Academy Award and BAFTA Award-winning actor Benicio del Toro has long been praised for his performances in films like The Usual Suspects, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, 21 Grams, Sicario, The Phoenician Scheme, and One Battle After Another. Throughout his acclaimed career, del Toro has carried with him advice he learned from famed acting teacher Stella Adler, founder of the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. In a conversation with NPR’s Fresh Air, del Toro explained the important lessons he took from his time studying with Adler and how they helped him grow as an actor.
Reflecting on his time studying with Adler, del Toro says, “It changed my life studying with her at her studio. I studied under several teachers, one whose name was Arthur Mendoza in Los Angeles. And she would come on the – for summer and winter and teach. And I remember, you know, taking those classes, and it was legendary. But I think one of the things that she was really particular was the fact that the actor needs to understand what the writer is trying to say. So you need to improve your reading comprehension. Also, the other thing that was exciting about the class was the fact that it was a serious job. An actor is as important as a doctor. “
That level of “importance” was essential to his education because it wasn’t until working with Adler that del Toro considered acting as a profession. He continues, “Acting was like a hobby. You know, you don’t turn that into a profession. So going into Stella, for me, was like, it is as important as any other profession that we consider important. There was a respect for the craft. It made it exciting for me. It made me feel proud.”
One important lesson he learned from Adler was focusing on understanding a character, not just understanding the words on the page. He explains, “She told every actor, don’t go to the lines right away because it’s crucial that you need to understand what that character, that person, wants. You need to understand where that character, you know, is coming from, where it’s going. And so the first way to understand it is just put yourself in that person’s shoe. And then from then on, you can then build and create a character that maybe eventually doesn’t resemble you. But there might be actors who go to the words first, and it might work. But her logic was that if you go to the words first, then you’re concentrating just on the words, and you’re not going into the psychological aspect of who that person is.”
