Actors must create detailed internal backstories to justify complex character motivations, even when the characters' actions seem contradictory or extreme.

“I did create that backstory. I sat with I remember I told Joseph, Isaac, and with Gary Lennon, our showrunner, I created a whole backstory in my head to make some of this make sense because obviously I would never go against my brother trying to kill my brother.”

Adam Sandler prepares for roles by writing down everything his character thinks, has experienced, and is worried about to ensure he is fully prepared.

“When I get a script, I certainly write down everything my character's thinking, everything he's been through before, everything that he's worried about in the future.”

Selena Gomez approaches acting work as a studious process where she immerses herself completely in the character and learning requirements.

“I tend to want to just immerse myself in it completely and specifically for Amelia Perez that was an entire different language for me”

Saoirse Ronan believes an actor's approach to period roles should involve educating oneself on the historical context but ultimately focusing on humanizing the character for a contemporary audience.

“you need to become aware of it and expose yourself to it and educate yourself in it but then I've always found that it's so important to just embody who the person is and I've always wanted to play them as if you could meet them now and relate to them now”

Actors should be prepared, do the hard work of research, and then let it go to create magic on set.

“you can tell the difference between the older generation the younger generation because the younger generation shows up and expects just magic to happen and the older generation comes like so prepared and knows that you do all this work and then you get there and you let it go”

Actors need to let go of the need to be fully prepared and be willing to leap into action before they feel ready to perform.

“There's a practice of just walk before you're ready to walk. Just say the line before you're ready to say the line.”

Acting is about achieving a state of relaxation and receptivity rather than working hard to create an internal illusion.

“I think what you call connected I would call relaxed it's just any way of being and to not work to not feel like it's it's there's an edge and to feel that you're free enough to be receptive so that you can kind of play and stay alive”

Jamie Dornan avoids having a rigid plan for a scene because external factors often require flexibility.

“I try to never go in with a plan would be what I would say I I don't feel like I'm trying to stick to some kind of blueprint of how the scene should go because we know that like it's so there's so many mitigating factors that change up what that plan was”

Actors should aim to make their technical choices disappear by turning them into habits so they can remain present and truthful during a performance.

“I like everything to become such a habit that I don't think about it anymore so that whatever it is you're trying to communicate in the moment can be I don't know in the moment”

Actors should avoid overthinking technical elements during a performance to maintain truthfulness and avoid looking like they are acting.

“if you're busy calculating all of the lists of things that you're supposed to be getting right in that moment yeah there's no possible way to be truthful or to transcend whatever it is it's going on in the room you know”