-: Michael Shanafelt.
I graduated UVA in 2010 and I am a professional actor,
member of both the Screen Actors Guild
and the Actors Equity Association
which the union for state actors.
2019 was really a breakout year for me.
And I started the year getting to do a play,
the New York premiere of a play called "The Bodyguard."
And that was a blast.
Other highlights this year,
Disney's in the middle of doing all their
live action remakes of their classic films
and a film I got to be a part of was "Lady and the Tramp."
I just wrapped my first series regular role
on a new Netflix original show called "Sweet Magnolias"
which is based on a book series created by Cheryl Woods.
It was a New York Times best-selling drama/romance series.
I think an actor's job is you see the black writing
all over the page and then the rest of it is white.
And I think that's what an actor's job is
to fill in all the white blank space on that page.
It's your actors saying one thing,
but what's the subtext?
And I want to have a very clear understanding
of that before day one of rehearsal.
Obviously memorizing your lines, you know, that's 101.
That's basic.
But its subtext is what does my character want?
What is my character curious about?
Once I've done all that homework,
hopefully by day one of rehearsal when we're up
on our feet playing around,
then I can focus on the moment to moment
truth of this scene.
My scene partner is hopefully just as curious
about my character and she wants something from me
and she wants to be perceived in a certain way,
and I have to in the moment respond honestly
to that situation.
That all has to hopefully live in you
if you've really done your homework.
And then it's just moment to moment.
It's listening to your scene partner
and then responding in that moment.
And then you have to trust your director
to shape the scene.
You can't play director.
I'm not in a place in my development in my pedagogy
to also play director as I'm acting.
I just have to worry about being in the scene
like I'm talking to you, listening to you,
and reacting to you.
That's as well as I know how to describe the process
at this moment in my development.