Working with Tom has honestly changed so much for me as an actor and a human. As an actor, I’d found that I was a stuck and struggling to progress, not only with my craft but also with limiting beliefs that I held within myself.
I found that when castings came in, especially self-tapes, I had no idea where to start to be most effective with my time and to deliver confident work, and it began to feel slightly overwhelming. Getting back to castings post lockdown, I wanted to have regular sessions with a coach to build upon the skills I had and develop a process that I was secure with to approach audition material, and to build on my confidence in general… and that’s when I found Tom!
When I initially met Tom for our consultation, I felt a wonderful warm and passionate energy from him and felt that he was exactly the kind of supportive and honest coach I wanted to work with. Over the 2 months working with Tom, he helped me to develop a solid go-to process that works for me to break down sides to gain a deeper understanding of the text and character. We worked on unlocking my imagination which really gave me confidence in the choices I then made – I began to enjoy doing the text work and exploring every avenue the character could go down before getting it up on its feet.
Coming from a dance background, instead of always approaching character through text analysis alone, Tom and I worked on finding character through physicality. This approach really eased my ability to access the character, learn and remember my lines and the objectives of the character because it was in my body as well as my brain. The process helped me become more playful, and now I approach text with more curiosity and enjoyment.
Developing a fundamental process has given me confidence to take on any text and to navigate character development in a way that makes sense to me. I feel more grounded in my choices as well as being flexible when given direction. It’s taken the fear out of castings, both in person and via selftape.
At the time of working with Tom, I had a lot going on in my personal life. I was struggling with confidence and my belief in my skills as an actor and what I had to offer. Tom was really supportive and empathetic to my situation and gave me a safe space to work through what was holding me back. He helped me get back to why I started this journey in the first place, which fuelled my drive to keep working on myself and my craft to achieve my goals and my dreams.
Tom was a wonderful voice of reason when I was being unnecessarily judgemental of myself, and nurturing coach who encouraged me to go beyond my comfort zone to really reach my full potential. Within our seasons, I felt safe to express what had been holding me back, to make mistakes to move beyond my limiting beliefs and grow.
Even after finishing my program with Tom, he regularly checks in to see how I’m doing, both in life and in my career pursuits. As I continue to work through changes in my personal life, it’s wonderful to have a coach like Tom in my corner to champion me and who continues to encourage me.
Castings since working with Tom have been completely different. The recalls are happening, and I feel much more confident in who I am as an actor and what I have to offer than before. I am a great believer in timing, so whilst the stars align for me, I’ll continue to work with the fire that Tom helped to reignite in me to keep going and believe in myself. I remember in a coaching session I had a breakthrough working on a character with a technique that Tom introduced me to, and I said it was like magic and that’s what working with Tom is like, truly magical!
Thank you for everything, Tom, I am so grateful for the time we spent working together, it’s changed me for the better. If you’re an actor who feels stuck in your process, that knock backs have knocked your confidence and self-belief, or that you want a refreshing perspective to enable you to develop your skills and keep working on your craft, Tom is the coach for you.
Georgia Reid Hamilton – Actor, (London)
0 Comments