Most acting techniques grow out of Konstantin Stanislavski's system. They differ in where you find the truth of a scene: your own memories (the Method), your scene partner (Meisner), your imagination (Adler), your body (Chekhov) or a playable action (Practical Aesthetics). On screen, what counts is that you listen, react truthfully and stay specific. Here is what each asks of you, plus what casting directors in our library said about training.
On this page
Almost every major Western acting technique traces back to Konstantin Stanislavski, the Russian actor and director who co-founded the Moscow Art Theatre in 1898.
They share one goal, truthful behaviour in imaginary circumstances, and differ in the route. Kym Jackson's advice for beginners is to start with a foundation class, often Meisner or Stanislavski based, where you learn to listen and be in the moment before you rely on the words.
Stanislavski (1863 to 1938, also spelt Stanislavsky) built his "system" at the Moscow Art Theatre, which he ran with Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko. Britannica describes it as a shift from stylised, external acting to a psychological approach: actors draw on their own experience to build a role, connecting deeply with the character while still serving the whole play.
Late in life he developed the method of physical actions: finding inner life through what the character physically does. Expect a Stanislavski-based class to ask what your character wants, what is in the way and what they do about it.
The Method is usually described as an elaboration of Stanislavski's system, developed in America by Lee Strasberg. Strasberg co-founded the Group Theatre in 1931 with Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, led the Actors Studio until his death in 1982 and founded the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute with his wife Anna in 1969. The Institute still teaches in New York and West Hollywood (strasberg.edu).
The core tools are relaxation and affective memory, meaning sense memory and emotional memory: you recreate a real sensation or feeling from your own life to fuel the scene. Staying in character for months is the popular image, not a requirement.
Sanford Meisner became head of acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York in 1936 and developed his technique there. Britannica sums up his definition of acting as behaving truthfully under imaginary circumstances.
Meisner moved the source of emotion away from personal recall and towards imagination and your partner. Its best-known drill is the repetition exercise: two actors repeat an observation about each other back and forth, responding to what they actually see and hear instead of planning. It trains listening and instinct.
Stella Adler (1902 to 1992) joined the Group Theatre in 1931 and in 1934 worked privately with Stanislavski in Paris for five weeks. She went on to teach that actors find truth through imagination and the play's given circumstances, rather than through Strasberg's affective memory, and opened her own studio in New York in 1949 (Encyclopedia.com).
In an Adler class you research the world of the play, then build the character's life in your imagination. It suits actors who would rather not mine their own painful memories.
Michael Chekhov (1891 to 1955), nephew of the playwright Anton Chekhov, trained under Stanislavski and from 1922 led Stanislavski's First Studio, renamed Moscow Art Theatre II. He later settled in the United States, where Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945) earned him an Oscar nomination. His book To the Actor appeared in 1953 (Wikipedia).
His approach works through the body and imagination. Its signature tool is the psychological gesture, which the Michael Chekhov School calls the heart of the technique: you find a physical gesture that expresses the character's inner need, then let it live inside you as you play.
Uta Hagen taught for more than 50 years at HB Studio in New York, the school Herbert Berghof founded in 1945. She wrote the best-selling Respect for Acting and A Challenge for the Actor, and HB Studio credits her with the object exercises still used in training.
Hagen's work is grounded in real, specific behaviour: what you would actually touch, do and need in that moment. Actor and teacher Anthony Brandon Wong told us he uses a related tool, substitution: endowing your scene partner with someone from your life who gives you the drive to win the scene.
Practical Aesthetics was conceived by playwright David Mamet and actor William H. Macy and developed at the Atlantic Theater Company and Atlantic Acting School in New York. Company members wrote its guide, A Practical Handbook for the Actor (Wikipedia).
It is the most script-led technique here. You break each scene into four steps: the literal (what is plainly happening), the want (what your character wants from the other person), the essential action (a playable verb you choose) and the as if (a personal comparison that makes that action urgent for you).
There is no single winner, and nothing in our library suggests one technique books more work. The camera rewards listening, truthful reactions and specific behaviour. Kym's order is a foundation class first, then an on-camera class for framing, eye light and playing to the lens.
Casting director Gayle Pillsbury described what seasoned actors bring to an audition: specificity and an inner life, not rehearsed reactions. If you cried in rehearsal but feel angry in the room, she said, flow with what is really there.
Not by name. Ivan Magrin-Chagnolleau told us he won't cast from a picture or resume, because neither shows how good you are; your first video is everything. Training can still get you seen: casting director Ronnie Yeskel checks where unfamiliar actors trained and who they studied with, and Sunny Boling said a resume full of UCB and Groundlings tells her you are probably funny. Kym suggests listing what you studied, Meisner or comedy for example, on your resume.
What they don't want is technique on display. Casting director Risa Bramon Garcia said immersion gets silly when actors "put it on" with wardrobe and funny voices; what matters is your personal connection to what the character cares about. Manager Chris Roe's rule: become the character when you walk into the room, not in the waiting room.
Choose the teacher, not just the technique. Kym's process: shortlist schools within about 40 minutes of home, check each teacher has really worked, then audit at least three classes. Look for a room where at least half the students are better than you, and honest notes given in a healthy way.
How long to stay is debated. Jess Orcsik, a working performer and producer, suggests moving on after about three months to collect tools; Kym suggests about two years, or until you are among the strongest in the room. For schools and prices see acting classes in Los Angeles, how much acting classes cost and acting classes by city. Booked a job? See how to prepare for a role.
From Konstantin Stanislavski's system, developed at the Moscow Art Theatre. Strasberg's Method, Meisner's technique and Stella Adler's approach all built on his ideas.
Method acting recreates real sensations and emotions from your own life. Meisner draws emotion from imagination and from truthfully responding to your scene partner.
No. The training is built on relaxation and sense and emotional memory. Our experts said to leave the character out of the waiting room.
None is officially best. Kym Jackson suggests a foundation class such as Meisner or Stanislavski based work, then on-camera classes.
Not much by name. They judge your audition or self tape, though some look at where you trained before seeing an actor they don't know.
Kym's free class: the ten steps, in order, from first class to first booking. Free, just pop in your email.
Get the free classKym's free class for actors who've been at it a while and want things moving again. Free, just pop in your email.
Get the free classWant the whole library? Start your 7-day free trial and watch every answer on this page.