How Important is Formal Acting Training?

There are those who suggest that the best actors will have been trained for many years, and others who believe that acting talent is innate – something you are born with and something that no amount of training will allow you to capture. Others, of course, sit somewhere in the middle, believing that some raw talent needs to be available, which can later be developed and moulded.

You only need to look at certain Hollywood actors to see just how much an individual can improve with the right tutelage and through simply getting plenty of experience, but this does not mean that everyone will be able to become a fledgling thesp. Likewise, individuals with no experience at all have been plucked from obscurity and proven to be excellent on screen.

What it does mean however is that there are individuals out there who can get a big break having never acted a day in their life, and those looking to get into acting may find they don’t need any training at all. With so many casting calls being listed online or through dedicated companies, it will be easy to get seen by even the top casting agents without yourself having representation or any actual experience.

However, that doesn’t mean training is a waste of time, and even established stars will get help from acting coaches from time to time. As such, those who aren’t prepared to go to drama school may find that learning out about auditions online and visiting one-off acting classes in their spare time may allow them all the exposure they need without having to spend many years being formally trained at drama school. Such acting classes may also help individuals develop important skills such as audition technique to help them stand out for any part they go for.