Look the Part: 8 Body Language Acting

Tips
As an actor, body language plays a crucial role in your overall success in auditions,
roleplay and performance. Mastering your nonverbal communication can set you apart from
the sea of competition and give you an advantage with:

• Directors
• Casting agents
• Choreographers
• Influential industry experts

Do you want the part? To nail every audition and interview, you must use the right set of
tools and techniques. Follow our eight body language acting tips to showcase your natural
talents, level-up your communication mastery and become the most memorable person in
the room.

Before we dive in, let’s see how you currently use body language and nonverbal
communication. Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

• How do I prepare my body and voice before an audition?

• What facial expressions do I make in the audition room when I’m not performing?
• How does my voice inflect when I introduce myself to casting directors?
• What did I do in my last audition to land the role?
• Did body language contribute to my last rejection? What did I do and how can I
change it?

Once you have completed your self-diagnosis, use these body language hacks for actors:

1. Master Your Space

Spatial norms, known as proxemics, are an important element in the audition.

Researchers have found that how we use space can give us interesting information.
Specifically:

The body to body distance between two parties encodes the nature of the relationship
between the participants themselves as well as observing third parties. In other words, we
use space to decide how someone feels about us and we look at space between others to try
predicting their relationship.

Everyone has their own space bubbles. These are the areas around our body where we like
to interact with different kinds of people. Everyone’s bubble is slightly different, but here
are some averages:
 • Intimate space is 0 to 18 inches from our body. People who are in that space have
to be intimate with us because they are close enough to reach out and touch us. You
never want to go into someone’s intimate space accidentally.
• Personal space is 1.5 to 5 feet from our body. This is the most common zone we
use. We easily can reach out and shake hands and speak so someone can hear us.
This is our favorite zone to use when talking to friends at a party or colleagues in
the break room.
• Social space is 5 to 7 feet from our body. This often is used with people you feel
are not a threat, but you are not necessarily interacting with them. It can be at a
party or networking event or even in a large event space.
• Public space is beyond 7 feet. This gives us enough space to figure out someone’s
intentions before an approach. At 7 feet, you can see their entire body, their hand
gestures and posture. We like to get a good read on someone before talking to them.

Action Step: Practice safe space boundaries. Remain in the personal and social space zones
with the casting director and other decision makers.

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2. Know the Seven Microexpressions

A microexpression is a brief, involuntary facial expression that appears on a person’s face
according to the emotions being experienced. Unlike regular, prolonged facial expressions,
it is difficult to fake a microexpression.

In other words, when we feel an intense emotion, that emotion reveals itself on our face (for
better or worse).

The seven universal microexpressions are:

• Disgust
• Anger
• Fear
• Sadness
• Happiness
• Surprise
• Contempt

In an audition, you want to project the emotion of the character you’re portraying. If your
script is sad, practice showing the sadness microexpression in the mirror beforehand to
truly get into the mind and body of the character.

Additionally, smile only when you want to show happiness. Many actors make the mistake
of plastering on a fake smile throughout the entire audition. Unfortunately, we can spot
ingenuine happiness a mile away, so be mindful of your smile and intention behind it.
Special Note: Be sure to avoid negative expressions (disgust, anger, contempt and sadness)
as you enter and leave the room, especially if you’ve been given negative feedback. Remain
as facially neutral as possible to leave a positive, lasting impression.

Action Step: Memorize the seven microexpressions so you can use the correct one in the
correct scene no matter what script you are handed:

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3. Use a Launch Stance

To be confident, your body language must show it.

First, the easiest way to project confidence is to claim territory. Own your body and own
the space around you by standing or sitting tall.

Keep your arms loose by your side or place one or both hands on your hips. Relax your
shoulders down your back and open your chest. These expansive postures (what we refer to
as a Launch Stance) will show others that you’re confident and sure of yourself.

Be wary of low power postures (unless the script calls for it!), such as crossing your arms
or turtling your shoulders to your ears as this may signal defeat.

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4. The Power of Leaning

Leaning is a specific nonverbal bride that allows us to cross into someone’s space bubbles.

When we lean toward someone or lean across the table toward someone, we get closer to
their next zone as we discussed in the first acting tip. It is a subtle way to ‘warm-up’
someone as you get to know them.

Lean toward the director as they ask more about you and your experience to show warmth
and camaraderie. Additionally, lean toward them when receiving notes and feedback to
nonverbally show you’re listening and actively want to improve.

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5. Prepare with a Vocal Warmup

Here’s a big prepping problem:

We often prepare for our first few lines of a speech or monologue, but we rarely think about
how we deliver those lines.
You can say the greatest line in the world, but if you sound nervous saying it, then your
message is ruined!

I do a vocal warm up exercise before every presentation, meeting or speech where I’m
speaking for more than a few minutes.

Action Step: Learn my 5 vocal warmups:

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6. Use Purposeful Gazing

The eyes have it!

Confident performers and actors know the power of eye gazing. To increase your
confidence, be sure to look people in the eye as you are speaking AND as they are
speaking. Too often we look away, check our phone or scope out the rest of the room. This
is not only rude, but very low confident.

Action Step: Use purposeful gazing and eye contact to your advantage. When you enter the
audition room, keep your head up and look in front of you. After you plant yourself in your
Launch Stance, look at who you’re introducing yourself to. Don’t shift your eyes too much
and never look at the floor.

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7. Harness Confidence
There’s a big confidence myth: Confidence is just one of those things that “you have or you
don’t.” No way! It’s a skill, one that can be developed like any other skill, through
intentional practice.

Your ability to display confidence increases trust and comfort levels with others. You can
build confidence with your body language in many ways. Here are six ways to authentically
develop inner confidence before your next audition:

• Harness your professional happiness.

• Create a pump-up playlist.
• Manage and deal with any social anxiety or performance anxiety.
• Write down three positive self-truths. These are the ideas we tell ourselves and the
beliefs we carry around.
• Find a confidence role model who demonstrates leadership, isn’t afraid to be unique
and communicates and interacts with everyone.
• Do a pre-performance routine…

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8. Your Pre-Performance Success Routine

What do you do before each audition? Before you take the stage? Before you walk into the
room?

The most successful people have professional warm-up routines.

Daniel McGinn, author of Psyched Up: How the Science of Mental Preparation Can Help
You Succeed, calls professional warm-ups “Pre-performance Rituals.”

Pre-performance Rituals: A routine or habit a performer, athlete or professional does to

enhance their performance, get their mindset right and beat nerves.

McGinn argues that we all should create our own Pre-performance Rituals to have more
day-to-day success. This is not only a way we can prepare ourselves for better performance,
but it’s also a way to combat nerves.

Action Step: Learn how to psych yourself up.

Now is the time to take action. Use these body language acting tips to your advantage when
you prepare for your next audition. Remember, auditions are your first impression and
when approached scientifically and objectively, can be a lot more fun then they may seem
now.
When you present yourself as a focused, charismatic and confident actor, you are
guaranteed to set yourself up for success.

How to Get Motivated: 10 Tips to Improve

Your Self-Motivation
Let’s test your motivation intuition. According to the research, what motivates people the
most to meet their goals?

1. Financial Rewards
2. Compliments
3. Progress
4. Competition

Want your kid to clean out the garage? Offer them an allowance. Want an employee to do
better? Give them a bonus. This is how most people think about incentives and motivation,
but science says that financial rewards are poor motivators for success.

The real motivator: 3. Progress!

In his New York Times Bestseller, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us,
Daniel Pink pulls apart four decades of scientific research on human motivation. Let’s dive
into what the science says about how to motivate yourself AND others.
#1: Small Wins Self-Motivate
We used to think financial incentives were the best kind of motivation. Pink argues that
these are outdated. The deep human need to direct our own lives, to learn and to create new
things is the secret to high performance and satisfaction. According to Pink:

Typically, if you reward something, you get more of it. You punish something, you get less
of it. And our businesses have been built for the last 150 years very much on that kind of
motivational scheme.

Daniel Pink

Harness the power of small wins by being a hero of progress. Whether you are talking to
your colleague, your spouse or trying to motivate yourself, highlight progress. Here’s how:

• When sitting down to make your to-do list, start with what you already have done
up top. Make a little ceremony of checking off the progress you already have made
before doing more.
• Make scoreboards for yourself and your team so you can see how far you have
come in the middle of a big project.
• When speaking with teammates, instead of saying what they have to do next, talk
about what they did already. When giving a compliment, highlight specific tasks
already achieved. Don’t talk about how little they have left; talk about how far they
have come!

Don’t just start celebrating small wins — stop your big losses. Here are 7 things you need
to stop doing.

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#2: Self-Motivating Talk

What does it sound like in your head?

Sometimes, I wish I could hop into someone’s head to hear what they really are thinking.
Our thoughts are secret—and it’s a good thing too. We are far more brutal in our minds
than in reality. The problem is, our thoughts matter.

As a man thinketh, so is he.

The Book of Proverbs (King James edition)

Here are the major questions I have for you:

• When you talk to yourself, are you nice? Mean? Harsh? Sweet?
 • Do your thoughts match your actions?
• Would you be okay broadcasting your thoughts?

Over the past few years running the Science of People, I have shared with you, my readers
and students, that I am a ‘recovering awkward person.’ Most people immediately ask me
two questions following this statement: How were you awkward? And how are you
recovering?

This blog is filled with many of the practical tips I use to fight awkwardness and
successfully interact with people. But I rarely get into the mindset of behavior change. This
post is the first time I will go in depth into the thoughts behind behavior and motivation.

Here are some of the most common bad habits that hurt our motivation:

• Procrastinating
• Eating Badly
• Smoking
• Not Exercising
• Working Too Much
• Working Too Little
• Watching Too Much TV
• Drinking
• Losing Things
• Gossip
• Being Disorganized
• Forgetting Things
• Lying
• Complaining
• Ignoring Problems
• Starting But Never Finishing

Any of these look familiar? The first step to getting motivated is understanding how your
thoughts are tied to your actions.

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#3: The Brain Believes What You Tell It Most

I recently picked up the book What to Say When You Talk to Your Self by Shad Helmstetter.
Dr. Helmstetter argues that we are programmed by our thoughts. His ideas are very similar
to the process I use when interacting with people and overcoming social anxiety. While the
neurological evidence in the book is scant, I did want to use it as a springboard for
discussing mindset. In fact, this is something I run into all the time in our lab. Specifically,
our self-truths:
Self-Truths: The ideas we tell ourselves. The beliefs we carry around whether they are true
or not.

Sometimes, we learn self-truths from life experiences. Other times, we pick them up from
those around us. And yet other times, we believe what we are told by parents, bosses and
teachers.

For example, I had no chance to be good at math. From a young age, I was told ‘it wouldn’t
come naturally to me’ or that ‘math will be your worst subject’ and sometimes even, ‘math
is hard for girls.’ And guess what? It was! (And is). I wonder what would have happened if
I had been told the opposite?

Here are some other common negative self-truths I hear people say all the time:

• I am horrible at remembering faces.

• I never get a break.
• I have terrible luck.
• I can’t remember names.
• I’m awful with people.
• I’m so awkward.
• I’ll never fit in.
• I’m not creative.
• Mondays are always slow.
• I’m no good at …
• Things never work out for me.
• I’m just not the type of person who …
• I’m so clumsy.

Do any of these sound familiar? I want to take a moment and have you think about some of
your self-truths. What are some limiting beliefs you say to yourself?

• I’m not good at _______________________________________.

• I always _______________________________________.
• I never_______________________________________.
• I’m just not the type of person who ________________________________.
• I’m not very _______________________________________.

These kinds of thoughts KILL motivation before you even can get started. If you are
warming up your brain with these kinds of thoughts, there is no way you can work or be
productive as your best self.

If nothing comes to mind with these, DON’T fill them in! But if one instantly pops into your
head, you might just have learned something interesting about yourself. Read on…

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#4: Motivation Buzzkills
The other kind of self-talk can come up around certain people or in specific situations. I call
these motivation buzzkills. We have no chance of motivating ourselves if we constantly are
putting ourselves down. For example, I feel very out of place in nightclubs and loud bars.
My self-talk sounds something like, “I am so uncool!” or “I don’t belong here.” This is
probably a learned self-truth. I had a few bad experiences early on and now I can’t shake
them.

A friend of mine tends to chastise herself whenever she is around her mother. Before
driving over to her parents’ house for dinner, she will sit in the car and agonize, “I’m
always so late… I never have my life together.” And the sad thing is her mom says the
same thing the moment she walks in the door. “Honey, you’re always late—you have to be
more organized!” This is a taught self-truth that has turned into a motivation buzzkill.
Every time she goes over to see her mom, she constantly is self-doubting, which makes her
more disorganized and late. Her mom reaffirmed the behavior at a young age, and she held
onto it.

Where do you put yourself down?

• At Work
• With Your Boss
• Around Your Parents
• With Your Friends
• With Your Productivity
• At School
• With Technology
• With Your Health

Do you struggle with procrastination? Read our guide to beating procrastination here.

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#5: Limiting Wishes

Sometimes, self-truths come in the form of limiting wishes.

Limiting Wishes: A future state that we hope will solve all of the problems from our
current lacking self.

For example, one woman came into our lab and told us that the reason she can’t make
friends is because of her horrible nose. “I look like a toucan,” she said. “When I’m talking
to people, I know all they are thinking about is my nose. As soon as I get it fixed, it will be
so much easier to meet people.”
Let me ask you a question. Have you EVER not been able to talk to someone because you
didn’t like their nose? No. Absolutely not. We tried explaining this to her in every way
possible. We even had people watch videos of her and rate her on a variety of personality
traits. Not one single person mentioned her nose in the comments, in the post-interview,
nothing. However, she was convinced of this limiting wish. Her limiting wish was, “If only
my nose was smaller, I would be able to make friends.”

Here are common limiting wishes:

• If only I was thinner

• If only I was taller
• If only I was richer
• If only I was funnier
• If only I was smarter
• If only I got that promotion
• If only I could move to that city
• If only I could find a significant other
• If only I was older
• If only I was younger

Do you have any limiting wishes? Any desires that are holding you hostage?

• If only I was _______________________________________.

• I wish I _______________________________________.
• Everything would be better if I_______________________________________.

Limiting wishes make motivation incredibly difficult because they are barriers to
productivity.

Bottom Line: If you think you need to change something, do something or have something
before you can get motivated, then it will be almost impossible for you to be productive.

Want to change your limiting beliefs? Read our science based goal setting guide.

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#6: Changing Self-Talk

Dr. Helmstetter breaks down being able to change your self-talk into five levels, which I
found interesting:

Level 1: The Level of Negative Acceptance

“I can’t _____ .”
The fill-in-the-blank statements you put in for your self-truths and limiting wishes are the
current negative ideas you have accepted about yourself.

Level 2: The Level of Recognition and Need to Change

“I need to …” , “I should …”

*Hopefully* this is where you are now. The first half of this post was getting you to think
about changing some of your negative self-truths and limiting wishes.

Level 3: The Level of Decision to Change

“I no longer …”

When you’re here, you have decided to change some of the limiting beliefs you have (see
Step #5).

Level 4: The Level of the Better You

“I am …”

Once you have retired a limiting belief or changed it, you then have a new self-vision and
concept.

Level 5: The Level of Universal Affirmation

“It is …”

Finally, you see the world differently. You have changed your own belief and the world
around you.

What level are you at? If you have issues with procrastination, motivation or productivity
you are probably stuck at level 2 or 3. You know you want to change and know what you
have to do, but actually committing to the change is the hardest part. Here’s how to commit
to change:

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#7: Change Your Internal Voice

What does your internal voice sound like? For just a moment, think about the voice in your
head. You know, the one that comments on your actions or makes little observations about
the world around you. Does that voice sound like the voice you use in real life? Over the
last few years, I have talked to people about their own ‘self-talk’ and, more often than not, I
hear them mention ‘how mean’ the voice in their head is. “But that’s you!?” I would say.
“That voice is you!” But they would explain that sometimes the way they talk to
themselves is much harsher than the way they would speak to anyone else.

Would you speak to someone else the same way you speak to yourself? Take a look at this
spectrum. When you talk to yourself, where do you fall:

•
•
•
•
•

I am extremely critical of myself. When I don’t get something right, I internally berate
myself and my abilities. If I mess up playing soccer or have a bad workout day, I internally
chastise my laziness and lack of willpower. I had no idea I was doing this until I began to
write down my internal thoughts.

Action Step: For the next seven days, carry around a journal and write down every internal
thought that goes through your mind about your tasks. In other words, you do not have to
write down all of your thoughts about work or driving. But you want to write down what
you think about how you do those tasks or activities. I recommend remembering your
thoughts while on the drive to work, or how you feel while reading your emails in the
morning at work.

Are you in a funk? Use these 5 steps to snap out of your funk.

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#8: Re-Examine
Examine the kinds of thoughts you have on a daily basis. See any patterns? I want you to
take out a sheet of paper and draw three columns. In the first one, write down all of your
limiting belief patterns. These are your motivation killers. What thoughts are counter-
productive to you being your best self or working at optimal levels? It might look like this:
 •
•
•
•
•

It seems silly, but sometimes we have been thinking something for so long that we have
forgotten what made us believe it in the first place. And we certainly no longer challenge it.
I want you to go through your self-truth list and write down its opposite in a column called
‘Opposite.’ It should look like this:
 •
•
•
•
•

This is the hard part. I want you to write down all of the reasons why the opposite is true.
Sometimes this means finding learning experiences from hard memories—that’s okay.
 •
•
•
•
•

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#9: Your Choice to Self-Motivate

Now you have a choice. You can live automatically by default. Or you can live
purposefully, with challenges and hard truths. I do not believe ignorance is bliss. I think
truly living is embracing truth—about yourself, about the people around you, about how we
work. But only you can decide to do this. If you want to try purposeful self-talk, all you
have to do is complete the three steps above when you begin to be self-critical. I can’t do
this all the time, but it is what I try most of the time. This is how I have overcome a lot of
my social anxiety. When I find myself in a bar for a friend’s bachelorette party, I go
through these three steps:

• I don’t belong.
• I belong.
• My best friends are here. I love celebrating people, especially the bachelorette. I
love the song they are playing.

And so it goes. It’s not easy. It doesn’t happen all the time. But it’s exactly what it sounds
like in my head.

What does it sound like in yours? You have a choice to begin to slowly changing your self-
talk and removing those motivation buzzkills.

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#10: Motivate Yourself By Pumping Up

We all need rituals, routines and habits to get ourselves psyched up for something big. This
could be what you do before a meeting, date or event. Here are a few ideas for you:

• Use music to pump yourself up

• Make a pre-performance ritual
• Build the perfect morning and evening routine

Bonus: Be More Productive

Productivity and motivation go hand in hand. While you are tackling your limiting self-talk,
it’s also time to use my favorite productivity hacks.
14 Unique Productivity Tips: How to Be More Productive with Less Effort

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Double Bonus: Get More Willpower

Need a little more oomph to your motivation? You might need to supercharge your
willpower muscles. Yes! Willpower is like a muscle that you have to exercise and
strengthen. Check out my strategies:

10 Scientific Strategies Proven To Increase Your Willpower