In 2024, when I first stepped into a screen-acting class at Darlo Drama, I thought I was simply learning how to perform for a camera. I didn’t realise I was stepping into a new training ground for presence, vulnerability, and connection – lessons that would ripple into my work as a speech pathologist, a coach, and even my everyday life.
Here are the biggest lessons screen acting has taught me:
1. Stillness Speaks Loudly
On screen, even the smallest movement matters. A slight eyebrow raise, the softening of a shoulder, a breath.
Screen acting trained me to slow down, to let a moment land, and to communicate without rushing.
This same stillness now helps me:
listen more deeply to clients, hold space in sessions and stay grounded in intense conversations.
In real life, stillness isn’t emptiness – it’s power.
2. Authenticity Reads Better Than Performance
The camera always knows when you’re pretending.
To deliver a truthful performance, you must strip away the masks, the rehearsed patterns, the “perfect” version of yourself and instead lead with honesty.
This has shaped how I teach communication:
Kids open up faster when I am real with them.
Parents trust me when I speak from the heart.
Teen clients relax when they feel seen, not analyzed.
Acting reminded me that people connect most with what is true.
3. Vulnerability Isn’t Weakness – It’s Courage
Screen scenes often require you to tap into fear, anger, grief, joy, or embarrassment on cue.
It’s emotional gymnastics.
To do that, you must access your own emotional truth and allow others to witness it.
Stepping into vulnerability on camera has made me braver in daily life:
asking for help, expressing boundaries, admitting mistakes and sharing my own stories.
Vulnerability creates trust. Trust creates connection.
4. You Learn to Fail Fast and Try Again
In acting, most takes “don’t work.”
You forget a line.
The emotion doesn’t land.
Your eye line is off.
Someone sneezes on set.
You just breathe and go again.
This resilience has flowed into everything I do especially business. Every idea, script, resource, workshop, or video is simply another “take.” If it doesn’t land, I reset and try again.
Failure isn’t failure.
It’s rehearsal.
5. Presence Over Perfection
A perfectly delivered line doesn’t matter if you’re disconnected.
But a messy line delivered with heart?
That’s magic.
Screen acting taught me:
to stay present instead of perfect, to listen instead of planning my next move, to drop into the moment instead of controlling it.
This has made me a stronger communicator, therapist, teacher, and performer.
6. Creativity Expands You
You never know what a script will ask of you:
A whisper.
A scream.
A heartbreak.
A transformation.
You stretch into new emotional shapes.
You play.
You experiment.
You become more you.
Every class reminds me that creativity is not a luxury but nourishment.
7. The Camera Teaches You Who You Really Are
When you watch yourself on screen, you see:
your habits, your strengths, your insecurities, your presence and your blind spots.
It’s confronting and incredibly liberating.
You learn to accept yourself more fully.
You learn to love the parts you once criticised.
You learn that expression is not about looking perfect but it’s about being true.
Final Thoughts
Screen acting has become more than a hobby for me. It’s a mirror, a teacher, and a form of therapy.
It has made me:
a stronger communicator, a more grounded teacher, a more compassionate clinician, a more courageous artist and a more authentic human.
I went into acting to learn performance.
I came out learning presence.
Thanks to my teachers and acting partners for pushing me and working with me. It’s an ongoing journey of learning! And thank YOU for reading my blog. xx
Bình
Binh Doan 