Ask A Healer Creative Wellbeing Series

Do Actors and Actresses need emotional damage to play great roles?
Copyright, Neva J Howell

Featured Actors Kit: Actor's Pack
Featured Vocal Kit: Vocal Release System

As a creative performer, do you feel that the ability to create deeply scarred on damaged characters depends on your having lived a life that included pain and suffering?

As an actor, do you feel that your pain, suffering and traumatic experiences help you be more realistic playing characters who are traumatized or emotionally suffering?

When do life experiences change from being assets to liabilities for actors?

During my various visits to Los Angeles, I saw a lot of starving artists. I also saw a lot of emotionally unhealed people.

It's a dangerous combination to be broke and broken.

There is a sort of mystique around the wounded artist and it has some apparent validity, much as the wounded healer does.

Only someone who had been addicted to heroin, for example, would know EXACTLY how that feels. River Phoenix tapped into that reality in My Private Idaho in a literal way and it may have cost him his life.

It is a mistake to think that only the wounded can effectively portray the wounded because the very woundedness prevents full awareness of the creative process.

Better to heal those issues completely and walk on the set with whatever emotional history you have but without it being current in your life.

Of course, most people aren't addicted to heroin but many actors may be unconsciously addicted to other things.....the need for attention, the need for approval, the fear of failure (yes, that can be an addiction), food, alcohol, etc.

More often, rather than being addicted in any traditional sense, I see actors who have not healed the trauma of their childhood, their issues with money, and their issues with self image.

Here are a couple of articles I wrote on the effect of imbalance on creative manifestation:

Healing your issues with money

Healing your childhood trauma

Acting Resources

I highly recommend On the Technique of Acting and To the Actor, because Michael Chekhov shares some of the most amazing ways to create believable characters and none of them involve drudging up or hanging on to past trauma to feed your art.

Additional Resources:

Seeking info on the marketing side of acting? The Acting Guide may be helpful.

Stage Fright a issue? Hypnosis for stage fright program here.

Acting Lessons for Level One

These are best done done in order.

Lesson One - Introduction to Acting Lessons
Lesson Two - The Actor's Body
Lesson Three - The Actor's Voice
Lesson Four - The Actor's Emotions
Acting Lesson Five - The Actor's Mind
Acting Lesson Six - Believable Acting Tips


Additional Goodies:

Free Audition Tips and Info on Ebook for Acting

Is your heart in your craft?