Why I love acting
I have been meeting people in the acting industry lately and I’ve found myself sharing what I love about acting over and over again. I am admittedly a “late bloomer”, but I have thought deeply what about what it is about acting that resonates with me and gives me the motivation to keep investing into my acting career.
I love that acting is purposeful.
Acting is an extension of what I’ve always loved about dancing. I pursue dancing in its extremes - of deeply intentional and completely aimless. There is no middle ground of dancing that I feel satisfied by.
I love when dance has a story, a message, or a feeling. In a world where people sometimes create dance pieces that focus on looking good or cool, I seek out the dances that go deeper than that. It doesn’t mean I don’t care for the aesthetics, but I believe that without purpose, aesthetics don’t appeal.
I also love when dance is completely aimless. The goal is to just wiggle and let loose, for the sheer joy of shaking to the music, for the collective silliness with friends, or for the deeply personal release of emotions that we can’t express in words.
I’m overexplaining here, but acting sits neatly on the end of purpose. In fact, because acting requires humans portraying something fictional that the audience is meant to understand, I think it is inherently purposeful (whether the story, message, or concept is good or bad). My happy place!
I love that acting is a humanitarian deed.
Acting requires 1) intimately empathizing with the humans that a character is related to or inspired by and 2) responsibly and accurately representing them. To me, this is a form of altruism.
How did I come to this conclusion?
From a murderer and a sex worker.
I’ll explain.
In a class under Bonnie Rodini, someone asked the question - “What if we have to play the bad guy? The murderer?” Her response rings in my ears. “Never judge your character. Understand the circumstances in which you might also be compelled to do the same deeds even though you know it’s wrong. Because we are all human, we are all capable of doing those things. Channel it.” I lit up! Who knew that being an actor required this much humility, empathy, and knowledge of human behaviour, especially one playing a role that is so easily judged in the real world. Guess what else requires humility, empathy, and knowledge of human behaviour? Designing for social impact.
In preparation for playing the role of a sex worker involved in a black market scheme (an albeit small, wordless documentary role), I did research to learn about why these sex workers were there in the first place. What was their story? What situation did they come from? I would have loved to be able to chat with them and use the questions I often use in design to learn about who they are. This research ended up being really important for one of the scenes I was in, where I had to cry in front of the mirror. Why was I crying? What triggered it? The research helped me paint in the the details so I could responsibly play a role that represented the real lives of other women.
How does acting fit into my career in the social sector?
This is a question I’ve been thinking about ever since I decided to pursue acting. I don’t really know. Maybe nothing has to fit inside each other as long as it fits me.
My pathway may be unconventional, but working in the social sector gives me a strong toolkit for acting. In my work, I have to practice a lot of observation and in-depth research of people and why they do what they do. I have had the privilege of meeting and learning about people who have very little, people who have a lot, people who have never touched a smartphone, people who are at the forefront of tech and AI, people who stay in relationships that are abusive, people who are abusive, and more. I can tap into my exposure of such a wide and deep range of people to channel into my acting.
I’ve also seen how acting can be impactful in people’s lives - for both the actors and the viewers. Through this powerful art, people can learn new skills for themselves, reflect on how they impact others, or feel seen and heard for the first time. I can just think of the times I cried watching Never Have I Ever, a show that I that was too teenage-y for 30-year-old me but ended up being so relevant to my adolescent years. It’s amazing! I hope I get the chance to have this impact on others too.
In addition, while writing this blog, I started to wonder if the ethnographic / anthropologic type of research I do at the start of designing social programs might be also used to prepare actors for their scenes. That would be such a unique crossover between the two seemingly different worlds.
Our world is not linear so I don’t expect myself to be either. A reminder that sometimes it’s better to let complexity stay that way.
Writing Challenge #5 of 100