Being a science nerd is the best. Seriously. Every morning I get an email blast from Science News Daily that contains at least 10 mind blowing stories about new discoveries in science. They could be about genetics, the environment, ancient artifacts, the universe, search for dark matter, invisibility cloaks. It is almost like getting a new Harry Potter (speaking of invisibility cloaks) meets Indian Jones trailer delivered to my screen every morning — my imagination gets that excited. I then dive into my writing projects with gusto, infused with the cosmic magic that has become reality because of science.
But the flip side of my life is my acting career. I love it. My soul breathes to capture and emote another character’s essence and then bring it to life on a set, even if for a 15 second Orbit spot. But I seem like the odd bird on set when I am staring intently at the newest edition of New Scientist. Science and acting seem so far removed from each other, clinical vs. emotional, cerebral vs. intuitive. Different ends of the particle zoo you could say.
But I swear I have become a better actress since I began diving into the quantum world….
So I pondered, thought of an argument, explored the evidence, weighed the facts, and have come to this:
8 SCIENTIFIC(ISH) OBSERVATIONS THAT CAN MAKE YOU A BETTER ACTOR!
1. FIND YOUR LIGHT.
For the camera to see you, (just like for your own eye) photons – the carriers of electromagnetic force – have to bounce off of your face. So if you are doing a rich emotional scene but your co-star’s face is partially blocking your light, it won’t be a good take, no matter how amazing you are. So find your light and every nuance, every thought that traverses your brain and flickers in your eye will be captured for all to see. Also? Light lights shiny surfaces, it reflects best off of it. This is good if you have shiny hair and even toned skin. This is bad if you have a satin blouse or rhinestones on (unless it’s for ‘Nashville’).
2. WORDS ARE SYMBOLS ON A PAGE, THEY ARE NOT THE END ALL BE ALL.
When I started auditioning, the first thing I would do was look for my lines and highlight the words. How many lines did I have? How would I memorize them!? (Oh, I know you did this to, everybody did!). But science teaches us much about words and offers us a platform to ponder and muse on their significance. Words on a page are symbols used to represent feelings, intentions, desires; they are manifested as sounds from our mouth and vocal chords, audible vibrations. It is the intention behind the words, the symphony of meaning that those 26 letters can suggest that is important. What brings a scene to life is how these words are said, the place in your body that they emanate from, their rhythm, the space between them. Learn the words but realize how and why they are really important and what they are representative of.
3. MEDITATION DOES A BODY GOOD.
In all my neuroscience research I keep coming across the scientific benefits of meditation. From MRIs on Monks to this book to an article in Esquire last month, meditation and it’s more active sister visualization helps be a better, more compassionate, healthier person… and a better actor. If you can put yourself in a meditative state, you can calm your nerves before a audition, focus yourself before an important scene while the crew races around you, access emotions more readily…. all through 10-20 minutes a day of focused breathing and meditation. The brain is an amazing organ (we already know this) and we barely understand a fraction of how consciousness works. Visualizing your audition, your scene, how the scene could play and the backstory of your character is incredibly powerful… insights just manifest.
4. EMBRACE THAT WE DON’T KNOW ANYTHING.
Well we certainly know copious amounts more than we used to! On a side note can you believe that 20 years ago — when Carl Sagan’s COSMOS first came out — they didn’t know that it was a meteor that was responsible for the dinosaurs extinction? They hadn’t discovered the geological evidence. Not to mention that people up until this century had any understanding of bacteria or quantum physics. But we don’t know the Theory of Everything. We can’t equate the quantum and the cosmic world (yet). We only understand 15% of our universe –the rest is dark matter and dark energy and we have no idea what that is! 85% of our universe is UNEXPLAINED. So don’t over plan your acting work, you can’t know or plan it all. Let moments happen in the magic of the unknown.
5. EVERYTHING IS RELATIVE.
Einstein’s rules of relativity redefined existence. Movement, speed, and time are all relavatistic. You throw a ball straight up and catch it but it didn’t really go straight up and down because the earth was rotating beneath you. Light from distant stars are actually bent because of the gravity pull of the cosmic bodies it travels past so where we see something isn’t actually where it is. And in this crazy business of Hollywood, we have this weird way of filming scenes: we piece them together from numerous different shots of different sizes and angles… a master all the way to a close-up… so we should be thinking of our work from a relative standpoint. The blink of an eye can have as much impact as the indignant turn of a head. Be aware of the scale of your world, of the shot. (But of course match your movements or the script supervisor will have my head).
6. BE CURIOUS WITH BIG IDEAS… THEN RESEARCH and PROVE IT.
The great minds of science pulled their imagination into reality. Actors do the same. But to really serve the character, the story, you have to investigate. Einstein famously said how he put himself in the place of a photon racing at the speed of light to work on his theories. But once Einstein had the insight about Special Relativity, he slaved over the physics to prove it. You can have epiphanies, and big dreams about your career and life, but then do the work to bring it into existence. Rehearse, study, research, then do it again, so your brilliance can be brought to the masses. If a scientist’s theory is never published in a paper, the world can never be changed by it.
7. EMBRACE YOUR MAD SCIENTIST.
Following from #6, are we starting to realize that being a scientist is almost like being an actor?? Everyone thinks you’re crazy for pursuing your dream, your crazy theory that only you can understand. But you will make them understand! Science and art both seek to uncover the secrets of meaning and existence so embrace that mad scientist knowing that you are on a ‘Nobel’ journey.
8. GRAVITY.
Yes the movie. Go see it. But also think about Gravity… what it is and what does it tell us about life? We actually don’t really know what it is, we know it’s one of the four forces but we haven’t found it’s carrier particle (i.e. photon is carrier for electromagnetism, the gluon for the strong force) and we can’t explain why it’s such a diluted force (think about the ability of a small magnet being able to lift a paperclip off the floor, overriding the gravity of the Earth). But our existence is dictated by gravity… we live and breathe on this planet, tides bringing life because of the Moon, circling the sun, all because of it. It’s a connection between any two objects, and the one with the most mass pulls the other towards it… it makes things ‘fall’, eradicating the empty space between them. It’s an esoteric thought but no man can really be an island. People want to be together, they are drawn to each other, even if they fight it. So in a way, every story is a love story. As an actor that usually enriches your choices.
There you have it, class dismissed! Hope this gave you some periodic food for thought (pun intended). And apologizes for any fuzzy science, I’m still a newbie. But in all seriousness, science has brought a new level of meaning to my life, as I stand in ever growing awe and respect for the existence that we lead. That has only helped to serve my work as an artist, as I hope that this post has served yours.