Video: Broadway Stars Share Advice for Aspiring Performers

Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World

We're here at the annual Drama League Awards Luncheon, where we got words of inspiration from many of this year's nominees

This. It's all about this. So, for example, right now I'm doing Just in Time on Broadway

a show that we've been trying to make happen for eight years

And it started from the heart. and when that is the foundation

it's the engine for everything. So when you're at home and you're alone

what is this saying? Follow that. I would say if it's your passion

really your passion, don't give up on it and the way to get into the business changes all the time

So do your research and figure out how to, best way to enter

but training and using your craft, finding a place to express your creativity

Make sure you do that, and that's important. Study, learn your craft, keep working

and know that your singularity is your best gift. Work really hard, but go to the parties and enjoy your life

Follow your heart. Make work that only you can make. Don't try and make something anyone else can make

Just do what's true to you and have confidence in that. Sometimes you need 10 no's to get to the right yes

So if someone says no, think of it as an opportunity to find the right way, to find another way, okay

Don't give up. My advice to somebody just starting out would be don't be an asshole

A really important thing is just to remember that you have something to offer, that you are the unique person in the world that has something present

and available and of value to offer to people who you might think that

you know, you want to change yourself to be something else, and that is kind of an actor's job. but who you are in the center is really important

I did improv classes early on in my acting life, and I think it helped me not only as a performer but as a person

to find empathy and compassion for others and to find ways to tell stories that are outside your usual toolbox

So for anyone just starting out as an actor or performer, do some improv classes Do everything Say yes to everything Say yes to doing all aspects of theater Taking tickets cleaning the theater building costumes so that you understand that as an actor you just one tiny piece of this giant puzzle

The other is just be nice to everybody. Just be nice. You're going to do great

I would say trust your gut. Seek advice from experienced others. But at the end of the day, no one knows you better than you

Trust yourself. If you're starting out a career in this Business We Call show

I want you to think really, really hard about what it is that you love so much

that you want to live your life in this industry. And I want you to hold on to that for the rest of your existence

Don't let anyone take it from you. And when you get lost and when you feel like you don't know what you're doing, just remember why you started it in the first place and it will guide you back home or to the Emerald City

I don't know. It was somewhere. It'll guide you. Okay. Well, I'm a firm believer in vibrations and energy

And I think if you start to work on yourself, accents are important

Not everybody thinks of accents and it's easy to mess up one. I mess up mine all the time

and yeah you just start creating stuff maybe write a monologue maybe put it on youtube uh like i did

and you can go to facebook and join search up actors and join every single group that there is

and see what everybody's posting see what everybody else is doing in your field just gauge the

competition know where you are see your steps and take a step it's very important you are capable of

so much more than you could ever imagine when you're first beginning something so keeping an

open mind and an open heart to what you have to offer is a key. My advice is always going to be

to be yourself. There's nobody like you. It sounds cliche because it's the truth. And sometimes it's

so obvious to say, but it's the truth. Just be yourself. Nobody does what you do. And that's what

people are looking for is the person that is just something they've never seen before. To know your

worth, which is something that's really hard to do and something that actually Justina Machado

who will be here very soon has taught me which I so lucky that I got to learn that at such a young age getting to work with her has been such an eye experience in that way as a young actor And I think just knowing your worth knowing what you have to bring to the table

and what people will be gifted with when you come into the room

The best advice I was ever given is whatever anyone thinks of you is none of your business

And, you know, like that's such an important piece of advice as an artist. but like an amazing piece of advice day to day as a human being if we can learn to be our own

person without constantly seeking approval and validation from others then I think we'd all be

a lot happier it's a really hard thing to do but I think it's totally doable keep going say yes to

every single reading you never know who is going to see you put yourself in a position to be seen

put yourself in a position to be seen if you're sitting down eating cereal having big dreams

then they're just going to be dreams. My advice for someone starting out, first of all, is not to listen to me

because I have no idea what I'm talking about. But I think that's kind of my advice in general

It's to chart your own path. Everyone's career is going to look really differently

I spent the past 16 years making music, touring. I did a Broadway show when I was 12

And 16 years later, I'm returning to Broadway. The path looks really different for everyone

And so just stay true to yourself because you're going to figure out the right road to take

Be yourself. Don't try to be anyone else, because once you start doing that, the people across the table are going to sniff that out in a second

You have to be your true, authentic self. That's a great answer

And say yes to as many things as possible. Even if you think it's something that's a bore or stupid, say yes to it, especially when you're first starting out

All those things will turn into a career. Create your tribe, your group, your community

to make sure that you always have the back of other artists

Approach artists that you respect. Tell them what you love about their work. Support them because if we have everyone else's back, they'll have yours

Write or make the thing that only you can and good things will follow

That would be my advice. My advice is find your group of people that you want to be with and want to work with

and just do as much stuff as you can with them. Oh, that's good

Keep going, never stop, and try not to annoy too many people along the way It is not the purpose of your life to find yourself It is the purpose of your life to create yourself There you have it Now I been in this industry

for 55 years, and I am still creating myself. Hold on to the dream and don't give up. Every day

do a little something that pushes you farther up the hill toward the dream, but just don't give up

Eat some ketchup soup if you have to, but don't give up

When I first started drag, it was because I needed it to make my soul survive, even though it made

logically no sense. So if you're just starting out in the business, sometimes doing what you need to

do to feel like the best version of yourself might not make sense to anybody else but like do that

and then you'll find your people then you'll find your community and then you know you'll find a

place where you make sense don't shrink your dreams just because you feel like you should

or that people are telling you to um dream big soak it up read as much as you can see as much

as you can find something that you love just as much as performing or just as much as your sort

of creative chosen path um and run with that at the same time um for me it's so important

being an actor i have very little um control there's not much control in this job at all

so i have something i i do art and i love that just as much as i love performing and it is mine

i have 100 control over it and when times get tough i go hey you know what at least i can go

and I can paint whatever the hell I want because nobody can stop me. My advice to young and starting on this career

is find your tribe and stick to them like glue. Get off me

My advice is to anyone that feels that they can do this or that they want to

if you feel that, then you must do it. It is vital

I would also say, I mean, how we've done it, if you don't find the parts out there

that you want to do, make them. Make the stuff that gives you joy and create the roles that you want to be in

Yeah, my advice would be make your own work. It's a hard industry

You don't have a lot of control, so control what you can and forge the path that you want to tread