With so many actors vying for the same roles, it’s important that you separate yourself from the pack (in a good way!) Here are three ways to stand out at your auditions.

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Leave your baggage at home
I’m not talking about your backpack. Fear and nervousness at an audition are often symptoms of negative baggage you carry. They’re created by you and so can be brought under control by you. When you come in sucking up, scared of or in awe of the director or casting director, you do yourself a huge disservice. No one wants to work with someone who gives away their power, is needy, or unsure of themselves. There’s just no time for that. Those things need to be worked out at home and not brought to an audition where they will kill your chances for a successful career.

The best remedy for fear and nervousness is thorough preparation. An experienced audition coach will help you craft great audition performances and give you tools to overcome your audition jitters so you can focus on crushing it in the room. Exercise and physical activity, meditation and yoga, herbal remedies, developing a more positive mindset, working with a therapist and prescription medicines, if necessary, can all help you cope with stress you may be feeling about auditions.

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Bring your ‘A’ game

What’s your A game? Showing up loose and physically relaxed and mentally prepared to do the job. Being someone who makes interesting choices and delivers them in a way that’s all their own. Someone who is confident and knows who they are. Someone who knows that this audition is important but it’s not the defining moment of their lives. Someone who is real, who will be comfortable and a good collaborator on set or in rehearsal. Someone who’s done their homework and knows how to work. In short, someone who is a professional actor.

Casting directors don’t really know what they’re looking for until they actually see it. After all, how could they? All they have to go on is a script that tells them about the project’s characters, themes, story, and ideas. It’s a guide but it’s abstract. Actors must understand that it’s theirheart and soul that brings the character to life. Through the actor’s feelings and choices we see how the character feels and makes the connections that lead them to do the things they do. When an actor reveals the truth of how they personally feel in the character’s circumstances, the CD will see a full-blooded character in the monitor. Understanding that is a big part of bringing your A game to an audition.

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Don’t treat casting directors like they’re important
They’re not. You are. In this setting, you’re the focus. It’s not their audition, it’s yours.

If you met a casting director in the grocery store, and didn’t know they were a casting director, you’d treat them just like anybody else. They’re just people. Making them the focus of your audition doesn’t help anyone in the room—especially not you. They’re hoping you’re the hero who will solve their casting problem. You can’t do that if you’re focused on them instead of on doing your job.

The good news is everything we’ve talked about in this article is within your reach. All of it requires zero natural talent because it can all be taught. 

All my best, 

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Philip

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*Article originally published in Backstage*

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Philip Hernandez is a respected acting teacher and singing coach in NYC. He is also the only actor in Broadway history to play both Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert in Les Miserables. He created principal roles in Broadway’s Kiss of the Spiderwoman and Paul Simon’s The Capeman. You may also know him from his many television appearances: The Blacklist, Gotham, Blue Bloods, The Path, Bull, Nurse Jackie, Elementary, Person of Interest, Law and Order, Hostages and Damages to name a few. For information about acting lessons CLICK HERE or singing lessons CLICK HERE. 

Follow him on twitter @philip24601, on Instagram @philip24601 and on Facebook at @philip24601.