Top Five Books I Recommend

I have mad respect for the masters of the craft – Meisner, Uta Hagen, Stanaslavsky, Chekhov, Strasberg, Adler, and the list goes on of amazing acting teachers over the years.  These books aren’t from them, I have Uta Hagen in my top 5; but the other books are a little newer.  One isn’t even an acting book, but a life book.  If you follow my blog, you have probably realized I talk a lot about life in my acting blogs, and a little about “acting”. With that being said, my books may not be the normal top 5; but I will put a list of the top industry recommended books at the bottom as well!

  In this picture, I am reading the book, Big Magic, by Elizabeth Gilbert, also a great one! It’s all about putting fear in its place!  Not one of the 5, but couldn’t help it!  I had to give it a shout out!

 

 

Why my top 5 aren’t all acting books?!

As I mentioned earlier, I do pull from some of the greats, as I was trained originally by a brilliant acting coach, Aaron Spieser, as I am sure you have heard me mention before.  His basics came from Uta Hagen and the book, Respect for Acting, which is one of the books in my 5.  It isn’t at the top of my list by any means; but it is a great breakdown of the techniques that most acting coaches speak about or reference in their training.

1. 1. Respect for Acting, By Uta Hagen

Aaron was fantastic about human behavior; and as I advanced in his class, that is what I loved the most.  I started looking at life and acting more similar than acting being “acting”.  Aaron made me question everything, all the way down to my religion.  The more I dug into my own self, the more I started searching out a deeper understanding of life, and what I believed.  This, eventually, led me to a book called, A New Earth – Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, by Eckhart Tolle.  This is also on my list of must reads.

2. A New Earth – Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, by Eckhart Tolle

 

This book helped me understand, intellectually, what the “moment” actually was.  How do we live in the present if we don’t clearly understand what the present is?  I am a big fan of this book and have read it way more than once.  To give credit where credit is due, Aaron also had this book in his ‘Books to Read’ list, as well; so another back pat to Mr.Speiser. (www.instagram.com/@AaronSpeiser)

No Acting Please!

No Acting Please, by Eric Morris and Joan Hotchkis, is another book I stumbled on many years back.  The approach that Eric takes is more physical than most.  He is all about the instrument and helping you find ways to release and let go, how to be aware of yourself and allow yourself to feel freely.  There are some great exercises in this book that I still use for class.

3.  No Acting Please, by Eric Morris and Joan Hotchkis

 

At Left Brain Turn Right

Anthony Meindl isn’t new to the list of acting coaches; but he is definitely building a name for himself, quickly.  I became a fan of Anthony’s after watching a few of his YouTube videos and really resonating with what he was saying and I realized we sounded very similar.  At Left Brain Turn Right, my number 4 on this list.  FYI, the list is in no specific order of importance.  Now, this book is great about also giving you some workouts to do while reading through, as most chapters give you a little homework to help you dive deeper into your own psyche and get to know ‘you’ a little better.  Understanding life and acting on a deeper level, as I do now, I know that without removing some of the blocks that we have built over the years, it is hard for us to freely feel and live in imaginary circumstances.  Life and acting are no different and the more we understand life from not only a spiritual side, but also from what we know now about science, the better.  Many of the old methods were devised before we understood everything about the human body and brain.  This book helps put those together, which leads me to my next book!  Anthony also has a book out called, Book The F#@king Job.  I will put a link right below this one!  I am in the middle of reading it right now; so I will come back with a better review of it.  I may have a signed copy from Anthony…  Just saying 🙂

The Science of On-Camera Acting

Here we are!  Number 5.  The Science of On-Camera Acting, by Andrea Morris.  I don’t think there is any relation to Eric Morris!

In this book, Andrea works hand in hand with Dr. Paul Ekman, one of the most influential psychologists of the past century, pioneer of the science of emotional expression.  This book dives into some very interesting perspectives for working with the camera.  Many of the things spoken about in the book, you can do at home with your camera.  I am a big fan of using what we know now through science as well as technological advancements to make life easier for us!  You have a cell phone; and you may be reading this on it!  Use that cell phone to capture your work and watch your work, start seeing what small movements can do, look at yourself in a close up and see what these micro-expressions bring to the table.  You will learn a lot from seeing yourself without an audience.

The final list of Industry recommended books!

Ok, here are a list of other industry standard books that are usually recommended.  Some of these are great and aren’t on my top 5 only because of the new information that these other books bring to the table.  Here we go!

1.  An Actor Prepares, by Constantin Stanislavski

2.  Audition, by Michael Shurtleff

    3.  Acting as a Business, By Brian O’Neil  – This book is updated pretty often, as the industry and marketing changes nonstop!  If you aren’t on your social media game, get on it!  More about that coming to the blog!

   4.  Sanford Meisner On Acting, By Sanford Meisner

    5.  The Intent to Live, By Larry Moss

If you guys have any go to books you recommend to actors, please feel free to list them in the comments!  There are plenty of other ones out there!

 

 

Dean West