Talent and the Actor

“It is impossible to teach a person to act who has no natural talent”. – Dame Judi Dench

I love Dame Judi’s work. She is a truly amazing actress, but I think she’s wrong on this one. What she’s suggesting is that there are ‘chosen’ ones, for whom acting is possible to learn because they have been bestowed by God, Allah, Mother Nature or chance with this thing called ‘talent’. What is ‘natural talent’? It is the natural predisposition for something. Talent is a magic word for having an innate knack for something. Some people have a knack for writing, some for baseball, some maths, some acting. However, the difference between having a knack for something and being really good at it, is what you do after you realise you have that knack.  Stella Adler use to say: “You have to have a talent for your talent” - you have to know how to apply the talent you have.

The author Stephen King says on talent: “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”

Of course it is easier to be a good actor if you are already inclined to be good at it. But good at what? What must you have a natural knack for? For some, it is a capacity for pretend that extends beyond the realms of imagination into reality. For some it is the capacity to take action under imaginary circumstances. Can these things not be learned or must one always be first gifted the ability? It is perhaps not talent, but your willpower that determines whether you succeed or fail at any task. Not everyone can be Dustin Hoffman or Felicity Huffman – not everyone can be Wayne Rooney, William Shakespeare, Nadal, Tiger Woods or Picasso, but does that mean they cannot learn?

To my mind it is not what you are gifted with that matters, but it is what you do when you realise that you want to do it. Acting technique cannot give someone talent, it can only help to increase the opportunity to embody the skills of the actor.

To my mind, it is not the case. Talent is a false idol. Talented people believe in it, because it separates them from the pack. Most talented people find it exceptionally difficult to talk about how or why they are good at it, and they don’t like to tinker with it, because it might undo their lucky talent talisman.

If talent is what counts, technique only helps or hinders. If you want to learn to play guitar, you must receive expert tuition and practice all your hours. Eventually, if you do this, you will play guitar. You may never be Eric Clapton, but that is only because not everyone can be Eric Clapton.

Lev Dodin, the great Russian director, tells a story of how he once was auditioning a young wanna-be entrant to the St Petersbury Academy of Theatre. She arrived in an ill-fitting dress, with a stupid hair style and delivered bad poetry badly. He wanted to get rid of her, get her out of the room as soon as possible, but he interviewed her as was the process. On talking to her, he found that she was a national athelete, she swam for her country, she wasn’t just good, she was an exceptional swimmer. She trained very hard, made great sacrifices, dedicated herself to success. After talking with her, he asked her to change her clothes, release her hair, and simply read an Akmatova poem.  She improved, she wasn’t excellent, but she had demonstrated something of the quality of herself. She went on to great success as an actor and performs regularly with the Maly Theatre, Dodin’s company. The girl didn’t have a knack for acting but she could demonstrate the greater qualities of character that we seek in any person. What makes you a good human being makes you a good actor and these things are learnable.

Perhaps more than talent, your own character, those characteristics that make you – you and are the signs of a fully realised personality – are the signs of potential for the actor.