By Sebastian Albertyn
Introduction and Biography
“Who am I? What is my motivation?” As actors we ask ourselves these questions routinely. We look at the worlds of our work and decide on behalf of others and ourselves what the stories and purpose of it all is. The reasons are often as varied as each story, and actor, themselves. I am Sebastian Albertyn, and I want to act. Why?
As a boy, I was always drawn, or pushed, to the outskirts of social and societal norms. Unpacking often, why and how I ended up on the other side of the glass. This developed within me a curious love of understanding people and emotional roadmaps. I use acting and my art to express not only myself, but also the stories of people I have met, both in and outside “the house”. I favour, in almost a macabre curiosity, any work that highlights the interrogation of the human psyche and human nature in a microcosm. Or, in a childish joy, any work that escapes it. How I engage in this industry will, with any hope, incorporate this duality. And it is with the efforts of this portfolio, and my second year journey, that I have begun to unpack and develop it.
As an actor with dreams of working in the UK industry, I have the rare experience of being born and raised outside of it. Though I originally feared that this would work against me, it is with the advice of my lecturers that I have begun to realize it can be my greatest asset. When it came to writing my bio, I felt it was important to lead with this. I also, upon viewing some IMDB references(see A.1), realized a few small lines about my upbringing would further highlight my uniqueness and invoke a list of experiences I could share to any work. Duality, and the spectrum between different sides of my life experiences, was something I wanted to get across. I also wanted it to sound punchy and draw attention, using active words like “thrusted”, “Trading” “Industrious”, which would make me seem energetic and edgy (see A.2)
A.1
A.2
Industry Deep Dive
As a foreigner to the UK, there is much about Acting here that I do not know about. The industry is very layered and storied, and all the paths to success and work are both myriad and simultaneously stifling. In my research, I started on location, as I believe an actor’s base can make or break their career. I began to realise almost immediately that London was the heart of most acting in the UK, theatre or screen. However, this leads it to draw an immense amount of competition and there are over a dozen acting institutions in London alone, many regarded as the best in the country including RADA, Mountview, Central and LAMDA. It is also notoriously expensive and boasts an incredibly high cost of living and housing, with the estimated monthly cost of a single person being 1105 pounds, without rent. And rent, being on average almost 126% higher than Leeds. According to the BBC, 63% of performers earned less than 5000 pounds from profession work in 2018. This financial strain has only gotten worse since covid. To be a struggling artist is one thing, to be fighting over scraps from cardboard boxes is another. Many of these students would also have access to funds and familial support, as well as a fair bit of industry connections.
Manchester, however, is only marginally more expensive than Leeds, and has great access to acting opportunities in and around the north. It’s central location between the four biggest cities in northern England; Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester itself provides acces to many theatres and theatre companies (). Its own growing film and television industry in MediaCity within Saltford, boasting productions like Peaky Blinders, Coronation Street, Brassic, Morbius and Netflix’s The House of Guinness. And commercial, film and TV castings increasingly calling to be done through self-tapes, it is becoming less and less required to risk the London acting breadbasket. In this, I have aspirations in joining Alex Priestley Talent or Narrow Road. Both have bases in Manchester, and have actors cast in projects I feel align to the type of stories I want to tell and be involved in, such as Bridgerton, Punch, and Starfield. They also are short on people who look like me. I have also noted an incredible casting agencies such as Lucy Bevan, Nina Gold, and Casting Collective. Who all handle much of the casting of the type of fiction work I would do, including blockbusters such a A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and Andor.
Over the course of the Easter break, I had the amazing opportunity to speak to Antony Howes(see C1), an incredibly experienced actor who has been a part of the industry since he was a child. He has worked in the Globe, West End, on Emmerdale, and even been nominated for an Olivier Award. As one of the few actors of his generation to still be active in the industry, I was able to glean a lot of insight from our conversation. He primarily spoke about the nature of the industry and how it has changed during his career. He mentioned how to deal with agents, the persistence and often shameless self-promotion, working in a way that is both self-beneficial but still providing value to the people around you. He highlighted the importance of networking, both in and out of the industry, stating many times how often he was on a friend’s or families couch during transitional moments in his career, or how a witty conversation and confidence would land him a job. We spoke about the importance of diversifying or solidifying your casting type, and the pros and cons of each choice. He is a man who has leant on his strengths, his comedy and high energy performances and how that has provided him with steady work. Personally, I am undecided on that topic. I think being new to the industry and giving it time to figure out how I fit in and where it wants to use me, will allow me to be adaptable and when I find my niche, striking while the iron is hot.
C.1
Visual Identity
B.1 (All within a year)
B.2
When looking at how I want to market myself, I looked at my age range and type. I’ve been informed that my casting leads to darker themes, either as a villain or misbegotten son or youth. According to Backstage, many actors find success in their 30’s (see B.2) and I will be 28 upon entering the industry, and although lacking the industry experience of some of my peers, younger or the same. It is an age with a lot of casting versatility. I think I am aesthetically quite mercurial, with a large age and historical range (see B.1). This is a strength to rely on.
For headshots, I wanted something that invoked youth and wisdom. Aligning with my casting types, without cementing me into either one. I also wanted to exemplify certain features that lend to period or fiction casting, as it’s a medium I heavily enjoy and genres that draw on my own peculiarities. In my older headshots, I tried emphasizing edge or friendliness, I think this was a mistake. (See B.3) After some research, and finding examples online, I would like to bring myself to a brooding intelligence, with dark clothes contrasted to a lighter background, with my long hair down and trim beard, creating youthful look of an older time. I might include a formal shirt or coat to invoke a more dated look without being to heavy-handed.
For my CV and work I have little experience outside of few student films and plays. I would then try use as many attributing skills as I can, to highlight my profile. With music experience, accents and any training I can muster. It is within this intention, that I am looking into furthering my combat training, and weapons training, as well potentially horse-riding. Although, more practically, I will endeavour to partake in as many productions as I find opportunity for. I enjoy guerilla filmmaking and have a lot of experience on student or low-budget sets. Again, I would like to highlight references on the darker psyche of humanity and work that lends itself to my casting. However, at this stage, and according to Tony and others, it’s important to just get work out there.
In this effort of personal branding, there is the new age choice of social media representation. It is growing trend and nuisance that exposure makes or breaks certain industry projects. A large following could secure you a role, or an online grievance could get you dropped off a project. In this, I have opted out until I can adequately discern how to market myself and how much of my personal life I want connected to my industry presence.
B.3
Reflections
This year has also provided me time to reflect on the work I enjoy doing and forced me to acknowledge certain hurdles, both in the way I approach work and what I need to do in order to be seen and see myself as a capable actor.
Part 1: The Physical
A lot of my approach to acting is often mental, introspective and macro-analytical. This is often helpful but can hinder me in certain genres and roles. My physicality in acting is something that is often to withdrawn or unintuitive for me, and their many classes this year where I received notes about allowing physical impulses to move me and inform my choices. Notably I received feedback in our first project and the Shakespeare, that I was often stiff or premeditated in my movement.
I find, more so than voice, my mind separates my body from thought, not because it finds it distinct, but because my body has not developed at the same pace as my head. Throughout the year I have been looking at ways to find intuition in my physical self. Using tools from class, I have started meditating on mindfulness within the body, and strengthening awareness of flow and “beat”. I have also looked at “The Body Keeps the Score” by Bessel van der Kolk, working to unlock trauma within my body to open expression up. I have reflected that as someone who grew with extreme social anxiety, that physical acting when working in groups can be a challenge for me, and making steps to acknowledge my sympathetic nervous systems’ reaction to group play is important in allowing that intuition to move.
I have also started body conditioning, in the form an observed diet and exercise. In my own experience, when my body was at its strongest and healthiest I found movement and action to be far clear and confident. And since moving to the UK, I have lost that physical diction. In this effort, I started a gym training course at the start of this year and have moved to applied calisthenics. Working with my own bodyweight and balance has helped create a stronger sense of self and capability. Although I have only just begun this training, it has already helped me in simple ways. Just knowing how much effort to move me or even feeling the weight in picking myself up, informs choices and allows me to know my limits, and how much I’m pushing to get there.
Part 2: The Voice
Working with voice this year has been interesting. On one hand, I am still struggling with projection and speaking to the space in stage work, on the other I have become far better at using levels and changes in the voice itself. Throughout the year and roles, I have had effective play with my voice. Creatures, or villainous tones, soft and humorous nasality. I find I am far more confident in making choices for text in this manner.
We also looked into words and textual analysis, with the Shakespeare being a massive insight into this. Unpacking the text into themes and collusions of itself and playing with that in the voice really heightened the work. However, where I am lacking is that my vocal choices, unlike my physical, are often too undecided, and need more placement in idea and reactiveness, instead of the non-culminating flow I tend to fall into. It is often that I am speaking to myself, and not the other actor or the audience.
In an effort to remedy this, I actually stumbled on an interesting restorative method through Metal vocal training: by practicing intense self-observation whilst sounding words or lines. Essentially, you create a record of the sounds and match them, acknowledge the physical strain or movement used to create it, and then repeat until the muscle memorizes it. This allows you to map your voice through effort, and strengthens your mental awareness of your vocal range and warping abilities. As I progress with this, I am finding a lot more freedom in my voice, as the choices become sharper and more creative.
Summative Statement
Earlier I mentioned trying to engage with my duality as a step into this industry. This is often a difficult task, as leaning too far to one side can limit my creative choices and trying to maintain both often leads to a common critique: That I need to make more bold choices. In past efforts in my work, I’ve tried to engage more with work in a way that focused on adapting to the environment I was in, or people I was with. This I think, has been a trap. I have recently begun to evolve that spectrum by developing both sides of it, and more importantly, making them equally accessible. This has been a journey of self-study and resolution, and over the last two months I have paid far more attention to the level of considered effort and practical learning this requires. Being adaptable is an important skill as an actor, but it is useful to strengthen what it is of yourself that you are adapting. Acknowledging myself, my capabilities, in the technical aspects of performance as well as the social nuances of the industry is what I am currently striving to develop.
My next and concurrent step is to get involved. I need to network and create as soon as possible, and fill in the gap within my knowledge of this countries industry. I have looked at all the film schools in and around Leeds and Manchester, and am already good friends with members of its current graduating classes. Joining these film societies and connecting them to the acting resources I have will be beneficial to all involved. Maintaining also, my connection with Tony Howes, and seeing how that can develop and provide even more useful insight.
I will also continue to develop my skills, as I have really started to delve into the literature and theory within the work, and familiarize myself with the wealth of plays and techniques available to me. A lot of new English plays tell amazing stories about local struggles and communities, and the more I have been a part of these environs, the greater I find my interest and ability in performing them. I still find my stage practice to be needing more polish and attention to reach that gold standard I want. I am not terrible, but I am not good enough to compete within this industry and achieve what I want to achieve. There is a big summer coming, and I am for the first time since moving to England, absolutely unburdened. This is an important time for me to practice and rehearse my techniques and come to third year and face the industry confident in myself and the work I will create.
Lastly, it is still important to be realistic. Without a stable goal within the confines of economic, mental and social security, no actor will make their dream come true. This year has taught me that in spades, and although I have not been as strong as I would of liked, having dealt with all these issues in the earlier months, I am now direly aware of these and capable of tackling them. Actors are students and mirrors of life, and we have to create a life that allows us to work our craft. Remaining humble and grounded, whilst acknowledging what we are capable of, is important in creating quality work, and being consistent and persistent in this hellscape of a profession.
My strategy as an actor, is to develop and maintain myself. Create a gate of access for me to perform my work from within all my bounds. From there, foster connection and intention with my peers and directors. Network relentlessly. And ultimately, most importantly, create longevity through persistence and diligence, that will allow me to be active and available for the opportunities when they arrive. And repeat.
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