by Jason Bennett

There is more to learn about acting than most any other profession. Successful actors study acting for years to develop a specific, real acting process. And great actors are in great acting classes and with coaches their entire lives.

It seems like many people auditioning and calling themselves "professional actors" don't know much about acting and do not have any real training. And some of them brag about it. I know of no truly great, respected actor who hasn't studied acting for years. But I can think of some very talented actors who stopped studying and quickly fell into bad habits or started imitating their previous performances.

Occasionally, actors call my school and communicate, without realizing it, a profound lack of respect for acting. They sound like they think of acting classes as a last resort -- something that losers do. They call because they haven't booked a job in months (or years) and they are desperate -- quite late to be calling for the training they need before and during a long-term acting career.

When I ask these actors what acting methods they studied and what tools they use, they often recite their performing resumé and the names of their past acting teachers. Because that's not what I asked, I politely ask again. Some act like my question is strange. They stammer and laugh uncomfortably, caught off guard. Some even seem angry.

The bottom line is they can't really explain their acting process. And this is very bad news for their career (or lack of one). I don't do this to embarrass or torture them, but because I really do need to know where each potential student is in the development of their process. If you can't explain your acting process and the tools you use when you work, something may be terribly wrong.

And actors who think there isn't much to learn about acting in an acting class have likely never been in a great acting class. If acting classes are a low priority to an actor, I find they know very little about acting and the work of great actors. And they don't have much respect for acting.

Can you be born with "it" and have the "natural" ability to act? Sure, just like you can be born with the natural ability to become a Master ballet dancer. But can you imagine someone auditioning for the principal dancer in a world-class dance company having studied dance for only a year or two? Or imagine if they never studied dancing at all. They would be laughed out the door.

Can you imagine an ice skater trying to qualify for the Olympics having only trained for a few years? Absurd. Can you imagine a nuclear physicist claiming to be an expert about nuclear physics, saying she was just "born with it," bragging that she never actually studied physics? Insane.

Acting is different than other professions because there is far more to learn about acting than most others I can think of. More. Not less.

Acting is the study and communication of human behavior in service of telling stories. The best actors are experts on the human condition. They are experts in using their bodies and voices to communicate all kinds of human struggles. They are expert storytellers. There is an infinite amount to learn about acting because there is an infinite amount to learn about life. It takes years of hard work and dedicated study to develop professional acting skills and to build your knowledge of the human condition.

One of the major reasons some professional actors have no real respect for acting is that many acting classes are terribly inadequate or even damaging. These acting classes are frequently taught by teachers who would rather be performing than teaching. You deserve better than to study with a teacher who would rather be somewhere else. Often those kinds of teachers don't even have much training themselves.

Left out of many acting classes are the most important aspects of truly great acting classes: intense exercises to develop your imagination, intense exercises to free up all your emotions and intense, organic voice and movement work.

What remains is hardly anything: intellectual scene study and audition coaching. In these classes, you run scenes and monologues over and over. That's about it. You get director-like comments from the other students and the teacher. Your work is "polished" and "naturalized" with tricks and repressive rules about what good acting is. But you don't learn any real acting process. You learn few or no acting tools. And the habits you learn might make you seem "real" in an audition, but can actually doom your long-term chances for an acting career.

There is a huge difference between "scene study" classes or "acting for the camera" classes and a truly great acting class -- a huge difference. If you're not sure what I mean, then I worry you have never been in a great acting class.

If you respect yourself and your life and you want to do truly great work, I encourage you to hold yourself to the same standards as a professional ballet dancer, a nuclear physicist or an Olympic skater. In fact, maybe you should hold yourself to even higher standards.

Because if you are going to be a truly great actor who has a chance at a long-term career, you must hold yourself to the very highest, Olympic standards of acting! You owe it to yourself and you owe it to the audience!

Work on your acting process every day. Develop and expand your imagination. Delve deeply into your psyche and get to know yourself. Develop your voice and body. Eat well. Sleep a lot. Exercise a lot. Learn the tools that great actors need -- the Sensory Process, Externals/Outside-In, Imaging, Archetype Work, Dream Work and Improvisation.

It takes years to develop a solid professional acting process. Just like it takes many years of study and hard work to achieve anything meaningful in this world. Robert Cohen, author of respected books about acting, said, "For most actors, success is achieved through study, struggle, preparation, trial and error, training, discipline, experience and work."

Great actors are extremely disciplined, committed, intelligent, educated, well-read, political, ethical, fit, knowledgeable about psychology, passionate, bold, and are able to access all their feelings. They have vividly developed imaginations, are masters of their voices and bodies, and are highly sensitive and responsive to their surroundings.

Here is the great news: It's never too late to do your work. Unlike most other careers, anyone at any age can develop the tools to be a truly great actor. The sooner you get to work (or back to work), the sooner the vast rewards will come. Great acting is a thrill that is simply indescribable! It is a high unlike any other high! Such natural highs only come to the deservéd who have done their work. When a truly great acting experience happens, you remember it your whole life, and so does the audience. These experiences are too rare these days, but they sure don't have to be. It is totally up to each and every one of us...respect yourself and respect acting.