method acting

noun

variants or less commonly Method acting

: a dramatic technique by which an actor seeks to gain complete identification with the inner personality of the character being portrayed : method sense 4

To keep in character as the evil fairy, she uses method acting. "I just think of all the mean things my brother and sisters have done to me."

—Jomay Steen

… Konstantin Stanislavsky, whose insistence that performers identify with their roles formed the basis of method acting.

—C. Gerald Fraser

… the 28-year-old has shown the emotional range that most actors need a lifetime of Method acting classes to achieve.

—Martha Frankel

see method actor

Word History

First Known Use

1956, in the meaning defined above