The stars of ‘Bad Education’, ‘A Discovery of Witches’, ‘Dreaming Whilst Black’ and more share their top acting tips that performers of every level should know.
If you could only give only one piece of advice to your fellow actors, what would it be? Would you caution them about being prepared for auditions, or share your tips for learning lines? Would you encourage them to learn how to deal with rejection, or list things to avoid when self-taping?
This was what we asked the actor guest presenters at the CDG Awards 2024: What is their go-to piece of advice for other actors? We were delighted by the variety of answers, which ranged from planning your career long-term to dealing with the dreaded ‘no’ at auditions. Here’s what these talented and experienced performers shared:
1. Experience the World
Our first piece of advice comes from actor and writer Adjani Salmon, best known for playing ‘Kwabena’ in Dreaming Whilst Black and writing and directing My Jerome.
For actors looking to expand their skills, he recommends, “Experience the world. Read about things, interact with people. Just meet random people because these are the people whose lives that you’re portraying.”
“In knowing them,” he explains, “You get to understand why they make all these decisions that inform the decisions you make as a performer.”
2. Embrace Your Uniqueness
Bad Education’s Layton Williams has recently been wowing audiences in Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club as the scene-stealing ‘Emcee’.
He advises actors to, “Remember that you have something special to offer the world and think out of the box.” In a competitive industry like acting, identifying and embracing your uniqueness is vital, as is allowing yourself and your acting skills to expand and develop.
“Maybe you can do something that you might not necessarily have thought would be your bag,” Layton suggests. If you never try, you’ll never know!
3. Don’t Be Afraid of Failure
Actor and director Luke Millington-Drake (The Cuphead Show!, Loot) encourages performers to, “Fail fabulously.”
“It’s a muscle,” he explains, “And when you’ve worked it out, then the failures don’t feel as big.”
Unfortunately, we’re not going to succeed at 100% of the auditions we attend or the self-tapes we send off, so it’s a good idea to learn to deal with this. Once you’re not afraid of failure, there won’t be any self-doubt or second-guessing when putting yourself forward for the role of your dreams.
4. Think Long Term
Tanya Moodie has had leading roles in iconic shows such as Motherland and A Discovery of Witches, with her first television role being in So Haunt Me in 1994. With an impressive career spanning over 30 years, her top tip is no surprise.
“Think long term,” she urges. “Go forward 40 years. See yourself. What’s around you? Who’s around you? And then work backwards from that.”
If you want to have an acting career, you should have a clear idea of how you want that career to progress and what your end goal will be.
“Don’t think about just the next job,” Tanya adds. “Otherwise it will eat you up.”
5. Remember That Rejection Isn’t the End
Our final piece of advice from actor Sindhu Vee (Sex Education, Matilda: The Musical) is something that all of us need to remember after auditions and self-tapes.
“One thing that I learned by talking to casting directors,” she says, “[Is that] the further you are in the process, when you get a ‘no’, the better it is because that means they’ll remember you. Casting directors have these crazy memories where they’ll file you away.”
Being seen by a casting director should be viewed as just as much of a victory as getting the role, as that casting director may be your ticket to many more roles in the future.
Following on from this, if you don’t get a particular role, Sindhu says, “Give yourself a limited amount of time [to be sad]. 11 o’clock the next day, I’m done being sad. I’ve got to move on. But don’t give up.”
A massive thanks to Adjanu Salmon, Layton Williams, Luke Millington-Drake, Tanya Moodie and Sindhu Vee for sharing their top tips with us!
Take a look at our website for more interviews with actors, agents and casting directors.
