Your power as an actor depends on how you express and work with emotions. How can you get better at it?
Nicole Kidman commented “You live with a lot of complicated emotions as an actor, and they whirl around you and create havoc at times.
“And yet, as an actor you’re consciously and unconsciously allowing that to happen.”
Jennifer Beals once said, “I get emotional all the time. I get emotional every time I make a speech, or talk about other cast members.
“Every now and again, my heart just explodes and expands.”
Laurel Holloman, her castmate on the Showtime series “The L Word,” has seen this firsthand:
“If Jennifer is passionate about something, it comes to the surface within seconds. My theory on that is all the best actors have a couple of layers of skin peeled away.
“There’s a huge emotional life in Jennifer, and it’s kind of beautiful.”
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Mihaela Ivan Holtz, PhD provides psychotherapy for creative people in TV/Film, performing and fine arts, and writes about the emotional and creative pleasures of this inner life – and its challenges.
She notes in an article of hers:
As a creative or performer you live in a rich and fascinating inner world.
Your art – singing, acting, dancing, or writing – allows you to fully feel and express the depth of your inner world.
At the same time, you may confuse your need to live in your inner world with getting trapped in there…
In truth, you can fully inhabit that compelling inner world and also have the ability to move in and out of it quite freely.
Living in touch with your internal world or getting trapped? What is the difference?
To be the master of your art, be the master of your mindI am sure you remember those moments when you felt fully immersed and connected to your inner world. In these moments everything is flowing, nothing matters.
Time stops, you create and perform aligned with all that you are.
You and your art become one.
It feels so real. Your heart is full of joy and excitement, love, pain, madness or anger… these raw feelings becoming your art.
And then, when your creative moment vanishes, you almost can still feel the authenticity of your emotions – they fill clean, they feel right.
They don’t control you. You feel grounded and in your shoes. You trust what you created or how you performed.
This is being in touch with your inner world.
It feels like having the freedom to fully feel, express, and transform your fascinating inner world into art.
You have access to the best parts to who you are – your abilities, talents, ideas, creative energy, performing energy… all coming together…
At the same time, you remember these moments when you feel some creative ideas, energy, thoughts but you get stuck in.
There is no flow. Your fears, anxiety, insecurities take you away from experiencing your feelings, your ideas, or thoughts.
You can put a few ideas together, but not enough to create your story.
You know you have an important story to tell, but is not coming together. Something is not quite working…
This is getting trapped in your inner world.
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Dr. Holtz goes on to explain how “cultivating your emotional self-regulation, you can live in your inner world without getting trapped in it.”
Read more in her article:
To be the master of your art, be the master of your mind
https://creativemindspsychotherapy.com/2017/11/16/master-art-master-mind/
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See many other articles on this list on my site The Creative Mind: Articles and resources for actors and performers http://thecreativemind.net/articles-on-actors-and-acting/
