Unlock Your Creative Potential with Stella Adler's The Art of Acting

Carmen: I recommend this to all actors, especially if you are starting off its a great place to start. Even if you are not an actor I would still recommend it-there is so much to take in about life as a whole and human behavior.

United States on Oct 13, 2023

Fkamazon: It’s not enough to just read this book. Absorb it with all your might and even more.

Thank you Ms Adler <3

India on May 24, 2023

chanon davis: I would have given this experience 5 stars if the book cover wasn’t wrinkled up on the back. Although the book is in new condition otherwise, I should have been told by the seller that the backside cover was impaired. The book was packaged well so I know this didn’t happen during transit. I am upset about it because it’s a gift to someone else. Now it looks like I giving them a used product.

United States on Feb 08, 2023

Diana Frangi: Good product, fast and easy transaction, thank you.

United Kingdom on Nov 22, 2022

Lorna Vince: Love this book - so interesting - had no idea how much was involved in acting. I now have great respect and admiration for actors. Also as another reviewer said, you don't have to be an actor or want be, to benefit from this book. It adds so much much depth, meaning and understanding of life.

United Kingdom on Nov 02, 2021

Cal Barnes: Greatest Book on acting I've read to date. I read all the other acting theory books by Uta Hagen, Stanislavski, Checkhov, and Meisner back when I was training but never got around to Stella's until I heard Gary Oldman mention it in an interview with Backstage, and I'm glad I took the time to seek it out. I used Stella's book to prep my entire role for the last feature film I starred in, and definitely learned a lot more tricks to throw in the ol' acting bag, and by tricks I really mean technique. Good prep and technique -- many of which I learned in this book -- gives you the confidence and allows you to be free once you get to set. I'd highly recommend. I'll likely be referring to this book while prepping roles for the rest of my life.

United States on Jun 04, 2021

Jorge Zuazola: Thoroughly laid out and well presented. Very good for the reader. Easy to follow. When you have worked hard on these principles taught by Stella, with confidence you can say that you have learned a technique of acting that will stay with you. If it does not manifest itself at once, it will appear later.
If , as actors, you have done your homework, there is no cause to be humble or apologetic to in applying to agents directors or producers. You've done the grinding work demanded by your profession, they haven't. You will begin to act when you can forget your technique – which is so securely inside you that you do not need to call upon it consciously. By opening up, you allow it to happen to you.
Free your talent and let it work. By the miracle of non-acting you accomplish your aim. When you most succeed, you do so by seeming not to act at all.

United Kingdom on Nov 23, 2017

Matt: The Art of Acting is a great book on the subject of acting written by one of the premier acting teachers of the 20th century. Adler's book is inspirational, powerful, and profound. She explains, in great detail, various actions the actor may be called upon to perform on stage and leads her students through various exercises meant to connect the actor with the imagination and train themselves to realistically behave within the context of their character's background, costume, environment, social status, and culture. The only reason I gave this book four stars instead of five is that I feel it is not as use-able as some other acting books. Adler sometimes goes on (and on and on) describing the nature of some kind of action ("to reminiscence") or something and...what am I supposed to DO with that? It feels a lot like her interpretation (read opinion) of the nature of those things and how they should be played. Again, it just seemed to wax philosophical more than useful from time to time. There was also the advice "the actress does not sneeze on stage" to which I wanted to shout "COME ON Stella!"...my point is, again, if you want something really practical you should take a class...

United States on Apr 27, 2015

AMV: I bought this book due to a recommendation from Bob Proctor. I couldn't be happier with it!
The book talks about re-discovering the value and meaning of every-day things. Through the eyes of an actress we learn how to look again into details and re-build our life with the greatness that is possible to find in every single object.
Stella Adler takes no soft-words to wake us up from our ignorance and our lack of awareness, and at the same time she has plenty of confidence that every single person can bring his whole self to each moment of their lives.
It is an amazing look that will help you look at things in a different way, with more meaning.
You don't need to be an actor or an actress to enjoy it or use it. Just a curious soul, and the desire to squeeze all the juice that you can get from your own life!
I strongly recommend it, and it is fun!

United Kingdom on Dec 24, 2012

Book Lover 22222: This is going to the top of the "books my kids must read" when they are going off to college or leaving home. This book is a supposedly a series of Stella Adler's lectures about acting, but it is also very inspirational as a series of lectures about how to live.

Addler says that "The whole thing about acting is to give. The actor must above everything be generous. He doesn't hoard his riches...But before you can be giving and magnanimous, you must have something to give. Ideas don't come from your legs. They don't come from your voice. They come from your mind. The theatre is built on developing your mind. It's an education for your mind."

She works on critical seeing, self-awareness, discipline, self-control - skills that are important to everyone, not just actors. She discusses the importance of developing your imagination, "Eventually your imaginative reach will extend to other things, until you can say, I know how it feels to be in mourning, how it feels to be isolated, what it means to be abandoned, what it's like to be engaged or to be married." She means this in the context of acting on stage, but for the non-actor, it translates into becoming truly...

United States on Dec 18, 2006