• 92 questions
  • Checked October 2026

Interesting Questions to Ask Actors

Twelve questions that get an actor talking about the craft, each with space to write the reply.

Interesting Questions to Ask Actors

ActorAsked byDate

  1. Write the actor's name and the date at the top.
  2. Ask each question aloud and write the answer down as it is said.
  3. Skip any question. An actor may pass on any line.
  4. In a drama class, give each student one question to ask.
Show all 24
  1. How does a part change between the first night and the last?
  2. What kind of role have you never been offered and would love to play?
  3. Which stays with you longer: the applause or the mistake?
  4. What would surprise people about an actor's working week?
  5. What do you do in the last minute before you step on stage?
  6. Which role taught you something you still use offstage?
  7. What do you do on a day when you do not feel like performing?
  8. Which is harder to play: someone very loud or someone very quiet?
  9. How do you find a character who is nothing like you?
  10. What note from a director has stayed with you for years?
  11. What is the smallest part you ever played, and what did it teach you?
  12. What is the first thing you do with a brand-new script?

Next step Questions about any job

All 92 questions

Interesting ones 24

  • How do you find a character who is nothing like you? I look for one thing we both want.
  • How do you keep the hundredth show as fresh as the first? I listen as if I do not know what comes next.
  • How do you leave a sad character behind when you go home? I change my shoes. It sounds silly and it works.
  • How do you make a line sound as if you have never heard it before? I really listen. The other actor never says theirs the same way twice.
  • How does a part change between the first night and the last? It gets quieter and truer.
  • What did an older actor tell you that turned out to be right? Be on time and know your lines. The rest is extra.
  • What do you do in the last minute before you step on stage? Three slow breaths, then I check my shoelaces.
  • What do you do on a day when you do not feel like performing? The warm-up. By the end of it, I do.
  • What do you do with your hands when you have no lines? Give the character a small job, like folding a napkin.
  • What do you listen for from the audience? The silence. A held breath tells me more than a laugh.
  • What do you notice about people now that you did not before acting? How they stand when they are waiting.
  • What do you still practice, even after years of work? Standing still.
  • What does an audition feel like from the inside? A job interview where you pretend to be someone else.
  • What goes through your head when another actor forgets a line? I ask them a question in character and hope.
  • What goes wrong on stage that the audience never notices? A missing prop. We mime it and carry on.
  • What is the first thing you do with a brand-new script? Read it once straight through, with no pencil.
  • What is the smallest part you ever played, and what did it teach you? A waiter with one line. I learned to carry a tray.
  • What kind of role have you never been offered and would love to play? A detective who is always wrong.
  • What note from a director has stayed with you for years? "Stop showing me. Just do it."
  • What part did you almost turn down? A villain. He turned out to be the most fun.
  • What would surprise people about an actor's working week? How much of it is waiting.
  • Which is harder to play: someone very loud or someone very quiet? Quiet. There is nowhere to hide.
  • Which role taught you something you still use offstage? A nurse. I learned to listen without fixing.
  • Which stays with you longer: the applause or the mistake? The mistake, every time.

Lines and rehearsal 15

  • How do you learn a long speech? A sentence at a time, out loud, on a walk.
  • How do you rehearse a scene with someone you have just met? We walk through it once and say hello with the lines.
  • How long after a show closes do the lines stay in your head? The speeches fade in a month. One odd line stays for years.
  • How many weeks did you rehearse your last play before anyone saw it? Four, and we wanted a fifth.
  • What do you do when a line just will not stick? I sing it. It is embarrassing and it works.
  • What do you do while the director works with someone else? Watch. I learn more there than in my own scenes.
  • What do you write in the margins of your script? Where I breathe, and what I want from the other person.
  • What does the stage manager do that the audience never sees? Keeps the whole show on time. Ours knew where every actor was.
  • What happens on the first day of rehearsal? Everyone sits at a table and reads the play aloud.
  • What is a rehearsal with lights and sound like? Long. We stop every minute so a light can be moved.
  • What is the hardest kind of line to remember? A list. Three things in a row and I swap two.
  • What was cut in rehearsal that you were sad to lose? A joke that only the cast found funny.
  • Where do you run your lines? In the car, to the dashboard.
  • Which warm-up do you never skip? Tongue twisters, fast, then faster.
  • Who helps you practice, and what do they have to do? My sister reads the other parts in a flat voice.

Stage and screen 12

  • How do you find your light on a stage? I feel the warmth on my face and stop there.
  • How do you look after your voice during a long run? Water, sleep and no shouting at ball games.
  • How does a play change when only ten people are watching? It turns into a conversation. I can hear them breathe.
  • How is acting for a camera different from acting for the back row? Smaller. On camera a thought is enough.
  • How many times might you repeat one moment for a camera? Twenty, from four angles.
  • What can you do on a stage that you cannot do in front of a camera? Feel the room answer back.
  • What changes when you act with your voice alone? Everything goes into the breath. I wave my arms anyway.
  • What do you do during the long waits on a film set? Read, nap and try not to wrinkle the costume.
  • What does a camera catch that a theater audience would miss? A blink. A swallow.
  • What happens in the wings while a scene is going on? Fast costume changes and a lot of silent pointing.
  • What is it like to film a story out of order? You say goodbye on Monday and meet for the first time on Friday.
  • Which do you prefer: one live night, or a take you can do again? Live. The risk is the point.

Costumes and props 13

  • Have you kept anything from a show? A pair of gloves from my first lead.
  • How do you rehearse with a prop before it arrives? A wooden spoon stands in for almost everything.
  • How long did hair and makeup take for your biggest part? Two hours, to turn me into an old man.
  • What does putting on the costume do for the character? The shoes decide how the character stands.
  • What is really in the cups and on the plates on stage? In our last show, apple juice and soft bread.
  • What is the fastest costume change you have ever made? Twenty seconds, with two people pulling.
  • What is the heaviest costume you have had to move in? A suit of armor made of painted foam. Still hot.
  • What is the most uncomfortable thing you have worn for a part? A wool suit under summer stage lights.
  • Which costume changed the way you walked? A long coat with heavy boots. I slowed right down.
  • Which prop has broken at the worst possible moment? A door handle. I climbed out through the window.
  • Which prop have you grown fond of? A chipped teacup. I asked to keep it.
  • Which wig, hat or pair of glasses has had a mind of its own? A mustache that left in the second act.
  • Who looks after your costume between shows? The wardrobe team. It is washed and waiting every night.

Funny ones 14

  • Can you cry whenever you want, and will you show us? Give me ten seconds and a sad thought about ice cream.
  • Do you practice faces in the mirror? Every actor does. Few admit it.
  • Have you ever acted beside an animal, and who behaved better? A goat. It ate two pages of the script.
  • Have you ever laughed on stage when you were not supposed to? Yes. I hid behind a newspaper for a whole scene.
  • Have you ever walked on from the wrong side? Once. I crossed the stage as if I meant it.
  • If your life were a play, what would the title be? Running Late, in Three Acts.
  • What do you tell yourself in the mirror before a show? "You know this. Also, check your zipper."
  • What is the silliest thing you have done at an audition? Barked. I did not get the part.
  • What is the strangest thing you have had to pretend to eat? A whole roast chicken made of sponge.
  • What is the worst accent you have ever attempted? It began in one country and ended in another.
  • What made-up line have you said that made no sense at all? "The ship has sailed, my lord, by train."
  • What part would you play in a story about vegetables? A nervous carrot.
  • Which everyday job would you be worst at pretending to do? Juggler. The balls know.
  • Which noise from the audience has thrown you off the most? A phone that quacked like a duck.

For a drama class 14

  • How did you get your very first part? A school play. I was a tree with one line.
  • How do I speak so the back row can hear me? Aim your voice at the far wall and finish every word.
  • How do you keep shaking hands from showing? Hold a prop, and plant both feet.
  • How do you take a bow? Slowly. Count to two at the bottom.
  • Is it better to have a big part or a small one? A small part done well gets remembered.
  • What did you learn from a part you did not get? To prepare the same way and let the answer go.
  • What do you look for in a scene partner? Someone who listens.
  • What do your nerves feel like before a show, and what helps? Butterflies, every time. I call it being ready and breathe out slowly.
  • What games do actors play to warm up? Mirror games, name games and one with an invisible ball.
  • What has a cast done for you that you will not forget? They learned my lines too, in case I froze.
  • What is opening night like? Loud backstage, then very quiet, then you are on.
  • What makes an audition go well? Being early, being prepared and saying thank you.
  • What should I do if I forget my line in the school play? Stay in the story, take a breath, and say what your character wants.
  • What should I practice at home if I want to act? Reading aloud, a little every day.

How it works

These interesting questions to ask actors skip the usual ones: what the hands do with no lines, what an audience's silence says. Five more groups cover rehearsal, stage and screen, costumes and props, funny ones and a drama class.

Read the full guide

Great questions to ask an actress or an actor

Every question suits an actor or an actress, and none names a play, a film or a person. The opening set is Interesting ones, twenty-four about the craft: finding a character who is nothing like you, leaving a sad one behind, keeping the hundredth show fresh.

Random questions to ask an actor

For a mix, set the box by Print this list to All questions and the sheet draws from all six groups: a line that will not stick, a costume that changed a walk, a prop that broke. The example answers are invented; on paper they sit on a sheet of their own.

Questions and answers

What is a good question to ask actors?

One about a choice, not a fact: what do you do with your hands when you have no lines, or which is harder to play, someone very loud or someone very quiet. Both are in Interesting ones.

What are 10 good questions to ask an actress?

Ten from Interesting ones: the last minute before a show, what an audition feels like, a forgotten line, the audience's silence, the smallest part, a brand-new script, a director's note, a part she almost turned down, what she still practices, the role never offered.

What are funny questions to ask actors?

Have you ever laughed on stage when you were not supposed to? What is the strangest thing you have had to pretend to eat? What part would you play in a story about vegetables? Funny ones holds fourteen.

What can drama students ask a visiting actor?

What to do about nerves, a forgotten line, a part they did not get, a voice that will not reach the back row. For a drama class holds fourteen in a student's own words.

Is actor or actress the right word?

Either. An actor is someone who plays a character in a production, on a stage or in film, radio or television. Actress is the feminine form, and actor is also used for anyone.

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