Aside from crying on command which seems difficult, and remembering the lines to long monologues, couldn’t anyone be a good actor/actress with a little practice and some direction? How hard is it to read some lines with certain inflection that, in most cases, would be obvious to the performer, and if not, easily conveyed unto them by the director.
From an outsider’s perspective it seems like your appearance is 95% responsible for whether or not you’d be suitable for a specific role. Anyone with acting theory knowledge able to explain why I’m wrong? One example that made me think of this is Mark Margolis in Better Call Saul. All he did was ring a bell and make facial gestures, which anyone could do, but it’s his distinct appearance that sells the part.
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I’m of the belief that everyone can act, but few can do it *well*.
Body language, voice inflection, improvisational skills, and ability to maintain character motivation despite having nothing in common with that character take talent and skill. (To get a touch hyperbolic: it’s like a super liberal vegan person accurately portraying a steak and potatoes loving slave owner, or a super maga person portraying a trans abortion activist.)
I like to compare it to cooking. Everyone knows how to cook for the most part, but they’re not a Michelin Star chef for whipping up a box of kraft mac n cheese or following somone else’s online recipe note for note. Actors are chefs who have to breakdown the human experience to it’s bare bones and then make that palatable to the consumer.
The talent and connections is what puts you in front of the public eye, however. Most actors do a very good job, but aren’t household names just because they might not be in big projects or haven’t been in a movie that made waves.
If you are into self-study, I would also recommend looking into the 2 forms of method acting: Classical and Modern.
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