Stella Adler
Stella Adler
Stella Adler was an American actress and acclaimed acting teacher. She founded the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City and Los Angeles with longtime protégée, actress Joanne Linville, who continues to teach Adler's technique. Her grandson Tom Oppenheim now runs the school in New York City, which has produced alumni such as Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Elaine Stritch, Kate Mulgrew, Kipp Hamilton, and Jenny Lumet...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionStage Actress
Date of Birth10 February 1901
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
In life, as on the stage, it's not who I am but what I do that's the measure of my worth and the secret of my success. All the rest is showiness, arrogance and conceit.
The play is not in the words, it’s in you!
The ultimate aim of the training is to create an actor who can be responsible for his artistic development and achievement.
The ideas of the great playwrights are almost always larger than the experiences of even the best actors.
Life is boring. The weather is boring. Actors must not be boring.
Life in the theatre isn't necessarily when you get money from performing. It isn't when you sign a contract. It isn't even when you are in a play. It's when you understand it. If you understand it, you'll know why you want to act.
Your talent is in your choice.
When you most succeed, you do so by seeming not to act at all.
Growth as an actor and as a human being are synonymous.
Our heritage as actors goes back thousands of years, and we have to feel as comfortable in the clothes, and the language of Sophocles as we do in our sneakers.
No actor is a success unless he feels inside himself, as long as he lives, that he is good.
When an acting teacher tells a student 'that wasn't honest work' or 'that didn't seem real,' what does this mean? In life, we are rarely 'truthful' or 'honest' or 'real'. And characters in plays are almost never 'truthful' or 'honest' or 'real'. What exactly do teachers even mean by these words? A more useful question is: What is the story the actor was telling in their work? An actor is always telling a story. We all are telling stories, all the time. Story: that is what it is all about.
You cannot afford to confine your studies to the classroom. The universe and all of history is your classroom.
The best author is a dead author, because he's out of your way and you own the play. Take what he has given you and use it for what you need.