I think it's my job as a young actor to watch adult actors and take tips on the way they work.
The secret to acting is don't act. Be you, with add-ons.
With comedy, don't try to be funny. That's really helped me. Just say the lines as you would say them, interact with other characters, and try to make it as real as possible. It will come out funny.
You ask my advice about acting? Speak clearly, don't bump into the furniture and if you must have motivation, think of your pay packet on Friday.
I've got plenty of advice from a number of other actors. Me? I don't give advice.
I remember I had an actor friend - a close friend from college - Anthony Zerbe. He sent me a telegram before I started my first movie, 'Cisco Pike.' It said, 'Have a good time. Ignore the camera.' That was the extent of my training.
Sometimes the teacher would tell me that if you're singing a love song and you just don't feel it with a person or something you've experienced, just think of a dog or cat that you love.
I remember something Clint Eastwood told me early on. I don't remember how old I was when you told me this, Dad. But you said, "As an actor, I never went back to my trailer. I always hung out on set and learned." That stuck with me.
I don't offer advice to actors only because I've seen actors become successful through ways that would never even occur to me or that wouldn't work for me. But this has worked for me: Never memorizing a scene.
I think the first thing is don't give up. If you love the craft. If you love being a detective and discovering who a character is and the detail of how they walk and what kind of shoes they wear and what did they do yesterday and what's important to them. I definitely advise actors to learn about the craft.
I've been given lots of great advice, in my life. As an actor, just being as honest and as present as you can be.
It's funny - Frankie Valli's story and that advice that he was just getting from, you know, Christopher Walken's character, is very true for someone who's in a creative field.
Anthony Hopkins says you just keep acting. Do it all the time and eventually it will happen. He got his break, after all, by taking a role nobody else wanted. A cannibal!
Know your lines and don't bump into the furniture.
My acting coach I've got here, Richard Lawson, he's been doing good, just telling me to calm down sometimes and just be me.
Work on the accent, it will enliven the whole.
The camera lens or the television camera is still just a proscenium arch. And as a great old character actor once said to me, wherever you're acting, you reach up and take hold of the proscenium arch, and you pull it down around your shoulders.
I do have advice for any kid actors. Just go in there and own it like you own the job already. You just have to say, 'I'm going to get this. I'm going to get this.'
If you want to be an actor, my advice is to learn your lines and don't bump into the other actors.
I always want the audience to identify with my character in some way. I mean, sometimes you'll get characters that aren't very identifiable. Sometimes you can't relate to your character at all. I think it's important to keep the audience interested. But the best advice that I've gotten is to live in the moment.
Ridiculously - fortunately - my first job was with Dustin Hoffman. I had a little part in this movie called Tootsie. And he taught me how to watch dailies. That it was very important.
People used to ask me questions on my blog about how to break into the acting industry. You often have to start out in parts where you have very few words, but you still have to try to make an impact.
Just say the lines and don't trip over the furniture.
I generally don't involve myself in giving the actors some tips on acting. At the same time, I don't do that with the director.
Always be original. Never duplicate what you've seen another actor do. Be true to the character that you've been given, and the rest will come easy.
