Your acting is irrelevant.
That is, if you can’t do two things.
Be yourself.
And…
Be yourself when it counts.
Let me explain.
Drama school is a funny place.
I went to WAAPA for three years.
Arguably one of the most
Prestigious places to train
In Australia, blah blah blah.
In some ways,
Absolutely incredible.
I got to act 5 or even 6 days a week,
Rehearse and perform in shows
Work on text,
Learn from some extraordinary teachers
Spend time exhaustively chatting
With my mates about various methodologies
And just generally
Immersing myself in the craft
For three full years,
Full time.
Uninterrupted.
Undoubtedly there was plenty of opportunity
To learn and grow.
But here’s the thing.
In my experience,
I would say 80% of the actual training
Focused on skills that are used roughly
20% of the time…
Maybe even less.
Character work.
Animal work.
Accent lessons.
Mask work.
No joke,
I spent a good semester working on a character
For a show who was—
A 1930’s blind, barefoot, banjo playing southerner
To perform a third year play.
I’m just going to throw it out there…
Great opportunity to have fun.
And boy did I have fun, but—
Absolutely zero use in the real world.
Fifteen years after graduating,
I don’t know a single professional actor
Who “actions” their scripts
Before an audition.
And I’m not poo pooing actioning.
I’m a believer in any methodology
That gets an actor from A-B.
If it works for you, amazing.
I’m simply saying,
I don't know anyone that does it
Outside of drama school.
The issue I have with most acting training
Is that it doesn’t actually prepare you
For the reality of the industry.
It creates wonderful little actors
Who follow direction
And speak really well.
Who are super “in their bodies”.
BUT!
The industry doesn’t want good little actors.
The industry wants human beings.
If the point of drama school
Is to prepare you for the industry—
To give you the skills and tools
That will allow you to be a working actor,
In 2026 in this country,
I think there’s something missing.
And yet when people talk about
The skills required to actually book work,
No one talks about the most
Valuable asset you have as an actor.
You. Yourself.
***
In 2019
I did a show with John Bell
Who introduced me to Jerzy Grotowski,
The inventor of “poor theatre”.
Grotowski’s early methodologies aim was
— in layman’s term’s —
To strip back all the external bullshit,
The facade of performing,
Until we are left with what’s underneath.
Essentially that:
Acting is not about playing a character
Rather, it is about revealing yourself.
And this fucked me up.
In a good way.
I realised that I’d been wasting my time for
Most of my career.
This not only solved acting on camera for me,
But more importantly…
It gave acting meaning.
This one little idea allowed me
To shift my entire view on what
My purpose with acting is.
Revealing myself in order to connect.
And that has become a goal of mine.
To make that my mission.
And to help other actors learn to do so as well.
But there’s still one more problem…
All that “acting”
All that revealing yourself in order to connect business
No matter how good it is,
Is irrelevant.
If you aren’t able to do it
When the pressure is on.
I’ll give an example
Street Fighter is about to come out.
I was lucky enough to have a small part in the film.
As a part of that process
I read for a number of actors auditions
Who were coming in to tape for various parts.
Something that stayed with me
Was the director Kitao saying of a young female actor:
“I love her,
I love her look, her energy…
But it’s a one million dollar shot
I have two takes…
I just don’t trust that she’ll
Be able to do it
On the day”.
This broke my fucking heart.
Because here was this brilliant young actor,
Everything the director wanted,
But when the pressure was on,
She was unable to deliver.
***
So.
What’s the solution?
It’s twofold:
Focus on these two areas.
1) Vulnerability.
&
2) Presence.
By vulnerability,
I don’t mean crying.
I don’t mean being emotional.
To be vulnerable is literally
Defined as being open.
So when I say vulnerable,
I mean the state of being open.
So.
Practice being open.
How?
By practicing being honest.
In order to
Practice being yourself
On camera or on stage.
Because all the character work
In the world won’t get you anywhere
If you can’t be yourself in a room
Or in front of the lens.
From there;
Practice presence.
Which is simply to be alive to this moment.
How?
1) Let go of external outcomes / results
That sit outside your control and
Focus on your process.
And make the sole focus of that process
One that allows you to feel free and open to play.
Whatever that means to you.
Because god damn that sounds
So much more enjoyable than
The grind of how drama schools
Tell you what you should do in order to prepare.
2) Increase your technical ability to
Be present in front of the lens or on stage.
Learn to be response-able
In high pressure situations.
So you never find yourself
In the same situation as the brilliant and yet
Nervous actor from Street Fighter.
***
Change the way you train.
The Industry doesn’t want
“Good little actors”
Who try to please it or “get it right”.
It wants and rewards when you do you.
I have either taught or coached
Thousands of actors over
Past nearly 20 years.
Most of the problems I see
Having nothing to do with skills or talent.
Talent is almost assumed by casting directors.
It’s not a question of whether you can act.
The question is:
Are you the piece of the jigsaw puzzle that they need?
And when push comes to shove—
Can you deliver?
In my experience, talent or technique is never the issue.
The problems have everything to do with
How actors perceive themselves
And how they perceive the industry.
And the answer is usually always the same
Trust yourself.
Trust what you bring to the table.
And have fun out there.
Dx
