The Top Acting Books (For Aspiring Actors) . . . .
We have put together a list of the best acting books for aspiring actors below. We have included links to both Fishpond and Amazon if you would like to purchase them.
Please note: We have found that Fishpond is cheaper when you include shipping as it's an Australian business. Amazon looks cheaper but once you include the shipping from the US it usually ends up being more expensive than Fishpond. We suggest Fishpond, as we purchase all our books from Fishpond.
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Please note: We have found that Fishpond is cheaper when you include shipping as it's an Australian business. Amazon looks cheaper but once you include the shipping from the US it usually ends up being more expensive than Fishpond. We suggest Fishpond, as we purchase all our books from Fishpond.
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1) Fine on Acting: A Vision of the Craft: **A Must For All Aspiring Actors**Heralded as "Best Acting Teacher in LA" by Back Stage magazine, Hollywood’s most sought after acting teacher Howard Fine reveals the winning technique that has garnered his students international acclaim and the industry’s highest honors in his astonishing book FINE ON ACTING. During his twenty-five years as a teacher and director, Fine has developed a technique that is both useful and exciting. Emmy Award®-winning actor Michael Chiklis (THE SHIELD, FANTASTIC FOUR) writes in the foreword for FINE ON ACTING, “You’ve purchased this book because you either aspire to be an actor or want to be a better one. Either way you’ve made a wonderful decision. Howard Fine is a great teacher. His philosophy and approach to the craft of acting are the most helpful, encouraging and practically applicable I’ve ever encountered.” FINE ON ACTING covers the essentials for actors, including The Common Mistakes, Rehearsal, Auditions, Stage vs. Television and Film Acting, and Comedy vs. Drama. Fine also offers valuable advice for troubleshooting challenging situations, such as playing opposite a bad actor, nerves, memorizing lines, working with a bad director, and being emotionally blocked.
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2) The Power of the Actor . . . **A Must For All Aspiring Actors**In The Power of the Actor, a Los Angeles Times bestseller, premier acting teacher and coach Ivana Chubbuck reveals her cutting-edge technique, which has launched some of the most successful acting careers in Hollywood. The first book from the instructor who has taught Charlize Theron, Brad Pitt, Elisabeth Shue, Djimon Hounsou, and Halle Berry, The Power of the Actor guides you to dynamic and effective results. For many of today’s major talents, the Chubbuck Technique is the leading edge of acting for the twenty-first century. Ivana Chubbuck has developed a curriculum that takes the theories of the acting masters, such as Stanislavski, Meisner, and Hagen, to the next step by utilizing inner pain and emotions, not as an end in itself, but rather as a way to drive andwin a goal. In addition to the powerful twelve-step process, the book takes well-known scripts, both classic and contemporary, and demonstrates how to precisely apply Chubbuck’s script-analysis process. The Power of the Actor is filled with fascinating and inspiring behind-the-scenes accounts of how noted actors have mastered their craft and have accomplished success in such a difficult and competitive field.
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3) The Acting Bible . . . **A Must For All Aspiring Actors**Professional acting is both an art and a business, and this book advises beginning actors on how to cope successfully on both fronts. Opening chapters describe the difficulties every budding actor encounters and explains basic acting techniques, which include memory exercises and methods for developing stage presence. Chapters that follow instruct in--
Reading the play with understanding and learning to build the character that the actor will be portraying Developing the actor's voice, imitating regional accents, and more expressing the character's thoughts and ideas through body posture and movement adapting acting techniques to different media: stage, film, TV, and radio Learning the business side of acting by selling one's talents effectively the author strips away preconceptions and cliches often associated with acting, and pinpoints common mistakes that inexperienced actors need to overcome and avoid. More than 300 instructive illustrations. |
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4) No Acting Please . . .A collection of 125 acting exercises that are based on journal excerpts and dialogues from Mr. Morris' classes. These exercises teach the actor to systematically eliminate his or her instrumental obstacles -- tensions, fears, inhibitions -- and explore the "being" state, where the actor does no more and no less than what he or she feels.
"When I read No Acting Please, it put it all together for me." -- Johnny Depp |
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5) Acting As A Business . . .Since its original publication, Acting as a Business has earned a reputation as an indispensable tool for working and aspiring actors. Avoiding the usual advice about persistence and luck, Brian O’Neil provides clear-cut guidelines that will give actors a solid knowledge of the business behind their art. It’s packed with practical information–on everything from what to say in a cover letter to where to stand when performing in agent’s office–including:
•How to craft a winning theatrical résumé •The most effective ways to join the performer’s unions •Tactics for getting an agent •Strategies for finding work in the theater, on daytime television, and in independent films •Navigating the different customs and cultures of New York and Los Angeles |
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6) Respect for Acting . . .
Respect for Acting "This fascinating and detailed book about acting is Miss Hagen's credo, the accumulated wisdom of her years spent in intimate communion with her art. It is at once the voicing of her exacting standards for herself and those she [taught], and an explanation of the means to the end." --Publishers Weekly "Hagen adds to the large corpus of titles on acting with vivid dicta drawn from experience, skill, and a sense of personal and professional worth. Her principal asset in this treatment is her truly significant imagination. Her 'object exercises' display a wealth of detail with which to stimulate the student preparing a scene for presentation." --Library Journal "Uta Hagen's Respect for Acting ...is a relatively small book. But within it, Miss Hagen tells the young actor about as much as can be conveyed in print of his craft." --Los Angeles Times "There are almost no American actors uninfluenced by Uta Hagen." --Fritz Weaver "This is a textbook for aspiring actors, but working thespians can profit much by it. Anyone with just a casual interest in the theater should also enjoy its behind-the-scenes flavor." -- King Features Syndicate
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7) On Method Acting . . .Practiced by such actors of stature as Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Julie Harris, Dustin Hoffman, and Ellen Burstyn (not to mention the late James Dean) the Method offers a practical application of the renowned Stanislavsky technique. On Method Acting demystifies the "mysteries" of Method acting -- breaking down the various steps into clear and simple terms, including chapters on:
Sense Memory -- the most vital component of Method acting Improvisation -- without it, the most integral part of the Method is lost Animal Exercises -- just one way to combat the mental blocks that prevent actors from grasping a character |
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8) The Monologue Audition . . .The authors aim throughout is to help the aspiring actor meet that first challenge, auditioning for a part, whether it be in theatre, film or television. She provides pointers on choosing the most effective and appropriate monologue for the situation and goes on to give actors a step-by-step approach, illustrated by line drawings and photographs, that is applicable to any monologue they might choose. Her approach emphasises exactly how actors can rehearse monologues specifically by using both acting and directing techniques to their fullest advantage. She focuses on developing the ability to see yourself as others see you--that is, on how to produce the results that most auditioners of actors look for.
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9) Sanford Meisner On Acting . . .This book, written in collaboration with Dennis Longwell, follows an acting class of eight men and eight women for fifteen months, beginning with the most rudimentary exercises and ending with affecting and polished scenes from contemporary American plays. Throughout these pages Meisner is delight--always empathizing with his students and urging them onward, provoking emotion, laughter, and growing technical mastery from his charges. With an introduction by Sydney Pollack, director of "Out of Africa" and "Tootsie," who worked with Meisner for five years.
"This book should be read by anyone who wants to act or even appreciate what acting involves. Like Meisner's way of teaching, it is the straight goods."--Arthur Miller. "If there is a key to good acting, this one is it, above all others. Actors, young and not so young, will find inspiration and excitement in this book."--Gregory Peck |
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