People don’t often give themselves permission to fully live day to day. They watch movies and theater productions and television shows, and live vicariously through you. As the actor, you are the connective tissue that leads audiences to find even just a small glimpse into their need to be understood, their deep desires, and their need to not feel alone in them.
Before you can be that conduit, first you must give yourself permission to be an artist. If I hadn’t permitted myself to become an actor, I never would have left my architecture program in Australia to pursue acting studies and a career in New York. You must dare to cast yourself as the lead in your own life, because the more you live as your true self, the more texture you’re able to bring to a part and a character.
READ: How Actors Really Get Into Character
Artistry begins and ends with knowing what it takes to explore all sides of yourself. It’s that feeling you get after you dared to go to a beginner tap dance class and enjoyed it, despite thinking you would fall flat on your face, or that life drawing class you took to help remobilize your creative soul. It takes courage, trust, and a lot of guts. So be brave. Be a creator, be a fighter, be angry, be sensitive, and be strong.
Artists tend to hold back for fear of failure or embarrassment. Do what scares you anyway. Explore. It’s not easy, but nothing great ever came easy. Great acting, however, comes from being at ease, and the more at ease you are with the emotional and psychological depths that make you human, the more texture you can bring to any character and the more excited people become about seeing your name in the credits or playbill. They’ll know you explore the mess and flaws of humanity authentically.
Knowing what it means to be alive is the soil in which we grow believable and watchable characters. Therefore, to be a successful artist, you first need to give yourself permission to live a full life and to examine all the facets of yourself to later on be able to access all sides of a character.
Be your own authority. Because if you’re looking for someone else to stare back at you and give you permission to dive deeply into yourself and your artistry, well, I’m sorry to say, they’ll likely take their time telling you to do so. It’s up to you.
I’m serious. Give yourself permission. Just do it, and do it now.
Nam can currently be seen playing lab technician Felix Lutz opposite Thandie Newton on HBO’s “Westworld.” He’ll also appear in Netflix’s “Happy Anniversary” and the indie film “Puberty.” Follow him on Instagram @leonardo_nam.
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