a style of acting first expounded by Konstantine Stanislavsky in the early 1900s, and popularized by Lee Strasberg (1899-1982) in the US in his Actors Studio; refers to actors who gave realistic performances based upon and drawn from their own personal experiences and emotions; refers to not emoting in the traditional manner of stage conventions, but to speak and gesture in a manner used in private life. Example: Marlon Brando was known as one of the main practitioners of method acting, seen here in the famous taxicab scene in On the Waterfront (1954); other proponents of method acting included James Dean and Montgomery Clift.
originated from the Russian stage director Stanislavsky, method acting involves the actor's "living" out the emotions and experiences of the character internally rather than just imitating. In American film, method acting has been dominant since the 1950's. Dustin Hoffman is probably the leading male method actor in the US.
A technique of acting based on the theories of Stanislavski, where the actor bases the role on the perceived inner motivations of the character played.
Type of acting taught by Stanislavski. It maintains that an actor must have some personal experience which helps him or her to understand the psychological and emotional make-up in order to portray that character.
The Actor tends to use ‘method acting' in most of the parts he plays. To do this, the player should create some experience, a certain event or training that the Actor had earlier in his life (before he became an actor). Twice per Movie, when the Actor is using an Ability or attempting an Action that is related to this experience, he gets a +2 – he is basically drawing on that part of himself and projecting it into the role. If it is an “Actor vs. Movie” Action, he can succeed automatically without spending a white chip. Such experience should be rather narrow – for instance, the Actor had some medical training before he went into acting, so he can play a convincing doctor; his father and mother died in a tragic accident, and he is good at playing Roles that involve a lot of pathos.
A style of acting formalized by Konstantin Stanislavsky which is believed by some to create more realistic performances. Essentially, the theory requires actor s to draw experiences from their own personal lives that correlate to the character they are playing - an extremely demanding process emotionally. In some cases, "method" actors take the theory even further by arranging events in their private lives to resemble the lives of their characters. See the trivia entries for Down and Out in Beverly Hills and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest for examples, and the trivia entry for Marathon Man for an amusing anecdote.
Method acting is an acting technique in which actors try to replicate in real life the emotional conditions under which the character operates, in an effort to create a life-like, realistic performance. "The Method" typically refers to the generic practice of actors drawing on their own emotions, memories, and experiences to influence their portrayals of characters.
