Sharon Chatten On ‘The Method’ – How It Can Help Anyone, Actor Or Not

I’m delighted to have the wonderful Sharon Chatten on the show this week. A special thank you to Terry Berland for connecting us!

In this show, we discuss what method acting is, why it is so misunderstood, what good acting actually is, how this type of training can help anyone, even non-actors, and why Sharon is deeply passionate about passing on the legacy.

About Sharon: Since 1980, Sharon has been teaching ongoing acting classes and working extensively as a private coach in Los Angeles and New York. Before committing full-time to teaching, Sharon had leading roles as an actress since she was 8 years old in hundreds of plays, television series and films.

Sharon was made a lifetime member of The Actors Studio in 1975 and a lifetime member of Ensemble Studio Theatre in 1980. Under the personal invitation of Robert Redford, she participated in the founding two seasons of the Sundance Film Institute as a Resource Artist acting in numerous films by new filmmakers including playing Yolandia in the film Yolandia opposite Robert Duvall.

She has taught at Yale University (Fine Artists), Stanford University (Graduate School of Business), and the USC School of Cinema. She’s lectured at UC Santa Barbara (Film Department, and has been a guest on numerous panels including those for SAG and AFTRA.

Sharon has had the honor and delight of working alongside master talents: Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, Uta Hagen, Robert Redford, Robert Duvall, and Al Pacino, just to name a few.

Some of her students include celeb talents Jim Carrey, Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon, James Gandolfini, Charlie Hunnam, Will Smith, Ben Stiller, and even Justin Bieber. Remember Full Metal Jacket? Well, you’re going to find out why Vincent D’Onofrio, who played Private Leonard Lawrence in that film is a particularly amazing Method actor, and why he still uses this technique today…the same technique that’s he been practicing with Sharon for over 20 years.

For more information about Sharon, visit www.sharonchatten.com

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 53:13 — 64.3MB)