Acting Techniques and Acting Classes:
Information to Guide
Your Acting Training

Because knowing about the different acting techniques out there will help you pick the right acting school for you, we've compiled a list of all the major acting methods taught in acting schools and acting classes around the country.

Here's what you will find in this section:

• Information on the basic idea behind each acting method.
• What you can expect your acting studies to be like when you train in each one of these acting methods (what kind of exercises you will be doing in acting class, how much time you'll spend on relaxation, scene study, etc.)
• Some sample acting exercises for each of these techniques for you to try at home and see which style of acting training you respond to best.
• Which techniques are more suited to the kind of acting you want to do (some acting classes work best for film acting, others for stage, others for comedy, etc.)
• Which techniques address actor strengths you want to build on or weak points you want to work on.
• When possible, examples of celebrity actors who are known to use and have studied these acting methods are given. This should help you choose an acting style depending on the type of actor you want to be.
• The must-have book to understand and study each of these acting techniques.

• Stanislavski
1. What is the Stanislavski System and what can you expect
2. Constantin Stanislavski acting exercises and more
• Method Acting
1. What is The Method
2. What can you expect from this acting method
3. Strasberg acting exercises and more
• The Meisner Technique
1. Basics of the Sanford Meisner technique
2. Meisner technique exercises and more
• The Stella Adler Acting Technique

• Unique Acting Training Techniques: The Spolin Technique, The Suzuki Acting Method and the Viewpoints Method.

We hope all this information on acting techniques available to you has giving you a sense of how each acting method will influence your acting training. A lot of schools mix acting methods. That's great! Rarely does one acting method work for all situations.

No matter where you pursue your acting studies, you should have a copy of one major book written for each of these techniques, so you're never out of resources when you hit a roadblock in your acting. Feel free to use the search box below to look for acting books...

Choosing the right acting method

Reading about all these different techniques can be overwhelming. How can you really know which acting method will work for you until you try it in acting class?

Is there one method that is superior to the others?

Each one of the major acting techniques has been studied and used by great actors, yet if you think about it, no great actor is defined by their acting method.

So although it is important to try to pick the technique that speaks the most to you now, remember that acting school is not the end of your acting journey, but the beginning. As your career grows, you will adapt your acting training to different acting jobs and eventually develop your own method, a unique way of rehearsing, creating a character and finding the truth in a scene.

Good acting schools develop not only your acting skills, but your whole instrument. Make sure the acting school you pick offers not just acting classes, but also classes in movement, voice, speech, dance, stage combat, acting for the camera, Shakespeare and audition preparation.

No acting training replaces experience. There's no acting training like being on set in front of a camera or on stage in front of an audience. This is where you can test what you've learned and see which methods work for what situations.

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