How To Create Your “Brand” As An Actor

An actor recently asked me a question about their branding: who exactly they are and how they should be portraying themselves.

The main issue in casting is believability and not distracting from the story. Read on.

Hacktor Question: 

I need to develop my “brand”.

I understand I need to evaluate what parts I can play and then I will know how to sell myself to the industry. I am not too sure where to go to next. Any advice on how to create this “brand” outside of what I have done already?

I have interviewed friends who have said I come off as an everyday man but I can also stand out as a “character”. One friend who has seen me perform and knows my range well has described me as a young Bryan Cranston. I’ve been told I play “bad” or “tortured” well and that is what I want to do on a large A-list scale. I want to be The Devil, the killer, the monster. But one who was once something very normal and likeable. A Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde role is perfect for me.

David’s Answer:

Brand is a funny thing.

I suggest not deliberately doing anything in terms of who you are, as people will be trying to label you left, right and center.

As far as playing dark characters, they are more about what they do than how they behave. Be careful not to play ‘dark’ as it can get one noted very quickly and ‘tortured’ can devolve into self-pity, which is not an appealing trait.

Great bad guys are not much different than great good guys except that they often have a lot of confidence compared to the good guy. Everyone needs to believe that what they are doing is right so there are two sides of the coin.

Believability is one of the biggest issues in casting and that has a lot to do with physicality, which is to a large extent, out of our control.

If you want to play Superman, you better be fit, etc. If the character is a teenager, you can’t play it if you’re 50 no matter what, so learn to identify what you can and can’t control or what you are willing to do or not do like lose weight, learn a language, etc. Don’t worry about what you can’t or aren’t willing to change and focus on what you can.