Mirren Lee

I’ve been coaching for over 30 years.  I started with theater acting, using a variety of styles, from Viola Spolin’s Theater Games, to all the different Method practitioners.  Everyone always quotes Uta Hagen, Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler as their influences, but I would have to say that Bobby Lewis is probably my favorite overall because his approach is full of simplicity and humor.  I always advise actors to read his 2 books, “Method or Madness” and “Advice to the Actor” for an overview of the Method in general.  I also recommend Viola Spolin’s books because Theater Games are an outstanding way of learning – there is a Game for every acting problem.  (The Games are not to be confused with Theater Sports, which are anathema to the Theater Games philosophy of no competition.)

 

I was trained in the Method in Hollywood in the late 60s, but I realized as time went on that I had missed out on screen techniques, so after doing some television roles in Australia and feeling totally lost, I went back to L.A. and then onto England to fill in the gaps in my screen techniques.  I then discovered that I actually preferred screen acting, which is not the politically correct thing to say!  Somehow, theater is seen as more “legitimate” while in actual fact screen acting his its own whole skill set that actors need to learn if they want to make an impact.  I now teach screen acting exclusively, from audition skills to emotions on camera, to the most important skill of all: acting without words.  Screen acting is a visual medium, and the ability of an actor to show their thoughts without speaking is one of the most valuable they can master.  This is the opposite of theater acting, which is a medium of words.  I use a combination of Theater Games and the Method, dipping into what is needed for the particular acting challenge to be solved.

 

I found I also needed a better grounding in voice because I kept losing mine at the most inconvenient times, like during a shoot or just before an audition!  I developed a fascination for how the voice works and learning everything I could about how to use it properly. Luckily, I discovered one of the world’s best voice teachers in Adelaide in the mid 80s and after 3 intense years of study I started to teach voice as well.

 

Over the years, one type of coaching led to another.  My Career Coaching for actors, which came out of my knowledge from running my own actor’s agency and doing freelance casting, was followed by my teaching in Adult Education colleges and TAFEs (business courses).  I started teaching in the corporate sector, and developed a specific course on Memory Techniques, another area of fascination for me.  This is a subject I found everyone is interested in, not just actors, because the Information Age requires us to retain enormous amounts of data in our poor overloaded brains.

 

At the end of the 90s I started doing more and more dialect coaching, particularly for the American market, not only because of the many offshore productions we host here, but also because the coaching that is available is often old fashioned and confusing for actors.  The methods I’ve developed get very quick results and are simplified so that the emphasis is on fun while learning, not getting a brain cramp! 

 

My coaching now centers around private sessions and the occasional group workshop in: 

 

VOICE

DIALECTS/ACCENTS

CAREER GUIDANCE

AUDITION SKILLS

ON CAMERA ACTING

 

while doing production coaching as well.

 

I work out of both Sydney and Melbourne, with a base in both cities.

 

Fun, Fast and Flexible are the cornerstones of my coaching.  Learning should not be like going to the dentist! It should be something that you enjoy doing, and get results very quickly with whatever your goal is.

 

Do you feel you need a good coach in your corner?  Contact me about your needs and let’s see if I can help.