3, 2, 1, Action!

She's got the looks, but does she have the touch? What it takes to be an actress

Story by Suwitcha Chaiyong

Anocha (left) and Khru Song (middle) and a fellow wannabe.

She is 100 percent gorgeous. She won a national beauty contest. She's got a really nice smile and is good looking in front of the camera. But she can�t act. Yeah, winning a beauty contest is like getting an instant visa to enter the TV business. And there sure are a lot of cute faces that appear on our TV screens, but even a dumb person can see that many of them can�t act.

For an actress, does being good looking matter? Pakkaramai Potranan (Tong), a pretty singer turned actress can�t settle on a straight answer. �It is difficult to tell," she said. "There is a main character role like kaew na ma (horse faced girl) where the actress has to be both beautiful and ugly. Thus, being good looking or not depends on what kind of role that actress plays.�

Not so for the cute young actress Buachompoo Ford. She agrees with people who say that an actress should be gorgeous. "I think viewers want to be entertained after being exhausted from their routine days," she said. "So show business is supposed to offer beautiful things on the screen for viewers." 

A star face?

Buachompoo brushing up on her acting skills.

Although not everyone will say directly that good looks matter, it is definitely a factor in being an actress. Vajee Kanjarlek, or Khru Song, a professional actress and an acting teacher at Kantana Acting Center, said that some people have a "star face." One of her students is the young actress Anocha Kulawong (O) and she has such a face. �When I first saw her, I immediately knew that she must be a star," Khru Song said. " When I told our school director that O possibly is an actress, she said that she had already noticed O.�

And sure enough, with her "star face," O got a part as the bad female leading role in two VCD movies after finishing her acting courses. O agreed that good looking can impress both producers and viewers.

Buachompoo said that the need to impress viewers is why producers pick beauty queens for leading roles. Viewers have already known them from media, while nobody knows who acting students are.

Gorgeous puppets

OK, so being gorgeous is a factor in becoming an actress, but not every beautiful person can act. Can gorgeous puppets survive in show business? Khru Song said she has seen a lot of people with pretty faces who can�t act. �I had a student who was so beautiful, but when she got a role in a TV drama she didn�t know how to act. Viewers didn�t like her. If an actress really can�t act, she is not going to be popular.�

Khru Song gives it her all in an acting class.

Beautiful actresses who cannot act may be popular for a movie or two, but after that they will fade away, Khru Song said.

Khru Song explained that turning out qualified performers is one of the main goals of acting schools. �Before, we asked a modeling agency to send us some good looking actors, but when actors came to the set they were just good looking, but couldn�t act," Khru Song recalled. "It was a waste of our time and our budget.�   

Real experiences, real acts

But even though many new stars do come from acting schools, going to acting school is not the only way to become a good actor. There are many actors who have never attended this kind of school, but they are still qualified to act.

Tong said that going to an acting school is unnecessary. Acting experience and natural talent are enough for many professional actors, Tong said.  Khru Song also agreed. �I used to act in 60 scenes in one day with many professional actors without takes or replay," she said. "Professional actors have learned from their real experiences. Our students can�t compete with them."

But acting school is better than nothing, she said. "The acting centre provides them basic knowledge about acting, so they can get a chance to enter show business.�

But she stresses that students should know that acting school is only a way for students to improve their skills, not earn a free ride to superstardom. �There is no guarantee that a student will get a part. We make a clear statement on the application form," Khru Song said. "They are supposed to come to our centre because they want to learn. But about 80 percent of our students do earn roles with dialogues.�

Gorgeous with skills

While it is clear that being beautiful does matter if you want to be an actor, acting skill is also important. �These two things are supposed to go together," Khru Song said. "Viewers like a pretty face, but she isn�t going to be in viewers� hearts if she doesn�t know how to act. If someone is a good actor, but is not gorgeous, they must look for roles that fit their character. In show business, they don�t need only cute faces. Whether you are chubby or of have the look of a bad guy, there is a space for you.�

Vocabulary

gorgeous (adj): very beautiful and attractive
instant (adj): happening immediately
dumb (adj): stupid
factor (n): one of several things that cause or influence something
puppet (n): a model of a person that can be made to move, for example by pulling strings attached to parts of its body or by putting your hand inside it.
survive (v): to continue to live or exist
fade away (v): to disappear gradually
dialogues (n): conversations in a book, play, or film/movie
chubby (adj): slightly fat in a way that people usually find attractive