The Bold Acting Podcast

Having lost over 90% of his eyesight to a childhood Cancer, artist and actor Bruce Horak has has been making stuff in the world of the fully-sighted for over 25 years. Bilateral Retinoblastoma is a cancer which appears on the retina of the eyes, the treatment of which left Horak completely blind in one eye, with only 9% sight in the remaining eye. He has performed across Canada, the United States...

As far as cuisine is concerned one must read everything, see everything, hear everything, try everything, observe everything, in order to retain in the end, just a little.” — Fernand Point, father of French Cuisine. The future is not here yet. Why are we so enamoured with it? And the past? What is so bad about the present? Do you remember that voice-over in Terrence Malick’s The Thin Read Line? Wh...

Oscar Wilde said some things are too important to take seriously. And this is Rick Rubin’s stance on creativity. For me the pragmatic act of making art is the destination. And if we’re wary enough of inspiration we can get down to the business of getting our reps in. Art isn’t about thinking or even about being in a state of mind. It’s about doing it. And most of the time it’s better to be out of...

A Guyanese-Canadian actor Nicola Correia-Damude is best known for her role as Dr. Lucy Di Silva on Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent. Nicola came over to my house to talk about how, up until six years ago, she didn’t have a career in Film & TV. Since recent cultural shifts she has never been busier. In the before times she said she was “too ethnic, too mixed race, too fat, too tall, too this, t...

This week I went to the Comedy Bar here in Toronto and I did not get my money’s worth. We went to see the 9:30 standup show called Point Break Comedy because we didn't have time to go to the 8 o'clock improv show “Nice Time” that has a lot of heavy hitters in it. The first Comic got up and was the picture of a young stand-up comedian. Odd, bad with eye contact, lots of inappropriate humour. He tol...

This episode previously aired on In the Dark , July of 2017..WARNING: Topics discussed include suicide and depression. While in Bucharest, Romania I spoke with the acclaimed commercial director while we were working on a male incontinence campaign. I loved making these commercials. Jeff will be guest-teaching in my online class this Sunday March 10, 2024. Email me at jasonbryden@gmail.com if you w...

Once I had a friend named Ben. He was really nice. I value friendship over most everything else and I wanted to be a man that makes friends easily. But Ben was boring. So boring. I felt terrible for leading him on. But not as terrible as I did hanging out with him. I ghosted him but he wouldn’t take a hint. Then he caught me in front of the butcher shop and confronted me. It was an amazing time, t...

Guy MacPherson was a friend of mine. I only reconnected when I heard he had cancer. He didn’t seem to mind hanging out together. Guy was a lover of comedy and comedians. (He would object to me using the word lover .) He was Vancouver’s first comedy critic ( The Georgia Straight ), The world’s first comedy podcast and the longest running comedy radio show (WSF?) His legacy is large. You can read an...

Anyone can call themselves an acting teacher. In 1898 in Moscow that’s exactly what an actor named Constantine Stanislavski did. Stanislavski and his crew came up with what turned out to be the most enduring acting system in the world. And it needs a refresh. Actors are savvier these days. As are audiences. It’s 2024 and we are post-method. Anytime everybody is doing the same thing move in the opp...

There is so much Ven overlap between investors and actors. So this week I’ve cribbed from the best, Warren Butler’s partner, Charlie Munger. And then, because I love talking about me (and acting and teaching) I use Charlie’s wisdom as a jumping-off point. Because Charles and I are equals … in the pantheon of mind. Charlie died a couple months ago but not without leaving a wealth of great advice. H...

Stella Adler was a giant within the modern method acting movement of New York beginning in the 1950s. Her book although prescriptive and judgemental still has many practical insights that apply to surviving showbiz these days. I've read it and made copious notes that I read to you here. If you like the Bold Acting Podcast talk it up at your next dinner or book club. Word-of-Mouth is the best form...

Gambling Actors gamble with their feelings, their egos, humiliation. But you don’t want to bet the farm. Not every time. You’ll become depleted. Always keep one hog back. The winters can be long in this neck of the woods. We deal in feelings and feelings are the reason we are all here however, we cannot be ruled by said feelings or we become victims instead of observers. Lemme explain. To be a res...

David Rotenberg died recently in Toronto. He was a legendary acting teacher with a lot of big name students that came through his doors over the years. I lasted three classes with him before he emailed me and told me not to come back. I was missing the very basics of acting he said and there was nothing he could do for me. He didn’t offer me a refund. When I was a kid my mum left for a month to hi...

Shaun Benson was born in 1976 in Guelph ON. The son of an English professor and a German literature professor. Shaun started his creative career as a ballet dancer and a musician. He completed his undergrad, a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry at Western University. But fate intervened. Upon seeing a play at the Stratford Festival starring national treasure Colm Fiore something switched on in hi...

YVR Jan 4, 2024 This morning walking back from the gym through the gloom and rain I saw that someone had written in marker on a large hydro box “All comparison is odious”. I compare myself frequently to others. On instagram, at the gym or even in conversation. Like when I feel someone losing interest in me. I shut up as soon as I realize it now. I didn’t always have this self-awareness. But I wond...

There are two streams that make up the Bold Acting Podcast: How to be a Person — The Newsletter which I read aloud and publish, and the Bold Interview. Today I speak to Gord Rand . Gord Rand is an actor and creator. He has performed on stages such as The Shaw Festival, The Stratford Festival and the Worldstage. He won a Dora Award for his portrayal of a naked Ukranian plutonium dealer. Gord Rand w...

I am not a great teacher yet. I haven’t been doing it long enough. I’m a great student but that’s because of mentors like Ben Immanuel and fellow actors like Michael Teigen and it’s also because I’ve started teaching. The teaching makes me a better actor. The teaching gives me so much. The students do too. If they only knew just how much. (But the click-through rate of 66% on this newsletter means...

They are all around us. They drive without signalling. They talk loudly on their phones in the library. They holdup the line at the bank with all their dumb complaints. They write newsletters. But instead of letting a perfect stranger highjack your happiness perhaps they can fuel your creativity? If annoying people are inevitable then we should learn to use them to our advantage. Like Soilent Gree...

On a podcast I heard a founder of a startup say “Day one, your product is never worse.” He was talking about encouraging early adopters to sign up for their product even though it wasn’t complete. When you admit that today the thing you have to offer is only going to get stronger and better you enter into a covenant with yourself (I’m talking to me right now): I must improve and grow Bold Acting S...

The ROI on DDL Daniel Day-Lewis is a highly ineffective actor when you consider his Return On Investment. It’s a good thing he’s retired so we don’t have to put up with further reports of his methodology. If only Jeremy Strong’s wholehearted admiration for Mr. Day-Lewis would also have him knock-off to Ireland to renovate a castle or Kirk. You cannot argue with Day-Lewis’s results. I am an acting...

Gerry and I went for Korean on Wednesday. We ordered a beef dinner for four instead for some reason. The appetizer was thin slices of beef cooked on our table. All the smoke blew into Gerry’s eyes. Then there were mushrooms — the only vegetable I saw all night except for the kimchi. Which was delicious. Gerry’s dog had just died. Or Ger had just put her down. We cheers Poppy. I’m not really a dog...

I got strong opinions. And I say the same thing over again. Sometimes these things bear repeating. On this week’s episode I repeat myself mostly because I know what the click rate is of my newsletter. 63% of you open the Bold Acting Newsletter so I can record audio versions of four of these and there’s a good chance you’ll be hearing this content for the first time. I hope you get something from t...

“The rate at which a person can mature is directly proportional to the embarrassment he can tolerate.” — Douglas Englebart - Father of the computer mouse and digital pioneer Complaining is a human need: the transfer of information, much like gossip, between village members is a survival tool we’ve come to abhor incorrectly due to there are too many of us doing it. This is a product of us losing ou...

Catchup on newsletters you haven’t read yet. Let me read to you instead. Thank you for reading The Bold Acting Newsletter. This post is public so feel free to share it. If you like the Bold Acting Podcast talk it up at your next dinner or book club. Word-of-Mouth is the best form of advertising. If you don’t like it maybe just keep that to yourself. Rating and reviewing the thing is also greatly a...

I don’t like Shakespeare. Mostly it’s our outsized reverence for Shakespeare that I don’t like. Reverence for anything makes me roll my eyes. A preciousness for the old where it leaves less room for the new makes me suspicious. The bard takes up a lot of space, still. Would he be so popular if we had to pay his estate for the rights to produce his plays? Not likely. We don’t like paying artists th...