Fan Rant: Celebrities and "Shyness"

I think you're way off base here, but I understand why. If you're not shy, it's tough to understand how someone can feel gregarious and comfortable in one situation and shy and uncomfortable in another. They should feel one way all the time, right?

Well, no. I have no trouble believing that Harrison Ford is actually and genuinely shy, even though he's so smooth and natural on screen. You know why he's so good on screen? Because he's a good actor and he's getting paid to act. Acting is his job, and it's a professional environment. He's comfortable in this environment because acting is what he does and he knows how to do it.

Outside of his professional life, he may not be so comfortable. Life is spontaneous - it's not scripted - and not everyone handles that the same way. Some people don't know how to act, or don't feel comfortable around people they don't know, or whatever the case may be, so instead of putting themselves into social situations where they would feel awkward and uncomfortable, they choose to lead a quiet life surrounded by people they are comfortable with.

Ultimately, though, I wonder: why do you care that this guy is modest and shy? How do you know what is really true and what isn't for this guy? Newsflash: you don't. People are different. People enjoy different things, like different foods, and don't understand how others can be any different. This is the case here, with you. This guy is different than you and and you don't "get" him. I'm different than you and I don't "get" you. The difference is that I accept that we're different.

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I think the myth of the extroverted actor is one that has been perpetuated by Hollywood for a long time, but it's never one I've encountered in the theatre or small-scale film. The actors I know are generally fairly reserved and quiet until they get onstage.

Performance is something they can get passionate about because it's their art. Actors who are constantly in performance mode do it for attention. I don't think it's a coincidence that the actors who appear in the tabloids the most are generally not likely to get nominated for awards anytime soon.

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I think the two commenters above me make good points. But what I would take issue with is the guy Monika mentions who strips onscreen and calls it "courage." The soldiers who stormed the beach at Normandy had courage. A person who gets naked in front of audiences has . . . something else. You might call it many things, but I wouldn't call it courage. (Inigo Montoya's maxim goes double here.)

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It's not just actors. A lot of musicians are shy, but they come alive on stage. It's an environment where they're completely involved in their creativity. Expecting an actor to be an extrovert is like expecting a professional hockey player to walk around the streets of New York on skates with a stick. Just because someone is passionately dedicated to their profession doesn't mean they're the same way in their private life. Most people are more complex than that.

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A great topic. The great wonder is that so many people — celebrities  included — consider shyness such a virtue, the sort of thing you 'confess' to in order to offset, or disprove, an impression of egotism. They are two sides of the same coin. Only two types of people think the eyes of everyone in the room are on them: the extrovert and the wallflower.

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I you're interested, I suggest reading Uta Hagen's Respect for Acting (1973) and A Challenge for the Actor (1991). She does a better job of explaining actors and acting than I could, but I'll try anyway.

Many actors (I don't know how many because this is anecdotal) are introverted. Now, shyness isn't the same as introverted, but it's often difficult to tell which is which unless you ask someone. It's also important to keep in mind that most people fall somewhere in the middle of the introverted/shy and extroverted/bold duality.

I'm dripping in metaphor here, but acting doesn't use the same muscles as showing your true face. I'm not suggesting that actors are protected by their characters, but they're given a goal, something to do, when they act. They may not necessarily have a clear idea of what they're doing (one hopes that they do!), but they have some guidance to fall back on: training, technique, or some other sort of psychological process to get them where they want to go.

When you're acting, you know what the "rules" are even if they seem illusory to people on the outside. While instinct is an important part of acting, it is also a skill, and actors have some idea of how to apply their skill. This may not be the case when you are in an unfamiliar situation or a situation that you don't know how to prepare for, such as going on a talk show or posing nude.

All good actors deal in vulnerability, but it's different when you're performing. Yes, it's you that's crying when your character cries, but it's controlled in a way that going on a talk show, meeting people socially, or everything outside of the performance isn't (or doesn't seem to be).

Speaking of Harrison Ford, watch him when he goes on a talk show. He tends to repeatedly rub the arm wrests of chair he's sitting in, or if it's an open seating arrangement, his own pant legs. He also tends to repeatedly touch his mug or glass if one is available, often not actually drinking for it. He also has a problem making eye contact with the host unless he's really comfortable with them. You don't see that on screen when he's acting, because he knows what he's supposed to be doing then.

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I don't really know who the writer of this "shy" piece is, or how much she has acted or has had close relationships, on screen/stage or personal contacts, but by far most actors/actresses I have known, casually met, or have close friends who know, would really think the idea behind this blog is pretty off base. There is a ton of writing about this, including the Hagan book mentioned above, and lots of personality studies (Human Enginering Lab, among many others) of some of the most successful actors of all time, and the studies show consistently, the private persona is shy or what some people call introverted, and this is after about 60 years of studies and a ton of people. Katherine Hepburn said she threw up before a lot of performances she was so scared of appearing publicly. Only other comment that makes me wonder..somebody said: "only two kinds of people think..." That kind of classifying is so "absolute" it makes me kind of tune out to whatever follows...

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I think that celebrities are often full-of-it in interviews, but there may be some truth in this case. Some actors do not have the same social skills when there is not a script to supply lines or a character to hide behind.

Again, this doesn't apply to all actors, but I am a graduate of an acting school in NYC. There really are all kinds of people in the business. People who hardly speak offstage can get onstage and blow you away with their power.

I am NOT talking about the type of celebrity who poses on every red carpet.

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As for nude scenes, some actors make the decision that it's essential to the story they're telling; now, if they make that decision, they also have to reckon with the scenes being grabbed and posted on the Internet.
Ford is a good example for this discussion. From having seen him at a group interview, it's my opinion that doing publicity is something he either fears or loathes. It's probably a different deal than what he does in front of the movie camera. The actors who survive those awful round-robins are the ones who can improvise; I suspect stage actors have better luck. But you know, even an extrovert like Marlene Dietrich got to the point where she said she didn't want to be on camera anymore.

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I've always been extremely shy, but that's one of the reasons that I took acting classes and performed in plays in high school. I was never "cured" of shyness, though, even if I was able to do that. I still feel shy when speaking in front of people and doing interviews both privately and publicly on red carpets. I don't know if I would be less shy if I was performing on a regular basis, but I doubt it.

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I don't know much, but I do have two good friends who are trying to be actors and they are amazing on stage and/or front of a film. But when they aren't acting they are even more shy than I am and I am terrified of people! Hehe.

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i've always been a bit shy around ppl i don't know. i've always been afraid that they would try to hurt me in someway if i opened up to them. my husband says i should have nothing to worry about, but most guys aren't as bitchy as girls and i've been burned too many times before. at work, i'm on point b/c i know what to do. in a social situation, unless it's in my home (and i'd rather it not be), and/or i know the ppl invited and have known them for YEARS (think family and old school chums), i'd rather just sit in a corner and not have anyone bother or come near me. but we're army and that's not gonna happen. i count the days til he gets out and we can go back home. ppl can be so fake. smile in your face and then burn you later. and the military world is so small, it can be hard to get away from the ppl who burned you or the rumors/stories of the situation. but like i said, at work, i'm the queen of my domain. i was once in The Vagina Monologues. i had a monologue to myself and in rehersals, i just wasn't on point. the director wanted to kill me, i'm sure. :p but once we got to our stage rehersals, i exploded. i felt i was in my element. not that i brought down the house or anything, but i was damn good. b/c i knew what i was doing. i did another play (You Can't Take It With You), and after getting some work on my projection, and learning how to "walk and chew gum at the same time," once again, i did well. but socially, i still suck. actors and actresses who are true to themselves will blow you away when they're working. but when they're not, they can be come quite reserved b/c they don't know what to do. some have learned to use their craft to their advantage in such situations. others not so much. and they usually end up being lable as snobs and what not. it's the way the cookie crumbles. i have tried to use different things to help me deal with social situations, but in all honesty, i'd just rather be left alone. another thing to consider: actors and actresses may do what they do b/c ppl approve of them when they act a certain way. they figure, if i do "A," i get "B." everyone has to make a living and this is their's - to get ppl to like them. :)

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i'm pretty shy sometimes, it would suck being in the spotlight all the time. i do not think i could hove someone take a picture of me all time, after a few days i think i would go crazy

Pregnant

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