New actors say this to me constantly: “Someone told me not to move on camera.” And every time, it raises a red flag. Stillness on screen does not mean freezing your body or suppressing your natural impulses. In fact, one of the most important notes I give actors is to “be in your body”—to move the way you move in your real life. When you talk to your mum at the kitchen table, you don’t sit like a statue. When a stranger asks for directions, you don’t freeze. So why would you do that on camera?

Great screen actors—from Jessica Lange and Meg Ryan to Jack Nicholson—move constantly, but purposefully. They’re comfortable in their bodies, and that comfort reads as truth on screen. The real craft is knowing when stillness is powerful, not forcing it. Before anything else, an actor must understand how they naturally move, behave, and physically respond in different situations. That awareness is what makes screen acting alive, grounded, and compelling.