New year, new you… new opportunities? For aspiring actors, 2025 just might be the year of your big break. To motivate you to stick to your role-nabbing resolutions, we’ve gathered the most game-changing wisdom we heard from 12 trailblazing actors in 2024. Let these boundary-breaking performers be your monthly mentors throughout the new year—and beyond.
Emma Stone: Don’t be afraid to feel your feelings.
“At the end of the day, what you’re doing as an actor is playing a person. There’s so much empathy involved in the experience. You don’t have to form a thick skin. As a creative person, the most important thing you can do is keep your skin thin and allow these feelings and these experiences to penetrate you and be able to utilize those for your work…. It’s about finding those people and finding those avenues where you feel safe and you feel like you can break down and cry and celebrate—and there are people that can celebrate with you.”
Daniel Craig: Allow yourself to react to feelings.
“Part of acting is inhabiting, but also the ability to empty yourself and allow a feeling to come in. Not to be front-loaded, to say, ‘I’m going to feel this; I’m going to do this.’ Literally, kind of clear yourself out…and then allow the feelings to hit you and react to them as you feel them.”
Cynthia Erivo: Chemistry comes from talking—and listening.
“There’s a click; you find a common ground, and it becomes easy to have conversation. That is a chemistry in itself, and then the choice is yours about whether or not you build on that chemistry…. I actually think that chemistry also comes from a willingness to listen…and [being] open to what you might get from that person.”
Kathryn Hahn: Bring yourself to the audition.
“You just don’t know what could be down the pipe, or if somewhere behind those people’s eyeballs, they’re looking at you for something specifically. They want you to just bring yourself. It’s almost like you have to forget about what this could be and just meet some nice people.”
Guy Pearce: Acting is the art of bettering yourself.
“We’re trying to act like we’re a better person or more of a good human being than perhaps we were yesterday. So, the purpose of acting, the reason it exists, is for us to actually better ourselves, I think. What we do as a job is a beautiful artistic outlet that takes that skill and turns it into an art form.”
Naomi Scott: There’s much to be learned simply by observing.
“A lot of [learning] was just observing—observing other people, other actors, older actors. I always say that to younger actors: Just watch. If you want to be in movies or TV or theater, just try and be close to it.”
Katherine Langford: Keep living your life outside of work.
“Just remember to keep living your life. Know that your work is part of you, but it’s not your whole life.”
Walton Goggins: Analyze the script, then let your imagination take over.
“The more you read [the script], the words are just a road map…. [It’s] like looking at a Google map. You’re passing these darker green shades on each side. They’re just representative of the world that’s going on right outside your window. I find that the more that you read it, the more that your imagination takes over it.”
Maya Rudolph: Seek inspiration in other actors’ performances.
“I’m always inspired when I see a performance that makes me feel like I want to do that. I feel like I’ve now recognized it enough within my body where it’s like, Oh, that’s inspiration you’re feeling.”
Jessica Lange: Try to avoid overthinking.
“The danger of overthinking something, especially as an actor, you can always see that when you’re watching something, that it’s a mental exercise. I feel like now, I’ve gotten to a point where I can just give into it and let it take me wherever it’s going.”
Melissa Barrera: Be open to discovering something new.
“I will never turn down another take…. And sometimes that’s the winner. You discover something, and you go, Oh, well, that was different; that felt right. You give them options. I always want to give the directors an option to play with in the edit.”
Taraji P. Henson: Give every role your all.
“Once I say yes, I’m all in and that character gets all of me. It’s very spiritual, what we do as actors, because we’re lending our vessels to the lives of these characters. I understand the weight of that. Somebody out there needs to see themselves.”
