I want to throw a slightly different perspective at you than what you’ve been taught about actions or tactics. Or maybe not. Maybe you’ve already heard this exact thing. Either way, it’s worth saying again.

Here’s my soapbox moment: actors rely way too much on the brain.

Don’t get me wrong. Your brain is essential when it comes to analyzing text, breaking down the scene, and understanding your environment. But when you step onto your mark and that camera starts rolling, the more your brain stays in charge, the less freedom your body has to actually do the work.

And that’s the whole point... acting is doing. So, let’s start there.

Here’s the problem with “action verbs.”

We’ve all seen those lists (Hell, there are even whole books of them for sale):
Objective: I want you to apologize.
Action Verb: I humiliate you.

Sounds strong, right? But here’s the thing... you can’t actually humiliate someone. There’s no physical action for that. There’s no muscle in your body that knows how to “humiliate.”

But if you shift that verb into something you can literally do like *pull your pants down* or *kiss you in front of everyone*... suddenly it’s physical, playable, and alive.

That’s where the magic happens.

(And I’m not saying you actually pull a person’s pants down. I’m saying you endow the text with that action.)

When I talk about action verbs, I want you to think in terms of things your body can physically do to another person: poke, push, pull, strangle, caress, flick, tickle, smother.

These words come straight off the Physical Actions list I give my actors because they give your body something to *do*, not just something to think about.

And when you give your body a job, your nervous system wakes up. Your synapses fire. You’re no longer “pretending to act.” You’re in it.

I often find the movement first. I’ll find myself doing something... say, pressing my thumb into my palm... and think, what is this? Oh. I’m smushing you. And now I’m not “belittling” you, I’m smushing you. It’s active. It’s visceral. It’s in my muscles, not just my mouth.

Michael Chekhov used archetypal gestures... push, pull, smash, lift, drag... to unlock an understanding within the mind as it layers the gesture with the text.

Rudolf Laban taught Action Drives...press, glide, wring, flick, dab, punch, slash, float... that reveal the inner rhythm and energy of a moment.

Both of them used verbs that were actual physical tasks that a human body can perform. Because, this way, the body is leading and the mind is making sense of it as we go.

Which (hint, hint) is how we live our day-to-day lives.

So, if you’re working on a scene and you’ve written “to belittle” in the margins, cross it out and replace it with “to smush.”
Instead of “to scare,” try “to stab.”
Instead of “to respect,” try “to lift you up.”

Watch how your whole body changes. Watch how your breath responds. Watch how the moment wakes up.

Ask yourself: Can I physically do this to someone? Does my body want to move when I think about it? Does it wake up something in me?

If the answer’s yes, you’re on the right track.

Let’s put the action back in action verbs. See you next time.

-J