Tips and Insights, by John Boylan. He offers film acting classes and personal coaching for Toronto-based students.
As you speak, your mind can be aware of the beauty and clarity of the language it's creating.
With certain characters – speakers – there is an awareness that their dialogue – their speech - is good. Or, the manner in which they are delivering it sounds good.
It’s an overlapping support …
Read MoreWhen you’re out and about stop and look at the passersby.
Play that age-old actor’s game of guessing who everyone is. What jobs each person does. Guess their age, if they’re married, nationality, income. Notice their bodies, how they walk, hold their head and …
Read MoreOn hearing truisms and maxims early on in your career you learn the phrase.
Often, you go round repeating it at opportune moments without giving it a thought. The assumption is that you heard it, it was explained to …
Read MoreYou’ve done the first audition and the call-back and now they’ve asked you to come in for a chemistry read.
Does the term divert you?
So many terms in the movie business need …
Read MoreYou might audition for the same series numerous times.
It’s common to wonder why they keep bringing you in and why you don’t get cast.
If you keep getting auditions for a particular series it means the producers and casting want you on that …
Read MoreIn acting class, working with two beginners, one of them asked, ‘How do you do commercial auditions?’.
One key part is to go ready to improvise the situations they give you.
I made up a Coca-Cola ad …
Read MoreIt’s interesting to think what you actually have.
Not what you think you should have.
You may wish you looked like a certain movie star and feel inadequate because you don’t. And dream …
Read MoreYou’re doing more self-tapes these days.
Many interesting points to consider while doing them.
Who you do the self-tape with is important. If it’s a friend or colleague watch it doesn’t get …
Read MoreYou hear people saying, ‘It takes so long to make a movie.’
Does it?
It’s actually, ‘It takes as long as it takes.’
It’s fine if civilians say it, but watch if you’re saying it.
To say that is to not understand what it is to make a movie. Movie is an …
Read MoreLots of characters are bored.
People get bored. You get bored. I get bored.
In some scenes the two characters are just passing time. That’s their action. Their objective is to be happy. They get happy by hearing the …
Read MoreAt the 1990 Crossroads Blues Festival the great B.B. King plays The Thrill is Gone and in a row sit Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, Jimmy Vaughn, Sheryl Crow, ZZ Top, Albert Lee, Jeff Beck, Steve Winwood, all masters in their own right.
They’re playing with …
Read MoreThey don’t know what they want. That’s the TV rule.
Episodic television is very much about making it up as they go along. Searching, searching for what works under great time and money pressure.
The character description in the breakdowns are merely the …
Read MoreDo what you did in your first audition. Wear the same clothes.
Try not to over-work or over-think prior to the callback. You want to do well, but observe what diverts you from - and what keeps - the magic that you …
Read MoreAs a movie actor you are part of the art form of this time.
Now.
The movies, or all media that has moving images, are a product of the industrial revolution and now ...
Read MoreOne way you can pose the question of acting for camera is to say the camera is photographing thought.
It’s pretty good.
As always, none of these truisms are ...
Read MoreWhat is discussion?
It’s what human beings do to both make things and develop thinking.
There are two basic kinds of discussion. One: to make a plan to do something. Two: to move ...
Read MoreHerbert Marshall was an actor who was wounded in World War 1 and had his right leg amputated.
According to IMDB, Marshall’s loss of his leg was “A fact not well known to many moviegoers because it was hardly noticeable on screen, as long as he ...
Read MoreBridge thoughts are the thoughts between the lines.
They start at the end of a line and before the new line. They bridge the end to the beginning.
You first receive the impulse from something sent to you, and then you respond, and, as you inhale, different thoughts affect your ...
Read MoreHaving a three-stage approach allows you to be prepared to say No. Useful when faced with typical upsetting situations.
Situations where you’re put on the spot, caught off guard or humiliated. Under today’s pressure people often …
Read MoreThis is the most difficult place.
You must take it up for solution. Think about it and develop tactics that can become your habits, so before your audition you’re in …
Read MoreJohn Boylan | Toronto Acting Coach
The best work is often the result of an intense and in-depth period of concentrated effort. This is also the way an actor makes significant gains in their overall abilities.
Over four days this October, five hours each day, you’ll work with a small handful of like-minded actors to develop your skills in working effectively – and successfully - in front of the camera.
In this class …
These are professional track acting classes with practices that meet the actor's needs to work in the film and TV industry.
This course is right for you if: you are committed to being a professional actor; you have some experience in theatre or film; you have some actor training; you recently graduated from theatre school; you have an agent or are actively seeking one …
This is a one-hour session over Zoom geared to discuss the work in your most recent class or anything relating to your acting career.
For years I’ve been frustrated that I don’t get to speak much to the actors …
Working on Zoom this method of recording all the takes while I coach you has proven successful. We keep working, hone the scene, make adjustments …
I can help you make a demo reel and we can schedule it at whatever time suits us both. Please send your photo and resume.
The first step is a one-hour consultation where we discuss who the reel is for, what types suit you, which scenes to do, your hair and wardrobe.
Second step is …
IT'S YOUR SPACE. TAKE YOUR PLACE.
All posted class times are Eastern Time Zone (EDT/EST). A photo and resume must be submitted before registration is confirmed. Scheduled classes and coachings cannot be re-scheduled. If you’re unable to attend you forfeit the time and fee. Make up classes are not held over to future sessions, there are no refunds and money cannot be used towards another class. We reserve the right to change the time, date, and price of our courses.
john@centreforthearts.com
© 2025 John Boylan. Website built by Dorian.
