Les Chantery Studio

becoming loyal to a process, it’s about becoming loyal to the work. One of the biggest traps actors fall into is believing there’s a universal formula that should work on every role. There isn’t. Every person (character), every situation (scene), every director, and every story asks something different of you. The Dangerous Actor develops an expansive toolkit, then has the courage to leave it behind when another approach serves the work better. Master techniques, study relentlessly, but never become a prisoner to your process. Your job isn’t to protect your method. Your job is to discover the most REAL path for this role, this moment, and this story.

From the #1 best-selling book THE DANGEROUS ACTOR by LES CHANTERY

Credit: Collider

Disclaimer: This video is for educational purposes, offering a unique perspective that actors and enthusiasts can apply to their work. The interviews and videos we share are widely available on the World Wide Web. While we do not own the rights to these videos, the posts on this page are meticulously selected, curated, cropped, trimmed, and spliced to deliver the most insightful moments from esteemed working actors. This process is a labour of love, and we are proud of our edits. We hope you enjoy the insight and apply it to your own craft.

Cate Blanchett highlights one of the greatest paradoxes in acting: technique is invaluable, but only if you know when to let it disappear. Preparation gives you the freedom to stop thinking about how you’re acting and instead focus on your person (character), their mission, and the other person in the situation (scene). The audience never pays to watch technique. They pay to watch life unfold.

From the #1 best-selling book THE DANGEROUS ACTOR by LES CHANTERY

Credit: Santa Barbara International Film Festival

Disclaimer: This video is for educational purposes, offering a unique perspective that actors and enthusiasts can apply to their work. The interviews and videos we share are widely available on the World Wide Web. While we do not own the rights to these videos, the posts on this page are meticulously selected, curated, cropped, trimmed, and spliced to deliver the most insightful moments from esteemed working actors. This process is a labour of love, and we are proud of our edits. We hope you enjoy the insight and apply it to your own craft.

Sometimes actors reache a point where they wonder whether they should keep going. Psychology calls this grit: the ability to sustain passion and perseverance toward a long-term goal despite rejection, setbacks, and uncertainty. Research consistently shows that grit predicts long-term achievement because it keeps people in the game long enough for opportunity, experience, and skill to compound. In The Dangerous Actor, I believe this is one of the great separators. Talent may get you noticed, but perseverance keeps you evolving. Every audition, every rejection, every self-tape, every class is quietly shaping the actor you’ll eventually become. Stay in the game. The career you want may simply require more time than you imagined.

From the #1 best-selling acting book, The Dangerous Actor by Les Chantery.

Credit: Variety | Actors on Actors

Disclaimer:
This video is for educational purposes, offering a unique perspective that actors and enthusiasts can apply to their work. The interviews and videos we share are widely available on the World Wide Web. While we do not own the rights to these videos, the posts on this page are meticulously selected, curated, cropped, trimmed, and spliced to deliver the most insightful moments from esteemed working actors. This process is a labour of love, and we are proud of our edits. We hope you enjoy the insight and apply it to your own craft.

One of the hardest lessons an actor can learn is that you cannot control the outcome, only the process. Auditions, callbacks, bookings, reviews, they’re all influenced by variables outside your control. But your preparation, your curiosity, your commitment, and your willingness to keep refining your craft belong entirely to you. Process is what remains after every “yes” and every “no.” It’s also where conviction is built. Conviction isn’t created by success, it’s created by repeatedly showing yourself that you can do difficult things, keep growing, and keep returning to the work.

From the #1 best-selling acting book, The Dangerous Actor by Les Chantery.

Credit: Variety | Actors on Actors

Disclaimer:
This video is for educational purposes, offering a unique perspective that actors and enthusiasts can apply to their work. The interviews and videos we share are widely available on the World Wide Web. While we do not own the rights to these videos, the posts on this page are meticulously selected, curated, cropped, trimmed, and spliced to deliver the most insightful moments from esteemed working actors. This process is a labour of love, and we are proud of our edits. We hope you enjoy the insight and apply it to your own craft.

Audiences respond to believable behaviour and genuine commitment to the situation. Ironically, the harder you try to be funny, the less believable the behaviour becomes. Real behaviour first.

From the #1 best-selling acting book, The Dangerous Actor by Les Chantery.

Disclaimer:
This video is for educational purposes, offering a unique perspective that actors and enthusiasts can apply to their work. The interviews and videos we share are widely available on the World Wide Web. While we do not own the rights to these videos, the posts on this page are meticulously selected, curated, cropped, trimmed, and spliced to deliver the most insightful moments from esteemed working actors. This process is a labour of love, and we are proud of our edits. We hope you enjoy the insight and apply it to your own craft.

The brain doesn’t connect with generalities, it connects with specificity. That’s why the smallest questions, “What’s their favourite smell?”, “What music do they secretly love?”, “How do they hold a coffee cup?”, often produce the biggest shifts in performance. The audience may never know the answers, but those invisible details shape every thought, every behaviour, and every line. Specificity is what transforms a character from an idea into a living person.

- From the #1 best-selling acting book, The Dangerous Actor by Les Chantery.

Disclaimer:
This video is for educational purposes, offering a unique perspective that actors and enthusiasts can apply to their work. The interviews and videos we share are widely available on the World Wide Web. While we do not own the rights to these videos, the posts on this page are meticulously selected, curated, cropped, trimmed, and spliced to deliver the most insightful moments from esteemed working actors. This process is a labour of love, and we are proud of our edits. We hope you enjoy the insight and apply it to your own craft.

A character voice isn’t the problem. A disconnected voice is. You can change the accent, pitch and rhythm, but if it’s fully embodied, the audience still hears YOU inside it. As explored in The Dangerous Actor, audiences don’t connect because you disappear into the character, they connect because the character is filtered through something unmistakably you. Nobody buys a ticket just to see Hamlet. They buy a ticket because they want to see Cate Blanchett’s Hamlet, Denzel Washington’s Hamlet, or Andrew Scott’s Hamlet. We already feel like we know these actors. That’s the power of familiarity. We don’t just want to see the character, we want to see what they do with the character. This isn’t about becoming famous. It’s about becoming familiar. Psychology shows we’re constantly making unconscious judgments about whether someone feels authentic or performative. This is not saying every character should sound like you. It’s saying every character voice still has to belong to YOU. The difference is between a voice that emerges from you and one that feels applied on top of you.

As explored in The Dangerous Actor, one of the biggest mistakes actors make is taking a character’s dialogue literally. In real life, language isn’t simply a way of expressing our thoughts, it’s a tool we use to achieve our goals. We persuade, conceal, reassure, manipulate, protect ourselves, and seek connection through what we say. From a psycholinguistic perspective, language evolved as a form of social technology, helping us navigate relationships and get our needs met more effectively. That’s why the most dangerous performances aren’t built around what the character says, they’re built around why they’re saying it. Stop acting the words and start playing the mission behind them. That’s where Originality lives.

As explored in The Dangerous Actor, audiences don’t fall in love with emotion, they fall in love with determination. The mistake many actors make is playing the problem instead of playing to win. Real people don’t wake up trying to express how devastated, angry, or heartbroken they are. They use the best of their intelligence to get what they want. They persuade, they lie, they negotiate, they charm, they threaten, they adapt. That’s why the most compelling performances aren’t the loudest or the most emotional, they’re the ones driven by an unwavering mission. The white space between the lines is yours to fill with behaviours designed to win. Because cinema has never been about watching people feel, it’s about watching people fight for what they believe they should, must, or have to get/are entitled to.