acting tips. I am just sharing with you all; whatever little I learned from my teachers.

How to Become an Actor Without Experience?

What is acting really? They say it's 'make believe', but I call it living an alternative reality. It lets you explore the various possibilities of what you could be. Just being your own self can be boring at times. Acting gives you an opportunity to be someone else for a while. It is voluntarily entering into the psyche of another personality and thinking according to a different set of values and constraints. It lets you explore the many parts of you, which you thought never existed! It lets you deeply explore what it means to be human! Some people dub theater as an experimental lab for psychology. I agree with them, but I consider it a 'truth' lab, where you explore the meaning of being human.

One of the best ways to begin your own acting studies is to start reading some good plays. Select your favorite role, from one of your favorite plays and prepare to act it out in front of an audience. To learn to act, you must act!

Understand Your Character Thoroughly
To play a part or a role, you need to temporarily shed the inhibitions and prejudices that make you. To act a part, you must embrace the character that you are playing with open arms. Understand the plot of the play, as well as the psyche of your character. Understand the circumstances in which the person you are going to play finds himself. Try to understand why your character behaves the way it does. You must try and embrace the idiosyncrasies of the character and try to relate with it. This is the part of acting, which you deal mostly with your 'brains'. You understand the rationale behind the play and the character. Learn the lines or dialogues thoroughly and explore the thought behind every sentence. This will help you picture the circumstances in which the character finds itself. It's reading between the lines. Some actors go as far as 'living' as that person for a while to understand him or her. They even maintain a diary of life lived as that character. The idea is to go as close as possible to 'being' that person.

Draw From Your Emotional Memory
Rest of the process for preparing a role is all heart. To be that person, there is no way you can live a life that he or she has, but you can draw parallels from your own life, which will help you relate to the person. In psychology terms, it is delving deep into your emotional memory. You have to draw parallels from your own experience and actually try to feel what the character feels. Say the dialogues only when you 'feel', the way your character does. Let it come out naturally out of you.

No Substitute for Practice
The process of transformation from being yourself, to being that character is gradual. It may be that after weeks and months of practice, just a few hours before your performance, in a moment of reflection, you understand who that person really is! You are going to get closer to actually be that person, only through practice. Acting techniques differ a lot. You will develop your own process with experience.

Enjoy the Process & Go With the Flow
You don't need to be worried about becoming an actor despite no actual acting experience, as long as you have lived your life with 'awareness' and 'sensitivity'. Enjoy the drama and process of acting and go with the flow. All the rest will follow. .

When you need advice, it is always best to go to masters like Stanislavski. His books - 'An Actor Prepares', 'Creating a Role' and 'Building a Character' are highly recommended reading for anybody who wants to seriously learn acting! I wish you all the very best in your acting endeavors in the future. Your experience off stage and the awareness with which you live your life, is the key you need to unlock your acting potential. Confidence, sincerity and the ability to let go of yourself will translate into a great acting performance!