The mystic of Hollywood brings a large number of would-be actors out to LA every year. They feel they've "got the products" to create it as a star, so that they arm themselves with a reproduced digital photo taken by their best friend and some community theater gigs under their belt to book a series regular part on CSI: Miami. After a couple of months, their money runs dry and the only real auditions they've had are for just one student film and a soft-porn flick. portia antonia alexis , no series regular to hoot about, and no call back from the resume mass mailing to agents.

Many of these actors stay longer, but most eventually go home... by the thousands. This is actually the myth of Hollywood, that everyone wins the lottery if you just move in.

Wayne C. Dvorak is really a successful acting coach in LA area who knows what it takes to really make it as an actor and also have a long-lasting and satisfying acting career. Listed below are his answers on how best to overcome the myth of Hollywood so that you can create an acting career that's successful and award worthy.

QUESTION: What can you say about the myth that you don't need training to be a successful actor?

There are several kinds of careers in Hollywood. One successful kind would be to turn into a personality actor. These actors are basically playing themselves - such as a stand-up comedian like Ray Romano or a beautiful woman like Pamela Anderson; those people's careers are built around their personality. It's a type of career, it's part of show business, and their audience has a difficult time accepting them as anything else. Personality actors aren't really focused on in-depth acting. Of course, you can find exceptions, like Rosie O'Donnell. But, in the event that you actually want to be an actor that's known for your acting (not just your personality), then you need to be willing to do the work it takes to actually become one. And that takes dedication. It takes dedication to learning a craft. And I believe that with most people they just don't make an effort. Actors need to actually work. They need to sit down and do something serious.

QUESTION: And that means you don't need talent?

Learning how to act most certainly does not provide you with the talent. The talent is already there. But, actor training shows you how to use your talent and develop it, which is the key. You need to do the training to become considered for complex character parts. And, actors who have a real craft stand a chance to have a long-lasting character. They will have an actor range. They are not just a one-trick pony.

QUESTION: But if I've been in community theatre, isn't that a good place to learn to be an actor?

Our U.S. community theatre is frequently just bad. So even though you can be totally sincere, you may still be learning the incorrect technique and creating bad acting habits for yourself that will must be overcome if you eventually want to turn into a television and film actor. Generally, community theatre productions are not cast well, and young actors play roles which they could never play professionally so they learn tricks to obtain the show up. When the emphasis is on getting the show open however, not really learning how to best use yourself being an actor, then that is the method that you develop those bad acting habits.

Many people who arrived at Hollywood have bought the 'dream factory' thing. And then, it takes them some time -- if they do come to the realization -- that they have to work on their acting. And I'm not saying it must be achieved in a class, nonetheless it ought to be some place where you're getting guidance from the knowledgeable professional who really knows what he or she is doing. Because a bunch of people getting together, throwing something together such as a community play, isn't necessarily going to enable you to learn.

QUESTION: Think about the myth that there surely is no such thing as technique or perhaps a method to acting - it's all in the method that you say the words and in your look?

I disagree. Although it's true that a lot of acting techniques will educate you on flashy things or tricks, an effective technique or solution to acting offers you the tools and approach essential to be believable and consistent - developing a real acting career.

For example, a lot of people will teach you how to read from scripts and say "this line would be a lot more effective in the event that you said it in this manner," but it is probably not the emotional truth of what the scene is. So getting a solution to say a line is not necessarily doing the job, if you don't are doing television comedy or sitcom work; but even yet in this media, the actors should be truthful so that you can deliver a believable character. That is true also in drama and film comedy when you want to not only have the ability to say funny things but additionally find the core of the type - who the character is really. And that is what an in-depth acting technique will teach you how to do.

QUESTION: There are so many people giving workshops and classes in Los Angeles. Many of them say, for instance, that it takes merely six weeks to get ready for pilot season. Why would I wish to spend more time than that to become a working actor?

One of the issues that I think exists in LA is that the majority of the current coaches haven't been through the acting process themselves (from training to booking and performing). This may cause them to give bad advice it doesn't work beyond class, or their approach may be intellectual but it may not have a lot of request. For example, I once worked on a film where a fellow actor missed lines in the script while filming, and afterward the director wished to know why she missed the lines. She said it had been because she didn't feel she was "in the moment," so she didn't say the lines - it had been what her coach taught her. This infuriated the director. So, coaches need to know not only how exactly to teach technique but additionally give real-world advice.

Also, a lot of the training that is going on in Los Angeles is not used steps - A, B, C. Instead, workshops and six-week programs jump all over the place with technique, character work, and scene study. And the result is that people often miss points of development and also have serious gaps within their acting understanding.


What actors need to understand is that acting enters the expression of deep feeling through character. So while a writer gives you the narrative of the story, you will need to visit the depth of the sensation. That's what actors are adding to a story - the actor supplies the inner life and the subtext and depth of the true person. Therefore, the bottom line is that if you certainly are a serious actor, six weeks of training cannot provide you with the emotional depth and technique necessary for lead and supporting roles, series regulars, recurring characters, and guest stars - and also a majority of co-star roles.

QUESTION: I've been told that I have to do is get into a class with among the "guru coaches" in town in order that I can put that coach's name on my resume. Then which will get me in the door to book acting jobs. Isn't that I need?

No. First and foremost, booking acting jobs takes talent and technique, not a certain coach's name on your resume. And, the reason why you work with a coach is to improve your skill. Also, many of these coaches have over 30 people in a room. How could each student possibly be given the opportunity to work and explore a technique with anything other than superficial feedback under those circumstances? The actors should get right up in every class and be likely to bring in a thing that has been given serious work and attention -- not once every 4-5 weeks.

In my case, I limit the amount of students I have in my classes to only 12 students in each class because I like to spend quality time with my students. Due to manageable class size, I can remember exercises from months ago for every student and know what is the next step that needs to take place. Here is the kind of relationship you want from a coach, so as to ultimately book acting jobs.

QUESTION: From the 2007 Academy Award best actor/actress winners, what do you feel they brought to their performances that brought them such success?

I thought both Helen Mirren (The Queen) and Forest Whittaker (THE FINAL King of Scotland) were really amazing. They both captured real souls of non-fictional characters. That is sometimes the most difficult character work to accomplish because we do know who these two characters come in real life, and the actors somehow got that. And these actors' personal personalities aren't like their characters at all.