Lee Strasberg

“The method is simply what all actors have done when acting well!” Lee Strasberg This famous acting teacher was a Hungarian-born, America- raised actor, director and most importantly theatre practitioner who dedicated most of his career to developing his own technique of acting.

Lee Strasberg is often credited with adapting and interpreting Stanislavski’s style of acting to Americans and the rest of the Western world. This adaptation is usually referred to as ‘the Method’ or ‘method acting’. Since 1930 most acting techniques and theories have been very strongly informed by Method acting and it is still taught today in many acting schools and drama conservatories around the world- most notably the two Lees Strasberg institutes in New York and Los Angeles

In 1931 he founded (along with Harold Clurman) the Group Theatre, which during its existence included members such as Sanford Meisner and Stella Adler. It was here that the Method style of acting was first created and Strasberg.

In the 1950s through to the 1980s Strasberg further developed his technique first at the Actors Studio in New York City (considered at one time as the most prestigious acting school in America) and then later at his own school, making his style one of the most popular forms for actors to employ.

Not all Method actors claim to work in the same way but are generally characterized by a kind of actor who draws upon their own emotions and experiences to aide in their portrayal of the character that they are playing. In addition to this they also use exercises such as affective memory, sense memory, substitution and ‘as if’ to make this possible.  It is believed that this technique will help them create a lifelike performance. Method acting is considered as a way of working from the inside out, in contrast to classical acting which is seen as using external means to communicate thought and emotion.

Other actors who are considered followers of the Method include; Anne Bancroft, Dustin Hoffman, Montgomery Clift, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Julie Harris, Paul Newman, Patricia Neal, Sally Field, Jane Fonda, Gene Wilder, Geraldine Page, Ellen Burstyn and Al Pacino.

You will want to become familiar with some of the other, well-known acting technniques.

Read about Konstantin Stanislavski who passed on his legacy of The Method to Lee Strasberg.

Here are some books you will want to at least be familiar with.

Acting Class on DVD with the Masters!

Other pages you might find helpful and interesting:

Why taking acting classes is so important (23 benefits)

Interview with a New York acting teacher who teaches the Meisner Technique of acting

How to choose the right acting school for you

How to do research to start your acting career

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What you’re doing is great Anthony. Whenever I read the things on your site, the interviews and even your book, I feel like if only everybody got to read this before they got started, they would be so much better off and everybody else (casting directors, agents, directors, etc.) would be so much better off too.
Personal Manager, Ingrid French

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Tony,
I want to say you changed my life. I want to be an actress so bad, but i began losing motivation when I couldn't figure out what to do. And then I found you! Thanks to you, I'm taking my first acting classes next month! Yippee!
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Hi Tony
I would like to thank you for helping me with the monologue question I asked you. I went to the auditions for a Drama course and I am happy to say that I have been accepted as a first-year student at the Tshwane University of Technology. Please keep on sending me those newsletters and let me know where I can find books that will help me in my acting career. Thank you once more. Have a blessed day.
Sincerely
Edward Thaba -South Africa

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Dear Anthony,
Just wanted to thank you for bringing me in to [audition for the video], meet you and chat this Saturday. I was really excited to hear about your working on actingcareerstartup.com and even took a look at it today - it's awesome! You are very well-spoken, knowledgeable and enthusiastic, and it shows through the work that you do! I hope our paths in the industry will cross again and really enjoyed meeting you. Thanks, again and best wishes with your very important work!
Warmly,
Gretchen, NY, NY

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Hey Tony, thanks for the info, yours by far is the most useful, I am 30 years old, and I myself always (secretly) wanted to be an actress, but I never knew where to begin, so thank you. You have given me hope!
Ana C., Tampa, FL