Chris Edmund, celebrity coach and trainer to Hollywood stars like Hugh Jackman will be in India from 26th June to 6th July 2015 for Beginners and Advanced acting workshops hosted by SDDS Education. We take the opportunity to briefly interview Chris about his work in which he also shares some tips for aspiring actors.  By Deepa Punjani Deepa Punjani (DP): You will be training in India for the first time in collaboration with Dalip Sondhi's company SDDS. Which are the specific areas in your training that you will be focusing on? Chris Edmund (CE): Initially I will be working with Dalip to identify where the actors are placed in terms of their understanding. The work needs to respond to them. There are beginner and advanced groups so the expectations and delivery will necessarily be different. For the beginners I'll be working with a series of acting exercises that will develop an understanding of what it actually means to be present and listen - to focus on your partner rather than yourself. With the Advanced Actors I will be teaching a series of acting exercises and then moving to the analysis and interpretation of text. DP: Do you have a set process or do you modulate your training to suit the requirements of a particular group? CE: I have formulated a process over the many years of teaching experience but am always refining and adjusting to the requirements of particular actors I'm working with. DP: What is special about your training? CE: I think that because it has produced so many of the actors who are having major careers in film, theatre and television that my insistence on truth and integrity in the acting process seems to have paid dividends. DP: There are great actors who haven't necessarily gone to any 'school' or have been trained. And, it could well be the other way round that very good training will not always produce a good actor. What are your thoughts about this? CE: Its true. Some actors don't need training and some actors don't benefit from acting training but over the many years of auditioning actors for training (at WAAPA- West Australian Academy of Performing Arts; usually 900 a year for 18 places) I got quite good at working that out and offering places only to actors who I thought would benefit most from training. DP: For actors, theatre and film can prove to be symbiotic. Yet many actors who move towards cinema, do not have much time left for theatre, or are unwilling to invest their time in the medium. Do you feel they are cutting off a vital link, or is it a matter of practice? CE: I think they are cutting off a vital link. There is a rigour to working on great scripts in live theatre and actors who work only in TV in particular where the scripts are often poor and rehearsal time is often non-existent tend to slip into bad habits. There is no substitute for the experience of working with a range of audiences and taking on the challenges that only live theatre can offer. DP: What does acting mean to you? CE: Pondering its complexities takes up too much of my time! DP: How would you define a good actor? CE: Someone who listens. DP: Your three most essential tips for aspiring actors... CE: Be truthful and authentic. Put things in perspective. Rejection is part of it all and it's unwise to take it personally. Successful actors tend to have resilient temperaments. Never indulge or wallow in your own feelings. Acting is at its best when the actor is working to affect his/her scene partner not enjoying feelings or emotions for their own sakes. DP: You have plans to do more workshops in India? CE: I certainly hope so but have to be invited back first! 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