Method acting is one of the most misunderstood concepts. Actors may use a method, but that is a completely different technique than method acting. It is just something they are doing to help get into the character’s mind. Method acting is simple to understand but hard to do. It may be an exciting technique to stay in character, but it may not be true method acting.
Method acting uses your reality to relate to the character in a scene. Method actors slip into the skin of the character the actor is playing and physically and mentally become them. The following is a list of television actors who do not break character.
Pee-wee Herman / Paul Reubens
Pee-wee Herman may be the most interesting person on this list because it is like a Frankenstein story. According to an article in Mental Floss, Paul Ruben got the idea of the name pee wee by seeing the name pee wee on a harmonica. He thought the name Pee-wee Herman sounded like a real person and not an actor.
Reubens created the character of Pee-wee Herman to make people laugh. Paul tested his idea by auditioning on the show The Dating Game. As Pee-wee Herman and not Reubens acting as if Pee-wee Herman was a real person. He not only got the audition but won the show.
Aaron Paul
According to Showbiz Cheat Sheet, method acting nearly destroyed Aaron Paul. Aaron Paul was under pressure to do an outstanding performance while working on Breaking Bad because it was such a hot show. Aaron Paul desired to do a great job for the series, so he fully immersed himself in Jesse Pinkman.
Aaron would do things like dress like Jesse even when he was not working. He would hang out on the same streets as Jesse and even talk like Jesse. He fully became Jesse to the point that he would think like Jesse, and Jesse’s world became his world.
Camilla Luddington
According To Us MagazineCamilla Luddington would not break character on Grey’s Anatomy for practical reasons. Camilla has a British accent, and her character on the show has an American accent.
Camilla finds it too confusing and challenging to speak in her British accent when the camera isn’t rolling, so she talks in her American accent on the days she is working.
Nicole Kidman
In an Interview with L’Official, While playing Masha on the Hulu series 9 Perfect Strangers, Nicole Kidman would only speak Masha’s Russian accent and even talk in the accent at home.
Nicole refused to be called by her real name and would only answer to Masha’s name
Bryan Cranston
Anthony Hopkins said that Bryan Cranston’s acting in the television series Breaking Bad is the best acting he has ever seen. Bryan Cranston did a few things to get into the head of Walter White, and one of those things was making crystal meth!
According To Time,Cranston learned to make crystal meth on Breaking Bad from DEA consultants. They wanted it to look real on Breaking Bad and look like Cranston, and Aaron Paul knew what they were doing.
Bob Odenkirk
Bob Odenkirk used method acting in the way it’s supposed to be used for the series Better Call Saul. He tapped into his memories and emotions, things from his past that took him to a very lonely place.
He said in a Slash Film Article that he felt abandonment like he has never felt in his life, and he is looking forward to leaving Saul behind and that Bryan Cranston said similar things about Walter White, and now he understands what he meant.
Al Pacino
Al Pacino and method acting go hand in hand. The method seems to have worked for Al Pacino. He has played some of the most iconic film roles in history. Al Pacino even stayed in character as Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade in the movie Scent of a Woman pretending to be blind the entire time. Pacino studied under Strasberg at the Actor’s Studio.
Al Pacino has some regrets about his method acting, but he probably would not have had the success he has had without it. He still draws from his method acting well to this day. He uses some method skills to get into the role of Meyer Offerman government Holocaust survival on the Prime show. Hunters.
Kerry Washington
Kerry Washington has been in hit movies and television shows. Movies like Django Unchanged and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. She has been in hit shows like Black Panther, Scandal, and Little Fires Everywhere. Kerry Washington immersed herself in the character of Della Bea Robinson in the movie Ray; she brought baked goods to the film audition, and she does not even remember doing it.
The character she was playing was a homemaker, and Kerry went so far into the character that she brought baked goods to the audition and even shared the baked goods with the crew.
Jeremy Strong
Jeremy Strong used method acting in his portrayal of Kendall Roy in the series Succession, and it paid off because Jeremy has received praise for his role. But does he go too far?
While filming the film Chicago 7, Strong wanted to experience real tear gas in a crowd of hundreds of extras. He once refused to stop playing the kazoo while filming a scene.
Evan Peters
Evan Peters got so into playing Kai on American Horror Story: Cult that it took him two years to get over it.
Evans says in a Pop Buzz article being on America Horror Story can be mentally and emotionally draining because you have to tap into places you never want to go in your life for a scene.