Do you really need acting classes to be an actor?

When enjoying the stellar acting talents of a famous actor like Sir Anthony Hopkins (Odin, in Thor and Thor:The Dark World), a fan might think to him or herself, "I could act like that! I have natural talent, I could growl, or sneer, it’s perfectly natural!" And then you get a chance to prove yourself! It’s the school play, and you are going to try out for the most dramatic position you can line yourself up for… but, all of the sudden, when you’re on that stage, you can’t speak. You can barely project your voice, your legs feel awkward and you don’t know where to put your feet, you feel like everyone is staring at your nose and you want to keep swiping at it. Everything feels strangely like you’re doing it all for the very first time, it isn’t like your natural, day-to-day life at all. Your laugh sounds forced, your smile feels way overdone. But that’s because acting is a talent that needs to be practiced and developed like any other talent.

One way to begin developing such a talent, is to pay close attention to the techniques of a favorite actor. For example, how does veteran actor Sir Anthony Hopkins breathe when he listens to the dialogue of another actor? How would you? Anthony Hopkins does an amazing job at being normal, that’s just one reason he is a famous actor, but he didn’t start out that way at all.

A self-proclaimed dunce and failure at school, young Tony Hopkins had no idea what to do with his life as a young man. Born in 1937, the son of a baker, he spent a dull life until, one day, he was forced to undergo some dental work that resulted in his having to rest in bed for a time. His father brought him a set of Encyclopedias, and to this boy, who had up until now given no real thought to education, an entire world opened up, inspiring his imagination and, perhaps, some of the characters he would go on to play later in his career as an actor. Certainly his portrayal of Hrothgar in Beowulf, or the feature characters in Shakespeare’s Othello and Hamlet, first took root in his brain as he found them first in the pages of his Encyclopediae.

He attended the College of Music and Drama, where he graduated in 1957, and where he has since been honored by having a hall named after him. When asked who some of his acting inspirations were, Hopkins has mentioned Richard Burton (Marc Antony in the epic film from the 60s, Cleopatra) and Laurence Olivier (Crassus, in Spartacus, and almost every first-time-ever-filmed work of Shakespeare in existence). Hopkins watched these men closely, learned how they spoke, commanded the center of attention in their scenes, and put his observations to practice in his own acting.

No matter where you live, whether it be in San Francisco, NYC, Philadelphia, or Atlanta, there are acting lessons for any level of talent. Wherever you are, you can find lessons to improve you, teach you things you haven’t learned yet, and help you become the actor you have dreamed of being. Do your dream.

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