Stage fright can strike a passionate aspiring actor or an acting veteran with many accolades. But, alas, performance jitters need not stop an actor from engaging at a high level. Here are three celebrated actors who overcame stage fright:
Octavia Spencer: If performing in the theater causes too much anxiety, then set your goals on TV and film.
Octavia Spencer has battled her fair share of intense bouts of stage fright over the years. During an Off Camera interview, The Shape of Water star said, “I love comedy, but I do not love audiences, so mama has chosen not to do [theater work].” Spencer acted in one—and only one—play, explaining her acute performance nerves were too much to bear. On the other hand, the Self Made actress loves working in television and film.
While she continues to feel overwhelmed with anxiety when she walks on the red carpet and speaks before audiences, Spencer hasn’t allowed stage fright to stop her from pursuing a career as an actress. “If you’re terrified of everything, and you don’t venture out and try to get past that fear, you will never accomplish anything,” she asserts.
Jonathan Pryce: “Think less about yourself and more about the person you’re talking to.”
Two-time Tony Award-winning actor Jonathan Pryce remembers first experiencing stage fright when he enrolled in an acting class. He recalls “feeling very faint and dizzy, my hands would start tingling, and I find it very difficult to learn lines.” He continues, “But I was fortunate in that when people saw me, they weren’t aware of what was going on inside, and they were saying, ‘It’s good—what you’re doing is good.’”
Pryce took great comfort in the fact that his nerves were apparently not visible to the audience, coupled with all the positive feedback he was receiving. Now with decades’ worth of acting experience under his belt, The Two Popes star says he really only feels stage fright when he needs to be himself as opposed to playing a character.
“The cruel answer is that those nerves have to do with self-regard,” he explains. “You are thinking that you are the important thing in the presentation. And of course, you should be thinking about who you’re talking to—that’s what you need to focus on. It’s less to do with self and more to do with what you’re communicating to the audience.” He finds that when he focuses his energy on listening to his scene partners and paying close attention to the way they are responding to him, everything falls into place.
Andrew Garfield: Consider what will be lost if you give in to your fears.
When Hacksaw Ridge star Andrew Garfield was just starting out, he didn’t think he was even worthy of stepping on a stage. In an Off Camera Show interview, Garfield stated that he suffers from issues of self-worth. Reflecting on his early acting experience in England, Andrew said, “I remember how I was going to walk on stage for the first time, and I thought I was going to die … I literally thought, ‘If I walk on that stage, I’m going to die … I’m a fraud, I have nothing to offer’ … that was the first feeling I had.”
However, one day he strolled along the River Thames and happened across a humble man who was busking. The musician’s guitar playing and singing talent was rather unremarkable, but he gave a heartfelt rendition of the Don McLean song Vincent, and it touched Andrew.
Garfield was taken by the fact that this man “picked up his instrument, he walked onto his stage on the concrete, and he breathed in and let himself express himself in the way that he felt called to.” This amateur musician’s actions demonstrated to young Andrew just how important it is to show up as well as to be willing to expose your vulnerabilities and inadequacies. The realization was enough to make Andrew weep, and as if for dramatic effect, the clouds suddenly parted and the sun came out! The wholeness of the experience left Andrew feeling transformed. And he realized with absolute certainty, that if he didn’t go on stage, then he would die.
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