Acting Is about Creating Life Where There Once Was None

The following is adapted from Artist: Awakening the Spirit Within by Jocelyn Jones.

I am an actor’s daughter. My father, Henry Jones, was a character actor whose Broadway career peaked in 1958 with a Tony Award for his performance in Sunrise at Campobello. In the play, Henry played Louis Howe, friend and advisor to Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

I was eight years old when it opened. I remember sitting fourth-row center, staring up at the grown-ups play-acting like children. To my young eyes, it looked like they were cavorting in a giant dollhouse. It still looks that way to me. A well-done play has a magic about it. I feel blessed to have grown up surrounded by the spirited people of that world. I loved their flamboyance, their humor, and their grown-up love of make-believe.

After my parents divorced, my father moved to Hollywood, where his life revolved around television and film work. Although “Henry Jones” wasn’t exactly a well-known name, he supported our family through acting jobs alone. When he worked, we splurged on theatre tickets and dinners out. When jobs were scarce, supper might consist of a tuna sandwich or chicken noodle soup.

Everything about Hollywood seemed larger than life. To my young eyes, it was like living in a movie. The houses were mansions, the women glamorous, the men charming — even the freeways were triple the size of anything I’d ever seen — big roads leading to big dreams.

It seemed to me that all the superstars I met had two things in common:

1. Each and every one of them displayed a level of confidence I’d never seen before.
2. They seemed to have made themselves up out of thin air, manifesting an image and personality that resided somewhere in their imaginations. They became the person they dreamed of becoming. They did in their lives what they did in their work: they created a life of their own imagining — beautiful and dramatic.

I learned this truth: acting is about creating a life where there once was none. It’s about manifesting!

I have been an acting teacher most of my adult life. I’ve taught actors who’ve starred in movies and television, people who’ve never set foot on a stage before, and every level in between. I’ve served as a creative consultant to some of the biggest movie stars in the world, and I’ve taught people with no innate talent for the job, helping them find confidence in their process and fulfillment in their careers.

In my thirty years of teaching, my intention has always been to offer techniques that will help actors connect to and flush out their best ideas.

I engage them in on-going conversations about:

• The benefits of a positive attitude.
• Comporting themselves as a professional.
• Imaginative administration.
• Commitment to finishing the job.
• The benefits of daily ritual.
• The nature of inspiration.
• And the inspiration of Nature.

I also talk to actors about the importance of intention in their work and that class begins and ends with intending to become the best person you can be. (68)

I also talk to actors about the importance of intention in their work and that class begins and ends with intending to become the best person you can be.

I train actors to know that they know. I believe confidence is as simple as that: knowing that you know how to go about a thing. (55)

Because actors sometimes get caught up in self-absorbed thinking, I offer practices to bend their interest toward concerns outside themselves. My intention is to give them tools that help ease them out of their carefully crafted personas in order to view the world from their heart as opposed to their head. I like to remind them: a star shines not to bask in the glory of its own heat but to illuminate others.

Actors wear their insides out, reflecting for us the depth and breadth of the human condition. It’s as if one life isn’t enough for them. They want to conjure multiple lives before our very eyes.

When we see a performance we love, it lifts our spirit. We literally begin vibrating at a higher frequency, which invites us to leave our seats and enter the story. The actor is so real he transports us to another existence, and we take a little vacation from our own.

And when we return, feeling refreshed from our time away, don’t we sometimes feel like, “Wow! If they can create that much life out of thin air — commanding thoughts, feelings, and behaviors at will — surely I can do a little better with my own.”?

In this way, actors touch a kindred spirit in us all. Something in their work feels familiar, inspiring us to reach for more. Because actors create life in the moment, they have something to teach us all.

For more advice on creating life out of thin air, you can find Artist: Awakening the Spirit Within on Amazon.

Jocelyn Jones has been an acting teacher for over thirty years. From A-list movie stars to hand-picked beginners, Ms. Jones is known for offering insights and techniques that enhance her clients’ confidence; provide consistent, inspirational results; and guide them to their own unique perspectives. Her memoir is a blueprint for awakening and connecting to the spirit within — the Artist, capable of manifesting anything. Ms. Jones is also known for the critically acclaimed documentary series In Class with Jocelyn Jones, A Celebration of Actors & Acting, featuring sixteen studio members as they demonstrate the range of work taught in her Master Class. Learn more at JocelynJonesStudio.com.