I am an actor, though you will not recognize my face or my name and in fact when you visit my IMDb page you will find few credits and only one thus far with a speaking role, yet I am an actor.
What is an actor?
Many myself included grew up thinking an actor spent much of their time sitting at home rehearsing scenes with friends or in front of a mirror as a way to prepare for the next film project and for some this may be true but none of us begin at that level.
Some like Jennifer Lawrence get lucky and are discovered while on vacation in New York City, yet for the vast majority of us we are bitten by the acting but. Some of who can even tell you when. For me, it was watching Michael J. Fox on “Family Ties” as Alex P. Keaton. Yet, my attraction to the craft comes from the fact that I can be anyone I want to be at anytime. I love the idea of living in a world of make believe because my own mental background is a juggernaut of my own insecurities coupled with the fact that when I was five years old by biological father vanished from my life due divorce. Being five years old and having the one male role model be removed from my life set the path of world building in motion. This led me to the connection to fictional characters in TV and Film as my escape.
Yet, the cold dirty truth was that I lived in Middle America aka Fly Over Country and while some of my fellow Arkansans made it onto the big screen like Wes Bentley many of us are still forging our own paths and this is wherein the secret of it all lies.
You see, you will never achieve your dreams, goals or success however you define it by following in the footsteps of another. Instead you must make your own path.
So, what is an actor?
Is an actor someone who is on television or in the movies? Most of us are raised on that concept but an actor acts, or we should really say they pretend to be whatever it is that we need to be and in that respect must of us are actors within our everyday lives. Yet, most of us lack the ability to pretend to be authentic as if we heard the principal say something over the high school intercom for the first when in reality that principal has said that tired old joke day in day out for a better part of three months like clockwork.
So, what is an actor?
I would say an actor is someone who studies the world around them and can replicate not just the emotions but the physical reactions to something that isn’t really happening but you the viewer at home needs to believe is happening.
Think about it, have you ever watching an action film and seen the actors muscles tighten with veins popping as they pretend to holding on to the edge of a cliff. What would that scene look like if that actor couldn’t find away to make their body do what is being seen on the screen when we at home and the actor knows they are standing on the ground with no threat of death and a green screen behind them.
Lance J. Gosnell 