In this instructional video, Aaron Marcus shares practical strategies for actors to reduce audition anxiety and build confidence. He begins by emphasizing thorough preparation—memorizing lines, understanding character objectives, and, if needed, requesting more time to avoid rushed auditions. He then advises actors to lower their expectations by not focusing on booking the job, instead treating auditions as enjoyable opportunities to perform, which reduces pressure. Marcus also cautions against trying to guess what casting directors want; instead, he encourages taking creative risks and trusting one's instincts, arguing that authenticity and confidence are more compelling than trying to please an undefined vision. The video concludes with a teaser for a bonus video about the optimal number of headshots actors need. Throughout, Marcus intersperses calls to subscribe and like the video.
Chapters
Hey, in this video I want to share with you how to overcome audition anxiety and audition tips that will help build confidence. If you watch this to the very end, I've got a great bonus video for you. It's how many headshots do actors really need? Okay, let's get started. Hi, I'm Aaron Marcus and welcome to the Acting and Modeling Quick Tips channel and the Actor Career Center. So if you're like many, many actors, you might be feeling a little bit anxious during an audition. Even when you're shooting them at home, you know, you can still feel anxious. So here are a couple of ways to help overcome the anxiety. Number 1, be really prepared. Look, if you happen to be in a situation Where if you're fortunate enough and you're just getting so many auditions and they're all due around the same time period, you never want to just rush any of them and not prepare properly. You know, you want to try as best you can to memorize the lines. If you are a union actor and it's a union project, you don't have to memorize the lines for the audition. That was part of the last negotiations, but it's in your best interest to do your best. Certainly you can hold the sides with you if you need them. You know, just have a really strong understanding of what you want to accomplish in this scene, what your character needs to be doing. Are there any obstacles preventing your character from accomplishing the goals? And it's just— look, if you are in a situation where you're just feeling rushed, look, the best thing to do is either tell your agent or tell the casting director, see if you can postpone the audition a little bit so you have more time. Because if you're not prepared, you are going to feel a little bit more anxious, and you also don't want to present yourself that way to a casting director. Hey, really quickly before I continue, if you haven't done this yet, don't forget, subscribe, click the notification bell so you always know when a new video has been uploaded, and if you like it, give it a thumbs up. That's always very helpful. Here's something else that will also help bring down some anxiety, and that is don't try to book the job. And I know in some ways that might seem a little Crazy? Like, why, why are you spending the time auditioning if you're not trying to book it? And I'll tell you why. When you lower your expectations, at least this is the way it works for me, and I find this very, very helpful, and it took a long time for me to get to this place, but when I don't try to book the job, it takes a lot of the pressure off. And when there's a lot less pressure, you're not feeling as anxious. What I do is, because I realize it's really hard booking a job. I mean, even, you know, even if it's just a couple of lines, still it's hard. A lot of people don't understand how difficult it is and how many people have to say yes, that they want you. So instead of trying to get the job, I just try to have a good time. That's my goal. I want to enjoy myself. It might be a Tuesday afternoon. I get a chance to play. I get a chance to act. That's fun. And I tell you, when you are doing your audition with that in mind and not trying to book the job, people feel it. People feel the confidence. They see the enjoyment. They see that there is no desperation in there because that's not who they want to cast. So that's also really, really important, and it will help take away some of the nerves. And the last thing I wanted to mention about that is don't try to figure out what the casting director is looking for, because it can make you crazy, it can make you nervous, it can make you feel anxious. You know, am I doing this right? Is this, you know, really what they— Forget about it because quite often they don't even know what they're looking for. So what you want to do is take a chance, take a gamble, do what you think is right, what feels right to you. It might be very different than what other people are doing. Maybe it's not the most common way for this character to act. But take a risk because if you physically look right for the part, it's interesting, it's believable, they enjoy it. They might say, yeah, well, the, the actor really just didn't have enough information in the sides to fully understand what's going on, so he or she took it in a different direction. But if you get that far with it and they like it, Then they should at least give you a callback. And at the callback, they can give you more information and they can give you more notes. So that's the other piece of learning how to get rid of some of the anxiousness. Don't try to think about what other people are wanting. Just do what you think is right. I did promise a bonus video. Hey, how many headshots do actors really need? I think you're going to really enjoy it. So anyhow, wanted to share those things with you. I'm Aaron Marcus, and I can't wait to talk with you again soon. See ya.
