What Kind of Characters Can I Play in Film+TV?

Question from Alex (M 20’s; MyFreeActingClass student): “I know you said that in the beginning it’s better to play characters that are close to your social personality. I am just wondering now, in what type of scenario would you see me in? What type of characters?”

I do think that actors will often get cast in roles that reflect both they look and sound and some aspect of their social persona, especially at the beginning of their career.

Having some awareness of how you come across to new people, including decision makers, can help you take advantage of that (when it’s appropriate for the role).

Here’s the exercise: Ask a range of people for 3-5 adjectives to describe your look, and 3-5 adjectives to describe your personality, and see what comes out of that. See what kinds of patterns emerge, and do your best to narrow it down to a few adjectives, and then think about how you might use those to your advantage when you’re presenting yourself or your work.

Don’t over-complicate it: if you ask for too much detail you might have trouble narrowing it down.

For instance, here are some adjectives that I might use to describe Alex:

Look: clean cut, young, professional, student

Personality: enthusiastic, focused, playful

Another exercise that is useful is to ask yourself, “What am I sick of people who don’t know me well assuming about me?” and see if you can add some adjectives for your list. There can often be clues in the assumptions that strangers or near-strangers make about the kind of “characters” that people can easily see you in.

I hope this helps 😁

Michael Bean
Acting Teacher

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