PSYCHOLOGY
OF ACTING

Online Character Development Class

A live online acting class focused on psychology, behavior, emotional architecture and character construction for film and television.

The Objective

THE STRONGEST PERFORMANCES COME FROM UNDERSTANDING WHY A PERSON BEHAVES THE WAY THEY DO AND ARE OFTEN BUILT FROM VERY SMALL TRUTHS.

The Psychology of Acting focuses on understanding the internal systems that drive human behavior: fear, desire, shame, contradiction, insecurity, ego, trauma, masking and motivation. These are the things that inform how a person reacts under pressure, why they avoid certain truths, why silence sometimes says more than dialogue and why two people can experience the same moment completely differently. The objective is not simply to perform emotion, but to build characters with internal logic so the performance begins feeling less like acting and more like watching a real person exist.

The Psychology of Acting focuses on understanding the internal systems that drive human behavior: fear, desire, shame, contradiction, insecurity, ego, trauma, masking and motivation. These are the things that inform how a person reacts under pressure, why they avoid certain truths, why silence sometimes says more than dialogue and why two people can experience the same moment completely differently. The objective is not simply to perform emotion, but to build characters with internal logic so the performance begins feeling less like acting and more like watching a real person exist.

The Phases

01.

psychology

02.

Character

Building

03.

scene

Analysis

04.

Performance

exploration

What This Class Focuses On

01.

Behavior

Patterns

02.

Emotional

arcs

03.

Character

Psych

04.

Secrets

05.

script

analysis

06.

Performance

Translation

Why This Matters

THE MOST MEMORABLE PERFORMANCES USUALLY FEEL LESS LIKE ACTING AND MORE LIKE WATCHING A REAL PERSON EXIST.

Understanding fears, desires, insecurities, contradictions, secrets and behavioral patterns is what informs how a character thinks, reacts and moves through the world. A well built character creates a seamless line between the actor and the performance because the motivations underneath the behavior begin to make sense. Small details in the writing suddenly carry meaning. Quiet cues become emotional indicators. Motivation informs everything. It’s how a serial killer can justify their actions and still believe they’re the hero of the story, or why one person reacts violently to something another person laughs off completely. The Psychology of Acting focuses on understanding the internal logic beneath human behavior so performances feel grounded, psychologically real and fully alive on screen.


-Aaron Marciniak

Understanding fears, desires, insecurities, contradictions, secrets and behavioral patterns is what informs how a character thinks, reacts and moves through the world. A well built character creates a seamless line between the actor and the performance because the motivations underneath the behavior begin to make sense. Small details in the writing suddenly carry meaning. Quiet cues become emotional indicators. Motivation informs everything. It’s how a serial killer can justify their actions and still believe they’re the hero of the story, or why one person reacts violently to something another person laughs off completely. The Psychology of Acting focuses on understanding the internal logic beneath human behavior so performances feel grounded, psychologically real and fully alive on screen.


-Aaron Marciniak

The Commitment

$250/month

3 month minimum commitment

Psychology of Acting is structured as an ongoing online acting and character development class focused on psychology, behavior, performance and cinematic character construction for film and television.

Cycle now open. Start the seat reservation process here:

visual

storytellers

Person with light blue shirt looks to his right side