Stop Chasing Feelings: Why Actions Are a Game-Changer for Actors

A female tennis player throwing a ball in the air at the beginning of her serve.

The easiest truth to remember in acting: Acting is Doing. One of the most common traps beginning actors fall into is trying to feel something. You're handed a script, and your first instinct might be: How do I cry here? How do I feel angry? Or closer to the mark of how to activate yourself, but still a little off - you frame your character's motivations through a feeling or state of being, i.e. My character wants to be happy. But here's the truth: chasing emotions rarely works.

In real life, we don’t walk into a room trying to “feel sad.” We walk in trying to get something—we want someone to forgive us, to admit they’re wrong, to fall in love with us, to say yes. Emotions come as a result of pursuing something, not the other way around.

Enter: Actions and Tactics

Instead of asking “What do I feel?”, trained actors ask: “What am I doing to get what I want?” This is where actions (also called tactics) come in.

An action is a playable verb—something your character is actively doing to affect someone else in the scene. If your character wants forgiveness, they might try to apologize, make their case, plead, or even distract.

Using specific, active choices brings your scene to life. It gives you something to physically and emotionally do, which naturally unlocks the feelings you're after—without forcing them. Every single thing you ever do in a scene has an action tied to it. Every single line is an attempt to get what you want by playing an action.

Throwing a ball

My teacher at Juilliard, Evan Yionoulis, always said acting is like "Throwing a ball." You target your partner, and you throw this action to them, you are listening to see if and how they receive it; and then you catch whatever they throw back. The action they throw back affects you, and you throw back a new action in response to what you received from them. It's a cycle. It's a dance. And you never ever want to drop the ball. 🔄An Acting Exercise: Try to get this idea in your body by literally taking your hands and moving them from outstretched in front of you (towards an imaginary scene partner) - let your hands flow towards your own body until your hand is on your stomach. Then move them back out towards your imaginary scene partner in front of you again. It's simple, but we'd do this little movement at Juilliard all the time. Do this over and over again, to remind yourself what real connected acting always is at its core: a never-ending cycle of constant connection between you and your partner.

Good Actions vs. Bad Actions

So what makes a good action? Let’s break it down.

❌ Bad Actions (Don’t Use These):

• Too abstract or intellectual: to cajole, to poison with my words, to pinprick. These words might sound smart or poetically impactful, and they exist inside lists of Actor's Actions you can find in books or online, but they’re hard to actually do in real time. If you can’t picture yourself doing it in life, it’s probably not helpful on stage.

• Too vague or passive: to feel sad, to show love, to appease, to explain, to tell. These are either results, not actions - You can’t “do” a feeling. Or they are too vague - If we are saying words, we are almost always "telling" someone something.

✅ Good Actions (Use These!):

• Simple, specific, and doable: to confess, to threaten, to beg, to put my foot down, to call in a debt. These are all things you’ve likely done before. You know exactly what they feel like in your body—and how to adjust them depending on the moment.

Pro tip: A good action feels like something you could honestly do in life. If your friend was being stubborn, what would you try? That’s your tactic.

But a word of caution: action-scoring can go too far.

If you're just ticking off a pre-planned list of actions like a to-do list—now I threaten, now I plead, now I justify—you risk cutting yourself off from your scene partner entirely. The whole point of using actions is to put your energy off of yourself and onto the other person. If you're not truly listening and responding to what they're giving you in the moment, your actions become empty. They should be flexible, responsive, and alive—changing as the scene unfolds. Otherwise, you're just performing at your partner, not with them. Actions help you understand the intent behind the text your character is saying, and how they fight for what they want. But they matter so much less than listening to your partner in the moment does. If you feel action-scoring is getting in the way of you being fully open and present to your partner, then give this tool a rest and work on things that help you listen moment-by-moment.

Why It Works

Using actions shifts your focus from “How do I feel sad here?” to “How do I get them to change?” This turns acting into a two-way street—you’re listening, reacting, and making bold choices based on what’s happening moment to moment.

When you do that, emotions come because you're really invested and you're constantly winning or losing. And those emotions are then alive, spontaneous, and grounded in real pursuit.

Want Help Choosing Actions in Your Scenes?

At Acting Coaching Online, we help actors of all levels build powerful, playable action scores—so your performances feel truthful, specific, and alive. Whether you're prepping for an audition or deepening your technique, our coaches are here to guide you.

📅 Book a session today and start working smarter—not harder.