Why "Not Knowing" Makes You a Better Actor

In my previous blog, The Power of Presence: How Being Fully in the Moment Transforms Your Acting, I talked about how certain actors have a remarkable presence in their work. I purposely chose an image of Marlon Brando in The Godfather to represent this idea. Brando’s power of presence is legendary among actors; he literally transformed “truthful” acting forever with his groundbreaking portrayals of Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire and Terry Malloy in On The Waterfront, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. If you’re a young actor reading this and haven’t seen those iconic performances, I highly recommend you do—they continue to influence actors today, whether they’re consciously aware of it or not.

Brando once said that you can never know the “how” in acting, which means you must be in a constant state of “not knowing.”

This state of “not knowing” can be exhilarating but also intimidating for actors, as it requires letting go of control over what’s happening or what’s going to happen. Yet, this is where your talent, imagination, playfulness, and instincts come alive, and one of your greatest strengths as an actor—vulnerability—truly shines.

(I’ll dive deeper into vulnerability in a future blog.)

Emma Stone as Cruella de Vil. Stone’s range of memorable characters is a testament to her ability to step into any situation and seamlessly play ball. Watching her, you can tell that leaning into the spontaneity of "not knowing" is genuinely fun for her, and when the actors are having fun, the audience can feel it too.

“Not knowing” not only makes you a better actor, but is also the springboard into great acting when you trust the moment, trust yourself, and trust the story as it unfolds. The actor who can consistently stay in a place of “not knowing” as they explore their role, may very well become one of the greatest actors of their generation.

That could be you, if you’re up for the challenge. I don’t know. ;) Do you?

Join us to explore the power of “not knowing” and bring a new level of truth to your work.

The Power of Presence: How Being Fully in the Moment Transforms Your Acting

You often hear people say that certain actors have great presence, that you just can’t take your eyes off them. But why do some actors have more "presence" than others? What’s their secret? What is this mysterious quality everyone’s talking about? The answer is so simple and obvious that it’s often overlooked:

They’re PRESENT! That’s it—and that’s a lot.

So, why is there power in presence and being present? Because life can only happen in the present moment, and life itself is pure power. It’s eternal. What’s more powerful than that?! Just look at the power of life around you, in all its forms—it’s stunning, awe-inspiring, and it’s pulsating within you right now.

Marlon Brando in The Godfather. The cat's appearance was not part of the script. Director Francis Ford Coppola found the cat wandering around the studio and gave it to Brando without warning. A master at being present in the moment, Brando then improvised his actions with the cat.

In acting, the power of aliveness, spontaneity, unpredictability, and truth can only be found in the present. That’s why being in the moment is crucial for great acting. What’s even more extraordinary is that life never repeats itself. The mind, however, is constantly on repeat, projecting its same old stories onto the present moment and into a future that hasn’t even happened yet. In acting, we call this being "in your head."

This is why I strongly caution against the trap of playing "ideas" in your acting. It’s deadly for an actor because the moment is alive, and your "ideas" have nothing to do with what’s happening right now. You’ll lack presence and end up indicating moods, feelings, and behaviors rather than living them truthfully and spontaneously.

In acting, you have to trust that what IS…is enough. If you don’t, you’ll make the big mistake of trying to force something to happen, playing "ideas," and becoming a predictable actor.

The Art of "NOT" Acting is about being fully alive and present with characters that are unique and memorable from one acting project to the next. Think of some of the greatest actors like Daniel Day-Lewis and Frances McDormand. The fact that this exceptional quality of "NOT" Acting in their work can be filmed, watched repeatedly, and never get old speaks to the power of presence in these actors.

Are you ready to join them? If you're looking for an acting class that goes beyond technique and dives deep into the power of being present, join my Art of "NOT" Acting class in Los Angeles or online via Zoom, available worldwide. Let’s tap into your potential and bring your presence to life.

How to Stop Overthinking and Start Trusting Your Instincts as an Actor

Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, and Sam Rockwell in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

The late, great acting teacher Stella Adler was once asked what her biggest challenge in training actors was. She said, “Their middle-class conditioning.” Another way to say this is that they were under the influence of a “one size fits all” conditioning that valued conformity over authenticity and originality.

From early childhood, through years of schooling, and with the overarching impact of cultural conditioning, we’ve been taught to distrust our instinctive animal nature and replace it with thinking and control. The fact is, we’ve been shamed for being human animals—shamed for being what we truly are. The truth is, we are animals, and the degree to which our animal nature has been domesticated and suppressed is the degree to which we’ve lost the fullness of our humanity as well. I once heard a wise man say, “Being domesticated is tremendously painful for the human animal.” Fortunately, acting—and in my opinion, the art of “NOT” acting that I teach—offers a beautiful way out of this conundrum, with the possibility of having a wonderful acting career and fulfilling life.

Often, in the beginning, when I work with actors, they’re quite surprised when I say they weren’t being truthful in their work. As an aside, these are often actors who’ve been through all the well-known programs. I tell them that while they may feel they’re being real, they’re actually being “conventionally” real. In other words, it’s a culturally accepted version of being “real,” which, in actuality, isn’t real at all. They’re also often overly invested in getting it right and afraid of making mistakes. I tell them they have to get it real, not right.

Great actors are like the wild animals we see in nature. They’re alive, instinctive, unpredictable, and incredibly intelligent.

It’s not that great actors aren’t thinking when they’re acting—they’re just not living in “ideas” of what a scene should be. That’s a huge difference. Actors who play the “idea” of a scene know ahead of time what’s going to happen. But how can anyone possibly know what’s going to happen until it happens?! That’s what being in the moment is all about—not knowing what’s going to happen until it happens! The thoughts the best actors have in a scene are deeply connected to their feelings and instincts, rooted in the truth that’s unfolding from one unknown moment into the next. That’s exciting. We don’t know what they’re going to do next because they truly don’t know what they’re going to do next.

The key question becomes how to overcome this conditioning, stop overthinking, and trust your instincts as an actor. After all, many acting techniques attempt to address this issue in the foundation of their approaches. It took me many years to realize a simple solution. I actually addressed it in depth in my first blog post, "Why Letting Go of Acting Techniques Is Often the Key to Finding Your Way.” When you find “your way” as an actor, a tremendous confidence—without arrogance—emerges, along with self-trust and self-respect. You feel safe to be the human animal you are, and you discover numerous, previously hidden aspects of yourself, now free to be expressed in the different roles you play.

You’ll realize that many of the characters you embody become your best friends and allies, providing a creative and safe space for the wildest and most honest versions of yourself to be expressed within the story. As this happens, you’ll realize how lucky you are to be an actor and that your career is built on your aliveness as an animal and the depth and breadth of your humanity.