Auditioning is an art form that takes practice to master. Here are just a few things to remember when going into an audition, but know that everyone has a different process and encounters different circumstances when putting oneself out there for the world to see. These are just some tips that I’ve found have helped me and many of my students when they’ve asked for advice before going into their big audition.
Your first step is that you have to prepare, and you have to trust your instincts and they will tell you how much preparation you need. It takes researching the part (their occupation, the setting they exist in, their history if they are based on a real person or existing character, etc.) and building who the character is for yourself, filling in the blanks with what will make the character real to you. It’s a process of understanding why the character you’re portraying does what they do both holistically and in the scene you’re auditioning for, understanding their arc within that scene and the story as a whole. Some actors come into an audition over-prepared and all this analysis and information can cloud one’s instincts as an actor, but laying the solid groundwork of even just a bit of research is vital to charting your approach to a character when you step into that audition room.
The next step, after all of that work, is that you have to be willing to let it all go. I always have a mental image of tying together all your homework with a neat little bow and then tossing it into the air, letting the ribbon unfurl and the papers scatter in the wind. To forget everything that you have researched, and pre-decided, every line reading that came to you in rehearsal, every physicality you practiced and refined over and over, and to simply tell yourself to be in the moment and let whatever happens happen without thinking about it is an invaluable skill in performance and especially auditioning. Trust that the work you’ve done has been baked into your subconscious understanding of the character and the story you’re telling and alleviate yourself of the weight of getting everything right. Once you step out of that, you’ll have given yourself the needed space to truly be the character for the first time and when it matters the most.
Lastly, once you’ve made this pact to get out of your head, to breathe and play in the space, you have to take risks and make bold choices as an actor. I have said this to myself countless times, “I will risk it, I will take chances and dare to be bold. Just go for it.” Don’t do things you think will surprise the other people in the audition room, but surprise yourself. Discover things true to the character you’re inhabiting and have the courage to own those choices fully. That’s why you’re an actor, that’s what people are looking for in you, the ability to do something spontaneous and true. At the end of the day, it’s about letting go of fear. Don’t be afraid to fail because that fear will hold you back, and even if you do fail – if you don’t get the part you worked so hard for – you’ll have learned from that experience and it will inform the next one. Release that fear, be in the moment, and take charge. That is what will make any audition you do successful.
Michelle Danner, acting teacher and founder of the Creative Center for the Arts and the Los Angeles Acting Conservatory, is also a successful film director.