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. Talk about three actors who really let their animal out when they play on screen!

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.

Why Letting Go of Acting Techniques is Often the Key to Finding Your Way

Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, an actor who truly embodies trusting his instincts.

A favorite quote of mine regarding technique is by the singer Lionel Richie, who said, “Let go of your training wheels and let your talent speak for itself.” This statement has two key implications: First, he didn’t say not to train. I'm a highly-trained actor myself, having studied an amalgamation of acting approaches over many years, including Meisner, Method, and personal coaching from the renowned acting teacher Harold Guskin. Most great actors have studied an acting technique, and many of them are our favorite actors today. The second implication of Lionel Richie’s statement is the focus of this blog:

"Let go of your training wheels and let your talent speak for itself."

One challenge with excellent acting techniques, whether it be Meisner, Adler, or Strasberg, is that every actor goes through the same system and learns the same way of working. Again, these are excellent techniques if they’re the right fit for you. How do you know when it’s the right fit? When it doesn’t feel like work and feels effortless—like breathing. Of course, you need some degree of talent to begin with, to determine if any of these techniques are the right fit.

Back to everyone going through the same program or technique. During my first year of Meisner training (I did two years and a third-year master class), there was a Christmas party for all the classes. I’ll never forget walking in and being struck by how everyone looked and acted like a “Meisner” actor. It had a cookie-cutter feel to me. Yes, this was just my experience, but it’s important to trust your own experiences. Looking back, I now realize that the Meisner technique was not the right fit for me. Neither was Strasberg’s method nor any of the offshoots I studied.

When the technique isn't the right fit, what you’ve studied, hoping to liberate and free you as an actor, often has the opposite effect. It puts you in your head and creates fear and worry. You feel obligated to get the technique right and end up trying harder and harder. And the harder you try, the more difficult it gets. Your confidence takes a hit too. It’s a terrible place to be, especially when you know you’re talented and love acting. What you often don’t realize is that it has nothing to do with you or your talent. You just haven’t found your fit and natural way of playing as an actor.

It wasn’t until years after my training that I found my fit. A successful actor friend recommended I try working with Harold Guskin. Thankfully, I listened and did a series of one-on-one sessions with Harold. It was there that I found my fit and discovered something unique to me, which would become the foundation of the acting classes I’ve been teaching for the past ten years. When I discovered my fit—or maybe it discovered me—the relief I felt was both powerful and empowering. In an instant, I “let go” of ALL my previous training, and I was in awe of how easy it was. But that was the kicker. It couldn’t be that easy, right? How many times had I heard it takes twenty years to master the craft of acting? Maybe it takes twenty years to get lucky, find your fit, and then see how easy it is.

It's important to point out that being "easy" still includes discipline, passion, and devotion. These qualities are crucial to a fulfilling acting career; they naturally ignite and light you on creative and artistic fire.

My approach to acting and what I teach is not technical, by any means, yet it provides the actor with a way of playing that feels easy and natural when they can let go of their “training wheels.” That’s sometimes a big “if,” as some actors are afraid to let go of the training they’ve invested years and money into, holding onto it for dear life, even when it’s not their fit. That’s unfortunate.

Throughout life, you continually have to let go to grow. To truly live in the moment as an actor requires letting go and “not knowing” what’s going to happen from one moment to the next. To find your way as an actor, you often have to do what Lionel Richie said: “Let go of your training wheels and let your talent speak for itself.”

"To truly live in the moment as an actor requires letting go and “not knowing” what’s going to happen from one moment to the next."

Letting go requires the courage to trust the moment, trust your instincts, and trust your talent. The result is the discovery that great acting does you!