For some being a professional actor is simply a job just like being an accountant, an engineer, a doctor and so forth. For other hard boiled brains, being a professional actor is a lifestyle, something that seeps into their personal lives even after the camera has turned off. Many say a brilliant actor is a schizophrenic. Someone who embodies his/her character to such extent that it becomes almost impossible to differentiate between the actor and the character.
I am not sure if I'll be diagnosed as a schizophrenic if I confess that I am a pathological liar, I pretend to be someone else for most of my day and I enjoy doing that. I don't lie to gain an advantage which is the known and accepted purpose of lying. A person lying for no apparent advantage is considered either a stupid or insane. But there is another reason to lie which is, at its core, the most elemental of all reasons. Lying is pretending to be someone who you are not. And isn't this acting? The ace actor Naseeruddin Shah stated "everyone is born with myriad of abilities, not just acting, but many other. Over time, we lost that ability but that doesn't mean we never had it." I have to second that point. In younger, more volatile, years, we all lied that we've been studying like we were supposed to when we were simply watching porn. Essentially, we were pretending to be someone else when we were a completely different person. We were acting. For most, this joy of acting disappears with age as the environment and the surroundings take over.
Only two kinds of people stay connected with this dreadful habit. Let's talk about the first kind. People who are born in environment and family structures with history in acting usually have the support to pursue a career in acting. Their upbringing is steered around the performing arts. Such people become actors from outside in.
The second kind are those for whom acting offers solace. If we think about it lying, if committed consistently, has the ability to incarnate a new personality. Lie that you are a writer, then back that lie with bogus evidences (more lies), keep stacking onto those bogus elements, and for this one person, you become a writer. This one person has no idea that you are a boring financial analyst in some blood sucking consulting firm and not some struggling writer with the next demented idea for a film. The solace lies in the fact that by lying, or acting, one can escape the harsh reality or a reality that is not in sync with its wants. If a reality isn't pleasing enough, create your own. For severe cases, it become mental disorder. For minor cases, it leads to acting. Such people become actors from inside out. Needless to say, the two kinds might have overlap cases as well. But those should be rare since a person belonging to a filmmaker's family, which is affluent, has no major reason to seek escapism from reality!
Having said what an actor is, one must understand there is a major difference between an actor and a professional actor. An actor is a sense of inner satisfaction. It is a slick art of embodying another personality with carefully structured lies. The purpose of lies could simply be an entertaining and/or educational presentation or, as mentioned earlier, an escapist's route. Whatever, an actor is an actor for itself. But a professional actor is anything but simply an actor. The main responsibility of a professional actor is simply to use his/her "actor" to convey the writer's/director's vision to the audience. Nothing more, nothing less. It is a job of communication. A bad actor becomes a hurdle between the vision and presentation because it stands out as an actor. A good actor simply disappears. Just like a good lie, which simply makes the truth disappear.
I am not sure if I'll be diagnosed as a schizophrenic if I confess that I am a pathological liar, I pretend to be someone else for most of my day and I enjoy doing that. I don't lie to gain an advantage which is the known and accepted purpose of lying. A person lying for no apparent advantage is considered either a stupid or insane. But there is another reason to lie which is, at its core, the most elemental of all reasons. Lying is pretending to be someone who you are not. And isn't this acting? The ace actor Naseeruddin Shah stated "everyone is born with myriad of abilities, not just acting, but many other. Over time, we lost that ability but that doesn't mean we never had it." I have to second that point. In younger, more volatile, years, we all lied that we've been studying like we were supposed to when we were simply watching porn. Essentially, we were pretending to be someone else when we were a completely different person. We were acting. For most, this joy of acting disappears with age as the environment and the surroundings take over.
Only two kinds of people stay connected with this dreadful habit. Let's talk about the first kind. People who are born in environment and family structures with history in acting usually have the support to pursue a career in acting. Their upbringing is steered around the performing arts. Such people become actors from outside in.
The second kind are those for whom acting offers solace. If we think about it lying, if committed consistently, has the ability to incarnate a new personality. Lie that you are a writer, then back that lie with bogus evidences (more lies), keep stacking onto those bogus elements, and for this one person, you become a writer. This one person has no idea that you are a boring financial analyst in some blood sucking consulting firm and not some struggling writer with the next demented idea for a film. The solace lies in the fact that by lying, or acting, one can escape the harsh reality or a reality that is not in sync with its wants. If a reality isn't pleasing enough, create your own. For severe cases, it become mental disorder. For minor cases, it leads to acting. Such people become actors from inside out. Needless to say, the two kinds might have overlap cases as well. But those should be rare since a person belonging to a filmmaker's family, which is affluent, has no major reason to seek escapism from reality!
Having said what an actor is, one must understand there is a major difference between an actor and a professional actor. An actor is a sense of inner satisfaction. It is a slick art of embodying another personality with carefully structured lies. The purpose of lies could simply be an entertaining and/or educational presentation or, as mentioned earlier, an escapist's route. Whatever, an actor is an actor for itself. But a professional actor is anything but simply an actor. The main responsibility of a professional actor is simply to use his/her "actor" to convey the writer's/director's vision to the audience. Nothing more, nothing less. It is a job of communication. A bad actor becomes a hurdle between the vision and presentation because it stands out as an actor. A good actor simply disappears. Just like a good lie, which simply makes the truth disappear.
