English Actors

Uta Hagen, one of the world's most renowned stage actresses, also taught acting for more than 40 years at the HB Studio in New York. Her first book, Respect for Acting, published in 1973, remains a best seller in print. In this brand new audio edition of her second classic book, A Challenge for the Actor, she greatly expands her thinking about acting in a work that brings the full flowering of her artistry, both as an actor and as a teacher.

In this essential guide to acting, internationally renowned directing coach Judith Weston demonstrates what constitutes a good performance, what actors want from a director, and what directors do wrong. She also goes over script analysis and preparation and how actors work, and she shares important and helpful insights into the director/actor relationship.

Actors! Engage your mind and your body in order to develop your characters fully. The Lucid Body technique breaks up stagnant movement patterns and expands your emotional and physical range. Through energy analysis, this program shows how to use physical training to create characters from all walks of life - however cruel, desolate, or neurotic those characters may be.

Constantin Stanislavski (1863-1938), arguably the most influential director in the history of the theater, was the founder of the renowned Moscow Art Theater. A pioneer of psychological realism and improvisation on the stage, he devoted his life to developing the performance techniques now emulated throughout the world.

In this completely updated edition of her bestselling book, renowned acting coach Ivana Chubbuck shares her cutting-edge technique that has launched some of the most successful and lauded acting careers in Hollywood.

In this step-by-step guide, an actor and improvisational teacher brings his tested methods to the page to show how actors can take risks and gain spontaneity in all genres of scripted theater. Through 28 lessons - each of which includes warm-ups, points of concentration, and improvisation exercises - Improv for Actors provides insights into thinking and reacting with fluidity, exploring a character’s social status, using the voice and body as effective tools of storytelling, and more.

Artist of Love offers the modern-day woman a revolutionary approach to discovering, claiming and owning all of her inherently wild, expressive and artistic sides so that she can liberate her true self in all areas of her life-but especially her love life.

Life is full of choices. Right now, yours is whether or not to buy the autobiography of a mid-grade, kind of hammy actor.

In London’s MI5 headquarters a scandal is brewing that could disgrace the entire intelligence community. The Downing Street superforecaster—a specialist who advises the Prime Minister’s office on how policy is likely to be received by the electorate—has disappeared without a trace. Claude Whelan, who was once head of MI5, has been tasked with tracking her down. But the trail leads him straight back to Regent’s Park itself, with First Desk Diana Taverner as chief suspect. Has Taverner overplayed her hand at last?

One of my dad’s favorite jokes about getting older was: “I went out for coffee when I was twenty-one and when I got back I was fifty-eight!” I get what he meant now. Time flies. My first book, If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a "B" Movie Actor, was published back in 2001 and it chronicles the adventures of a “mid-grade, kind of hammy actor" (my words), cutting his teeth on exploitation movies far removed from mainstream Hollywood. This next book, an “Act II” if you will, could be considered my “maturing years” in show business, when I began to say “no” more often and gravitated toward self-generated material. Taking stock in the overall quality of my life, I fled Los Angeles and moved to a remote part of Oregon to renew, regroup and reload. If that sounds tame, the journey from Evil Dead to Spider-Man to Burn Notice was long, with plenty of adventures/mishaps along the way. I never pictured myself hovering above Baghdad in a Blackhawk helicopter, facing a pack of wild dogs in Bulgaria, or playing an aging Elvis Presley with cancer on his penis - how can you predict this stuff? The sheer lunacy of show business is part of the fun for me and I hope you'll come along for the ride.

The casting director for Chicago, Pippin, Becket, Gypsy, The Graduate, The Sound of Music, and Jesus Christ Superstar tells you how you can find your dream role! Absolutely everything an actor needs to know to get the part is here: What to do that moment before; how to use humour; how to create mystery; how to develop a distinct style; and how to evaluate the place, the relationships, and the competition. In fact, Audition is a necessary guide to dealing with all the "auditions" we face in life. This is the bible on the subject.

Interested in pursuing a career in VO? Curious what goes on behind the scenes in a business where people talk funny for money? This updated edition of the award-winning audiobook offers a fun and comprehensive look at what it takes, what goes on, and what it's like behind the mic from two (still) working pros who started from scratch.

There'll Be Peace When You Are Done: Actors and Fans Celebrate the Legacy of Supernatural is an emotional look back at the beloved television show Supernatural as it wraps up its final season after 15 unprecedented years on air. With heartfelt chapters written by both the series' actors and its fans, There'll Be Peace When You Are Done traces Supernatural's evolution, the memorable characters created by its writers and brought to life by its talented actors, and the many ways in which the show has inspired and changed the lives of both its viewers and cast.

Mr. Caine gives you a once-in-a-lifetime chance to rob him blind! The man who's hypnotized the camera lenses for a quarter of a century reveals the most closely guarded secrets on script preparation, working with the director, forming a character, voice, sound, and movement.

Act: The Modern Actor’s Handbook is the result of 30 years of one of North America’s most renowned acting teachers teaching some of the world's most talented screen actors. This is a full tour through the concepts at the heart of Rotenberg’s techniques: states of being, primaries and secondaries, images that you elaborate up or distill down, modifiers, actions and beats, and more. Although his methods loosely draw on the great acting teachers like Hagen and Meisner back to Stanislavski, he teaches new techniques suited to the best of today’s screen actors.

Stacy Keach is known for movie roles like Fat City, American History X, the television series Titus, and of course Mike Hammer, but he's also revered in the industry as a serious actor who's passionate about his craft. In his long, impressive career, he has been hailed as America's finest classical stage actor, earning acclaim for his portrayals of Hamlet, Macbeth, Richard III, and King Lear.

Learn the ins and outs of how to get started in Voice-Over, including: microphone etiquette, how to make some of the most common noises and sounds (you might be surprised), working with copy, creating a demo reel, what to expect in the studio, the business of the business and much more. This is, hands down, the most comprehensive book on Voice-Over available. From beginners to pros, you’ll find value in Debi’s wealth of knowledge. Her tips and advice are the gems that only a true industry veteran and hard-working professional would know. Now she’s sharing it all with you!

Jenna Fischer's Hollywood journey began at the age of 22 when she moved to Los Angeles from her hometown of St. Louis. She was determined, confident, and ready to work hard. So, what could go wrong? Uh, basically everything. The path to being a professional actor was so much more vast and competitive than she’d imagined. It would be eight long years before she landed her iconic role on The Office, nearly a decade of frustration, rejection, and doubt. If only she’d had a handbook for the aspiring actor. Or, better yet, someone to show her the way. Jenna wants to be that person for you.

Esper worked closely with Meisner for 17 years and has spent decades developing his famous program for actor's training. The result is a rigorous system of exercises that builds a solid foundation of acting skills from the ground up, and that is flexible enough to be applied to any challenge an actor faces, from soap operas to Shakespeare.

In this riveting and surprising personal history, John Lithgow shares a backstage view of his own struggle, crisis, and discovery, revealing the early life and career that took place out of the public eye. Above all Lithgow’s memoir is a tribute to his most important influence: his father, Arthur Lithgow, who, as an actor, director, producer, and great lover of Shakespeare, brought theater to John’s boyhood. From bedtime stories to Arthur’s illustrious productions, performance and storytelling were constant and cherished parts of family life.