Here’s the Hack: How To Be Creative As An Actor? 

Here’s the Hack: How To Be Creative As An Actor? 

Being an actor is not just saying script or lines. You have to bring your own creativity. When actors are creative, they can follow their hearts, mind, and intuition, which you can observe in their acting, expression, body, and voice. Let’s understand more deeply about it with the help of multi-award-winning European Actress and Coach: Andrea Osvart.

Andrea Osvart is an international multi-award-winning actress with over 50 acting credits. She starred opposite movie stars like Robert Redford, Brad Pitt, Heath Ledger, Clive Owen, and JK Simmons. She has been in the business for over 25 years and has produced feature films given and sold to Netflix at HBO. She truly wants to support the artist in overcoming their worries, depression, and insecurities. She will give you access to certain things in your artistic life that you might not have explored before. So let’s start it without further ado.

Amari: When you think about creativity, what does it mean to you to be creative? 

Andrea: For me, it means freedom. And to redefine myself repeatedly because I am also changing, maybe not day by day, but surely year by year. What I used to enjoy before, maybe I don’t enjoy anymore today. I always have to find new ways of expressing myself, dig out new methods, and discover new topics that excite me and spark joy. So for me, it means being open-minded and letting the flow in.

Amari: I love it. So if we want to continue to grow and change as people and performers, we have to trust in the unknown and take the chances to rediscover who we are; that change would be beautiful.

Andrea: Exactly! And how unfair it would be if we didn’t change and we would still be babies? Stuck for a lifetime in a baby’s body and mind. So change is a big thing; my yoga teacher told me, “Change is the only thing constant in life.” I used to have it on my wall. People usually don’t like change because we have so little certainty and security in reality that we like to hold onto it. Our illusions of being in control have security and something stable. So we tend to avoid change and dislike change. But change is the opposite. Change allows us to discover and rediscover new things that help us grow and develop as a person or a personality. Therefore, I always encourage my actors not to be afraid to jump into something new and try new things because, at the end of the day, they always turn out to be the best decisions. I also remind myself that I’m not the same person I used to be 10 years ago or 20 years ago. And that’s a positive thing I’ve learned and experienced. So change is positive.

Amari: Yeah. I agree with that. I think change is super important, and when we stop changing, our life becomes boring.

How Do You Face Creative Challenges?

Amari: What challenges have you come up with as an actor?

Andrea: Well, as an actor, I think it’s one of the hardest jobs to deliver someone else’s art through our persona, body, and soul. And sometimes, the character we are impersonating is not in alignment with our true selves or the techniques because we have to deliver on a deadline and schedule. People don’t even realize how difficult this job is. I think the most important thing that we can hold onto is trust. We have to trust ourselves, our experience, and our roots that we are here for a reason. We are here not by accident. We are here by merit.  And we do have what it takes to deliver this performance right now. Otherwise, we end up stressing ourselves and coming up with negative self-talk. That is very counterproductive. So I’m also teaching myself how to relax and become conscious about trusting the process. 

Strategies That Can Help You Manage Stress 

Amari: Do you have any go-to strategies to help manage your own experience of stress?

Andrea: Yeah. I talked to myself before auditioning and repeated some lessons I also teach. So it reminds me of my higher purpose, like what are the stakes of this audition? What if I get rejected? So I always try to lower the stakes for myself before entering the room. Because if I think this is going to be the most important audition of my life, then I will surely mess up and deliver something I would not be proud of.

You Should Always Have Your Security Net

Amari: What if we don’t succeed in our job? And What is the meaning of knowing yourself?

Andrea: So you must know yourself, but you must also build something on a security net that prevents you from falling or failing. Because even if the audition doesn’t go well or you don’t succeed. You still have other resources in life that you can rely on. So it’s very important for us artists not to put everything on one card only but to have multiple cards in the game. And this is what I like about coaching. I help actors to discover their own resources and not communicate or transmit that sort of desperate energy when they walk into a room or have an important meeting with decision-makers.  Lots of times, actors come through as desperate people and people pleasers, and that in itself is counterproductive. But there is a way to calm your nerves and help yourself to know who you are and feel that you know your worth. It’s safe to be yourself. There is no judgment in who you are, what you do, or how you deliver a performance. So that sense of confidence when you walk into a room can save your career and life.

How To Stop Yourself From Getting Into Self-Destructive Processes?

Amari. How often do you come across people who don’t feel creative?

Andrea: It happens quite a lot that actors and artists get fed up with the industry, and they think about quitting, or they, unfortunately, use other methods like drugs and alcohol to cope with the stress of being unemployed. But I can make you believe that there are other coping mechanisms as well that are much more helpful and healthy. It would prevent you from going down the road and ending up in a self-destructive process. You can anytime book a free online session with me. I indeed want to help you.   

Amari. It sounds like much more sustainable things that you are sharing.

Andrea. Yes! Because all artists are sensitive souls, we have to remind ourselves that we are, first of all, responsible for ourselves. And from there, we are responsible for our audience, fans, family, friends, and everybody else. But first, we are responsible for ourselves.

Amari: Absolutely! That’s a great reminder for performers and everyone to care for themselves and their system.

Andrea: Exactly! Lots of artists are going down into a negative spiral. Hence, some organizations try to help workers in the entertainment industry with mental health issues because statistics are terrifying, to be honest. We talk too little about these things, but it’s true. And, of course, we want to hide it because nobody would like to be associated with being mentally challenged. Because we are normal people, what this business and industry are doing to us?

Amari: Absolutely! I appreciate you bringing that up. Mental health is still a taboo subject that people don’t want to discuss, and they have a hard time admitting that they are asking for help or needing support. Because there’s so much stigma, many people have judgments around it.

Andrea: There is so little knowledge around it because people usually get to the point when it’s too late. They start thinking about support or therapy when something has already happened. So my program is trying to help actors by structuring their times efficiently to prevent and avoid these things from happening.

Amari: I have one last question. What does it feel like in your body to be creative?

Andrea: It feels like loosening up because when I’m creative and in the flow, it feels like time has stopped, and I’m not under stress, I am not under pressure, and I feel at ease. So I feel all my muscles get released and even my voice. My entire being and self gets out of this cage of self-imposed being or identity.

Conclusion

So if you want to move forward in your career, you should always have one thing. And it’s called willpower.

For example, in my scenario, I’ve decided not to allow anybody else to derail me from my path. I will not allow anything to stop me from becoming who I want to be. And I made a promise to myself. This is another method. For example, I made a promise to my younger self when I was six years old, and sometimes I still try to picture myself as a young child and remind myself of that promise that I would take care of her. And be there for her. So that helps me stay focused and not lose my mind. And don’t forget about those safety nets whether you reach the pinnacle of your life. You should always have safety nets that can catch you before you get into a crisis situation. If you think this blog helped you a lot and delivered some clarification. Please share it as much as possible, and don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter; you can also download my free eBook. And in just one click, you can schedule a free online session with me at andreaosvart.coach.