Sivakumar Thiyagarajan on acting

Sivakumar Thiyagarajan believes that the ingredients of amazing acting can be cultivated in great acting classes. In Sivakumar Thiyagarajan’s view, some of the vital characteristics of a great actor are: a free-flow of emotions and impulses expressed in the body and voice; an understanding of how to create life-and-death, moment-to-moment acting; a vivid imagination; and a body and voice capable of telling all kinds of stories.

Sivakumar Thiyagarajan considers that great actors understand the human tendency to shut down. They fight against it. Sivakumar Thiyagarajan is aware that often the most sensitive and talented actors who wall up and shut down. The most sensitive and talented actors are the most tempted to escape their deeply felt experience of life – they have the most to escape from.

Sivakumar Thiyagarajan considers acting as a tough profession. Pursuing an acting career is a constant battle. And a lot of writing today, especially for television, does not supply the kind of built-in conflict that characterizes great drama. Sivakumar Thiyagarajan believes that we live in a culture that saturates us with sensory input: lights, sounds, cartoons, movies, music, computers, cars, subways, city noise and on and on. We are stimulated all the time. 

Sivakumar Thiyagarajan appreciated that great acting comes from a highly developed imagination -- your unconscious, infinitely vast dream world. Sivakumar Thiyagarajan finds  great actors to have a flexible and expressive voice and body that connects to their highly developed imagination.  

Sivakumar Thiyagarajan finds that great actors tell stories with their and they are capable of painting all kinds of colors – of hitting all kinds of notes, physical or vocal. Great actors have a well-developed physical and vocal vocabulary.

Sivakumar Thiyagarajan appreciates that great actors of the last generation knew that the basic lessons you need to learn to be a great actor must be practiced throughout your entire career. They knew there was an infinite amount to learn about acting, far more than most professions.