In middle school, I would have never seen myself as an actor. Fast-forward 5 years, and here I am, majoring in theatre in college. The transformation was fast, but it's due to how much acting causes you to grow as a person. Here are some common benefits of acting...
1. It relieves stress.
Creative expression is one of the best ways to relieve stress. Acting can give you an emotional outlet to get your stress out without the judgement of others. While you can also relieve stress using creativity through art and music, acting is my personal favorite method. It's almost a relief to be able to admit to the world what you're feeling without actually admitting it.
2. It builds confidence.
Acting forces people to go out of their comfort zone to explore characters. They have to put themselves out there and make themselves more vulnerable in front of an audience. This point can be a bit hard to explain though, since a lot of people are afraid of public speaking, and these people almost never believe me when I tell them that acting makes you more confident. I think you just have to see it to believe it.
3. Acting makes you more aware of history and art.
Having acting experience definitely makes you more aware of the different points in history, and the more productions you act in, the more aware you are of different types of writing styles, productions, and points in time. The average actor has acted in productions from a lot of different times, during a lot of world events.
4. Actors care less about what people think.
When you can get up in front of a crowd and make a fool out of yourself, it's so much easier to have more fun. You'll be able to jump around, dance, sing, and pretend whenever you want, and you'll feel comfortable still. Why? Because you've done this a million times! It's really nothing now!
5. It makes it easier to communicate effectively.
How I like to think of it is the more you talk in front of a lot of people, the more comfortable you are with talking. After one production, I noticed immediately how much I was changed. I stopped slouching, I started to speak up, perform more, and I started looking people in the eye when I talked to them. This may sound like it's not a lot, but for an ex-introvert, it really is a lot to accomplish.
