Actor Jeff Daniels gives sound advice to theater students

Actor Jeff Daniels learned to approach acting from what he calls “the psychiatrist’s couch.” When the “Dumb & Dumber” star moved to New York to begin his acting career, he learned to become vulnerable, a skill he considers vital for every aspiring actor.\n“In New York, everything I ever learned as a student they threw out,” Daniels said. “Whatever scene you are in you have to fall apart; you have to break down, you have to sob. If you can’t, they’ll find someone else who can. You learn how to do that if you want to have a career in acting.”\nDaniels spoke to a group of theater students at the Wells-Metz Theatre on Friday. The actor was in town for the Thursday night kickoff of the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival, where he performed original songs at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater.\nThroughout his afternoon question-and-answer session, Daniels used his film and stage experiences to give theater students advice on how to embody characters as well as deal with rejection.\nAfter talking about his role as Harry Dunne in “Dumb & Dumber,” Daniels spoke about the challenges of portraying the hated Bernard Berkman in “The Squid and the Whale” and a 50-year-old pedophile in the Off-Broadway production of “Blackbird.” \n“Every night I’m backstage ramping it up thinking like him, stressing out like him,” Daniels said about his role in “Blackbird.” “In school they teach you to relax and stretch and breathe, but you just have to throw that all that away. I was just stressed, and that was the only way to do it.”\nDaniels also talked to students about the need to self-rehearse and perfect their skills before they get on set. While leading stars have time to perfect their characters in front of the camera, supporting actors need to be great over the span of multiple takes.\n“In New York I learned that you have to be good right away,” Daniels said. “Early in my career in ‘Terms of Endearment’ I learned that the director is going to use the shot where Debra Winger is great. I have to be great eight times; Debra has to be great once.”\nFreshman Nicole Zausmer said she was relieved to hear that even successful actors deal with rejection. As a theater and costume design major, Zausmer was leaning away from acting. \nHowever, she said Daniels taught her that acting is a realistic goal.\nDaniels labeled “the onslaught of rejection” as the biggest challenge facing young actors. Even as an established actor, Daniels said he is turned down for not being a “big enough star.” \n“You’ve got to believe in yourself,” Daniels said. “You’ve got to go to New York or Chicago or L.A., and you’ve got to believe in yourself truly and honestly because you’ll be the only one. No one else will.”\nWhile Daniels is known for his film roles, he has also been a stage actor, playwright and musician. He even founded his own theater company, the Purple Rose Theatre , in his hometown of Chelsea , Mich. \n“I keep watching for theaters to die,” Daniels said. “It’s more work than ever to get the YouTube generation into theaters. If the American play is going to have a future, it’s going to be in the regional theaters with playwrights writing about the people from the area.”\nFreshman Kevin Doran liked that Daniels had a broad range of acting experience. \n“I really liked hearing about how he approaches a role and that he talked about acting from every angle: the playwright, the director, the actor and even the lighting,” Doran said. “He gave me lots of energy to keep going and keep pursing acting. An hour with him was like a whole semester of an acting class.”