Michael Chekhov

"An actor has to burn inside with an outer ease."

Michael Chekhov was nephew to playwright Anton Chekhov. Considered as a great acting influence of his time, he was considered to be the best student of Stanislavsky. He started off in Russia where he studied in the first studio of the Moscow Art Theatre. Under Stanislavsky's teachings, Chekhov acted in, and directed Stanislavsky's play. It is believed that Chekhov experienced emotional breakdowns during his progress with emotion memory. He soon went on to work in the second studio of the Moscow Art Theatre but due to Soviet Russia suspicions of Chekhov, he moved to Europe for eight years.

After moving to Europe, Chekhov continued to direct, act and teach but was hindered to political factors as well as language barriers. However, in 1936, Beatrice Straight invited Michael Chekhov to establish the Chekhov Theatre Studio. This was a programme designed for actors at Dartington hall in England

His career saw that he became a teacher of 'The Method' and soon became teacher to some of the most prominent figures in the early history of Hollywood. He moved to Hollywood in 1942 after relocating from Europe due to the war. Stars such as Marilyn Monroe and Clint Eastwood have been students of Chekhov. Such popular celebrities of the time would have exposed Chekhov's ideas into stardom and popularity. His ideas on Method acting were developed from the ideas of Stanislavsky. He developed the idea that emotions were not only the actors internal emotions from past events but they could also be based on imagination and the physical. This helped to create a larger range of emotion which actors craved at a time where silent films were in the process of being replaced by true naturalistic acting technique.

Chekhov died in the mid fifties where his influence was only just becoming as strong as it is considered today. 


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http://www.michaelchekhov.org/michael_chekhov.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Chekhov
http://www.ace-your-audition.com/acting-quotes.html
http://www.jbactors.com/actingreading/actingteacherbiographies/michaelchekhov.html

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