Physical Requirements for Success in Hollywood Acting

No one has quite asked it that way before, but it's a question that should be answered! There are a lot of myths surrounding what someone 'should be physically' in Hollywood, but here's the reality.

My formidable Hollywood Agent Ann Waugh from Texas would have said: 'If you truly love to pretend, go with what you got, Honey. There’s room for you too!'

Physical Requirements

While I will list some very specific details regarding actual physical requirements, just do what you can to fulfill them. Don't let it impede you if you can only manage a few – your career belongs to you.

Physical Disciplines

Here are the key physical disciplines that can significantly enhance your acting skills:

1. Yoga

Yoga, specifically hatha secular yoga, whose goal is not necessarily enlightenment but for us, profound relaxation. In order to respond to a world created by your imagination, you need to be so relaxed physically, neutral, that your body will respond to anything your imagination tells it is real.

2. Dance

Learning to dance, particularly ballet, helps you stand up straight, look regal, and be ready to move in any direction.

3. Movement

Improv dance teaches your body to express sound and feeling through interpretive, improvised dance – once you’re on a set, it’s called 'back-acting.' The audience can sense what you are continuing to feel, even if all they can see is you in the background.

4. Swing Dancing (East Coast)

Swing dancing helps you interact spontaneously with a partner and learn what fun it is to dance! West Coast Lindy Hop was watered down to keep early cameras in focus, while traditional Lindy Hop is too complex.

5. Fencing

Sword fighting teaches you to respond instinctively to the actions of your partner as an opponent to anticipate movement, act without thinking, and especially to train your peripheral vision. It’s critical because humans often neglect their peripheral vision.

6. Gymnastics

Gymnastics improves the body's suppleness and maintains balance, regardless of your alignment with the horizon.

7. Martial Arts

Any mainstream martial art will do. Even if you have a stunt double, you must know how to lead them into and out of a scripted situation. If you want to perform your own stunts, contact the Stuntmen’s Association for legitimate classes.

8. Voice

Develop your voice so that it’s worth paying money to listen to and will help you speak in the speech pattern of your character. Theatre actors must be able to reach the back wall with a whisper, and film actors must be able to work with a mic.

9. Singing

An actor must be able to sing or they will cast someone who can. Practice your pitch and how to sustain it.

10. Improv

Improvisation is not necessarily a physical requirement but it is a physical form of performance. Improv can cure whatever ails an actor; fear of forgetting lines is gone, stage fright never to return.

Conclusion

Every era has its 'America's Sweetheart' and its James Bond-alikes. Many Hollywood movies are about these archetypes, but the magical celluloid art form truly 'holds the mirror up to nature.' To achieve that, all physical types are needed and welcomed.

The myth is that to 'make it in Hollywood,' you need to be some sort of physical beauty or Adonis. But before we actors get into our 'slap' in the morning engineered by 'Hair and Makeup,' we all pretty much look – well – kinda sleepy.

The more versatile an actor you are, the more likely it is that you will keep working after your version of End of the Road. Therefore, continuous classes in voice and movement are essential. At all stages in your career, you need to maintain a real hunger for finding the truth that’s buried in every character.

What do you need more than tinseltown 'looks'? Sincerity! In a business where lies are rampant, truth will get you work. Agility is very important, but if you are something, really, be that something.

If you're short, be Danny De Vito. If you're a tall drink of water, be a cowboy. If you're 'Big Sister,' then get on your way to a Best Supporting Oscar for your BFF. They used to call branding 'type-casting,' and actors quite rightfully assess their abilities by the range of characters they are capable of inhabiting. In Hollywood, however, you must earn the right to 'play against type.'

Gregory Peck and that tall drink of water, Gary Cooper, both earned the right to 'play against type.' That's all I can think of about physical requirements. Then of course, there's a little something called 'acting,' which everyone needs to get good at as soon as possible.

Join the best theatre group you can find. Performance of Our Town at the Pasadena Playhouse is a great place to start.