An Actor’s Education

In the world of entertainment, Leo Martinez is one of the few very vocal thespians who want to get more from today’s generation of actors. And the only way to get more from them, he says, is to put them through acting workshops. Text by Jason John S. Lim. Photos by Xylen Geecel D. Alamo-Punelas. “What I have been proposing is for GMA to have a continuing education program” is the first thing actor Leo Martinez makes clear. He explains that this message doesn’t just go for GMA-7; it just happens that he’s now working with artists from the network. “I think all networks should have a continuing education program,” he stresses. Heading the Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP), Leo definitely knows what he is talking about. In the industry, he says there’s a tendency for people to equate having a hit show with becoming a good actor: “And then you think that’s it. You think that’s the be all and the end all, to have a hit. [But] as far as acting is concerned, there should be a continuing education program so that you can…really improve.” Leo uses the young stars today as an example. “If you don’t give them the opportunity to learn, they become stagnant,” he says. When these young actors become stars, they think they’ve reached the peak of their acting careers. But they should know that learning is a never-ending process. “As they grow, their craft should grow with them,” Leo says. Of course, he notes, there are actors who rely on instinct: “[Yet] ‘yung instinct, madali ‘yun. That instinct will not get you very far. After two or three roles on your instinct, the [next] part will ask for something more.” He recalls a review he recently read, an article that compared today’s actors with one another. “He said, ‘In the beginning [the acting] was okay. But after two or three telenovelas, the people will be expecting more.’ So where will you get that ‘more’ if you don’t study, if you don’t educate them?” Leo points out. He clarifies, though, that the workshops shouldn’t only be for the newbies. There are Broadway stars and other experienced actors who continually study their parts. “Before they go into a movie or theater or television production,” he says, “they make it a point to go back to school, to workshops—because you’ve got to tone yourself again. It’s like if you have a fight, you have to train for it. I keep telling my students the pianist has the piano, the violinist has the violin—but the actor, his instrument is his body. So we’ve got to tone the body.” But actors shouldn’t take this literally and run off to the nearest gym. Leo explains that the body has to be trained to be able to do correct breathing, correct posture, and such. “There are certain kinds of phrasings that you get used to, but because your breathing is not correct, you break up sentences in the wrong places…you don’t have the air to deliver your lines naturally. Now, turn your television on and when you see them, you will know: that’s not the way to deliver a line,” he says. Leo also imparts that acting has to be natural: “Whatever the writer writes for you, you have to make it your own.” He goes on to add that acting is just like any other sport or science: “You have to repeat and repeat and repeat, until you perfect it.” Leo finishes, “Education cannot stop. Even for people like us who [have] graduated already, we don’t stop learning. And depending on your vocation, you have to keep on studying whatever you studied; you keep on improving on what you have learned.” What can you say about Leo’s advocacy on a continuing education program for actors? Talk about it at the iGMA forums! Not registered yet? Register now! Leo Martinez was last seen as Lolo Ige on the Dramarama program, Kaputol ng Isang Awit.