HOW TO BE A PLAYER So, you want to be an actor? Just what does it take to make it as a successful actor? FILMINK’s DREW TURNEY asks a few people who would definitely know: Aussie icon DAVID WENHAM, actress on the rise SANDRA STOCKLEY, NIDA boss TONY KNIGHT and WAAPA major player ANDREW LEWIS. We all know the mythology of the actor’s lot - endless auditions, bawdy casting couch stories, tiny share houses in Surry Hills. But in a time when the Australian film industry is said to be in crisis, has the path to acting success changed much? Just how do you get there? Do you need the training? Do you pursue stage or screen? Do you pose for Playboy and check into rehab? Plenty of NIDA graduates are still doing night duty at supermarkets, and yet Australasia’s biggest acting export to date – Russell Crowe – has never done any formal training. If there’s a secret, what is it? WHAT LIES BENEATH There’s one essential to being a good actor, and it’s no secret. “Unless you’ve got something innate within you, you ain’t going to be an actor,” says struggling hopeful turned Australian icon David Wenham. “It’s like being a great tennis player. Unless you’ve got the ability, they can teach you to serve and volley or whatever and you’re going to be a fine tennis player but you’re not going to be a great tennis player. You have to be born with it and then you’re going to pick up the skills to help you along.” JOY LUCK CLUB Of course, being the most talented actor in the world doesn’t mean you’ll be the most successful. To Sandra Stockley, seen in the recent feature Watermark and the upcoming Playing With Piranhas, luck is something of a self-fulfilling prophecy - particularly if you do everything you can to drive your own career forward. “There’s an expression I love,” she says, “‘The harder I work, the luckier I seem to get’. Luck will inevitably play a role in a career, but there’s a lot to be said for plain hard work and determination, and you must be open and ready for the luck that comes to you.” TRAINING DAY Tony Knight knows something about giving actors the best possible preparation for their careers and then releasing them to the winds of chance. The Head of Acting at NIDA believes training is an essential part of developing what’s already there. “It’s vital if you want longevity and versatility,” he says. “Far too many young actors find acclaim in naturalistic soapies and then fail abysmally on the stage. They’re generally employed due to the character’s emotional lives and become typecast basically because they lack technical skills, so they end up just playing themselves.” Andrew Lewis, Program Director for Performing Arts at the prestigious Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), agrees, but is careful to note that all the practical knowledge in the world won’t make you an actor. “It’s very hard if you don’t have ability,” he says, “because you can slap on a technique, but what makes someone really interesting is what they have before they even come to us.” THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH “Stella Adler was once asked if her pupil, Marlon Brando, was a great actor,” Tony Knight recalls. “She said although he had greatness in him, we’ll never know, as he left the theatre after A Streetcar Named Desire. There are great roles in film and TV but it’s really only theatre and the great classical roles that truly test an actor’s art.” To WAAPA’s Andrew Lewis, they’re two very different kinds of acting. “There’s a great reliance on self in screen acting. What we see is the eyes being the window to the soul. So it’s about being available to your emotions; sharing your vulnerabilities. On stage, you’ve got to reach out to an audience, so quality of voice and movement become incredibly important; there’s a kind of projection of performance.” THE CULT OF PERSONALITY Of course, you can become famous through absolutely no application of talent. Just look at any tabloid. But is that what you want? “But look at the kind of movies they’re in,” Wenham counters. “Would I like to be in them? Not necessarily. The proliferation of reality shows is a reflection of society; fame and fortune motivates a lot of people. What interests me is the opportunity to work with talented people on projects that stimulate me and to develop characters that fascinate me.” A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY So if there’s no definite path to acting success, how do you know if you’ve got what it takes? “First of all, you need to be resilient to be able to handle the constant knock backs,” Andrew Lewis says. “Then you need empathy and compassion for other people, so that you can observe. What you’re doing by acting is playing someone else, and what enables you to get into the character is the study of human nature.” David Wenham advocates doing everything you can to stay in the game, no matter how employed you are. “Very early in my career I put all the funds I’d made from various other jobs into my own show, which I paid for, produced and co-directed. I did it all myself, and it was such a rewarding experience. It gave me an incredible amount of confidence and also opened up doors.” Like everything about trying to get into the movies, the odds are stacked very much against you – even if you do have talent. But it’s far from insurmountable. David Wenham, Hugh Jackman, Richard Roxburgh, Judy Davis, Rachel Griffiths, Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe, Jack Thompson and Errol Flynn all did it. So can you.