What are tips to being a good Actor. Any books? ANYTHING?

Question:

What are tips to being a good Actor. Any books? ANYTHING?

I'm 19 years old... and a female... foremost.. im not asking how to become an actor.. i'm asking what are things I should do to help my acting and my emotions. I haven't taken any classes yet I definately will in the FALL.. but in the mean time is there anything I can do on my own this summer? What are good books I should read.. is there anything like "Acting for dummies" hehe.. lol just kidding.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Believe it or not, there's a book called Breaking Into Acting For Dummies! LOL! OK, seriously get your hands on Audition by Michael Shurtleff. It's the standard of all acting books :-) A lot of people like books by Uta Hagen, Sanford Meisner, & Constantin Stanislavski. These are all different takes on methods so it will depends on what appeals to you. I had one acting teacher that swore by studying the works of Harold Pinter you could become a better actor... Her methods were different to say the least, but there must have been something to it :-) I say gather what you can from the library and see what appeals to you right off the bat and go with it.

I'm glad to hear that you are taking classes in the fall, because there's nothing better than actually acting. Could you possibly get into some local theatre now? Maybe a workshop? For bringing out your emotions, you need others to play off of so being in classes or doing a show will be the best possible things for you.

In any case, break a leg ;-)