It’s probably been months since you’ve had an audition, and if you are lucky enough, perhaps it’s been just a few days!  How To Keep Busy Outside of Acting?

As an actor, you need to be asking yourself that question.

When we are not working as actors, we can neglect ourselves, forget about our mental and physical well being, and neglect taking advantage of the time we have between each ‘job’.

How To Keep Busy Outside of Acting

If you are working around your own schedule or even if you have your weekend free but aren’t using that time efficiently, it’s good to check in with yourself and find out if what you are doing is beneficial to your own growth.

Nowadays, it can be harder to connect with ourselves and each other, especially in this world of social media, one can tend to alienate oneself, get caught up in useless news articles and by the end of the evening, you are left feeling uninspired and disconnected.

Here are ten tips to help you use your time wisely.

Watch Theatre

Finding cheap tickets to a good theatre production can sometimes be daunting, but they are definitely out there. Local acting groups/studios usually put on their own productions and Broadway/West End Productions often have rush tickets, wherein you can get last minute tickets to any theatre production for less than half price.

Visit A Museum

Thankfully, we have been blessed with great artists who left behind work we can see with our own eyes at a museum. If you live in a city, you’ll be able to discover treasures. There is a lot an actor can learn from studying great paintings and sculptures. Find an Auguste Rodin sculpture or a Goya painting and study the facial expressions, hand movements, posture and so on…

Listen To Various Kind of Music

Music can be a powerful way to stimulate our creativity. Starting your day off with an album that inspires your mind, can take on a positive and motivating affect.

Go On Nature Walks

Nature empowers most actors, artists, musicians. It allows your mind to access your deeper most inner thoughts and often these subconscious thoughts are especially helpful in your work.

Take the time to connect to nature and appreciate the natural order of things.  When you can see things you’ve seen a million times before, but look at them for their details, you will be surprised what you may have missed.

Get Out of The City

You might be stuck in a routine that is holding you down and creating friction with your ambitions. Sometimes all it takes is a train ride to visit the ocean front or discover a new town with an art exhibition, in order to return home with a regained focus and vitality.

Meditate

Meditating for 15 minutes a day will keep you connected daily to the present moment for heightened awareness and focus, allowing you to be aware of your real thoughts. This will help when you are eventually working on a character and in front of the camera.

Read

Reading is an important tool all actors should do their best to engage in.  Reading takes you away from yourself, opens up your imagination and introduces you to new creative ideas.  Reading autobiographies on actors, books on acting, and plays will keep you connected.

Dance Classes

Dance can help an actor in many ways, with their posture, tension, presence, energy, focus and co-ordination. These are vital elements that you will need when you are on set.

Learning A New Accent

There is no doubt that for any working actor, accents worked on for over a fortnight in summer stock or film project, will certainly come in handy at some point!  Take some time to practice various accents for practice.  You never know when you will have an audition that calls for it and you will be ready.

Study Film

Watch the movies from the silent era to modern day cinema, from Chaplin to Bergman to Vittorio De Sica. An actor can never watch enough films, fill yourself with all the stories, characters, moods, dialogue, behavior. Watch them all, become a cinephile.