This practical book on the subject of how to act, based on Ms. Spivak's forty years of acting, coaching, and teaching classes – first at Herbert Berghof and Uta Hagen's HB Studio, then on her own – provides a step-by-step system for analyzing and building a character organically, which can be applied even in the short time an actor has to prepare for auditions and for many television performances. Timely advice includes how to do camera takes, interpret and follow stage directions, and how to prepare for auditions and work in theater, film, television commercials, and television soap operas, sitcoms, and nighttime dramas.