Acting is a craft that requires continuous exploration and refinement throughout a performer’s career. At every level of achievement, there is always the potential for a next level. I’ve trained and coached actors for more than 30 years: aspiring ones, those who have embarked on a career, those who are performing regularly, and those who are world-renowned for their performances. No matter whom I’m working with, I think it’s important to ask the following questions.
So, what is the next level?
Most people think of advancing as moving to a new category in their careers—from guest star to star, for instance, or from Off-Broadway to Broadway. But that short-term success won’t sustain you. It’s important to prioritize being the best actor you can be. You can’t control whether you’ll be cast in a particular part or win a particular award, but you can control how good you are.
What level are you on?
Be honest about your acting. Make a sober inventory of what you do well and what needs improving.
Can you play the full emotional range? Do you need to work on your voice or your ability to move? Do you aspire to different work—not just more work—than you have at the moment? If you have been doing musicals for a long time, for instance, do you long to do dramatic material—or the other way around?
What material are you working on?
The reason that many of our greatest actors come from the theater and return to it is the quality of the writing. Samuel L. Jackson made his professional theater debut in Bertolt Brecht’s “Mother Courage and Her Children” in 1980 at the Public Theatre and then spent years honing his craft Off-Broadway. In 2023, he was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance in the Broadway revival of August Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson.”
Viola Davis made her Broadway debut in 1996 in Wilson’s “Seven Guitars.” She won a Tony Award for her performance in the 2010 revival of Wilson’s “Fences” and later won an Oscar for the same role in the film adaptation.
The quality of the material you’re working on should be a core consideration. Only if the material is top quality will you be stretched and challenged sufficiently.
What material are you seeing?
Do you go to the theater? If you go, you’ll become a better actor.
That’s, in part, because television and film writing is typically more about plot than about character, and it’s the portrayal of character in all its depth and nuances that brings out the best in actors. It also reveals the best to audiences.
A play is a heavyweight production, because there are no retakes. The actors have to be at the top of their game from start to finish.
The Basics of Stage Acting: A Guide for New PerformersAre you continuing your training?
Training is not something from which you graduate. Training—whether in a two-year conservatory, through master classes, or through coaching—should be an ongoing part of any actor’s career. It is the vehicle that can take an actor to the next level.
12 Actors Tell You How to Take Your Career to the Next Level in 2022Terry Knickerbocker is the director of the Brooklyn-based Terry Knickerbocker Studio. He has coached actors such as Daniel Craig and Chris Messina on over 300 films, television, and theater projects, on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regionally.