Finding Joy in a Child Actor

As the owner of an adult acting studio for six years, I have had the privilege of working with hundreds of talented actors. As an actress, I’ve been blessed with loving, protecting and performing with two to three hundred children over my 25-year career. When I added the children and teen classes at The Dee Wallace Stone Acting Studio last September, it was after a year of searching and defining my heart and my integrity for what I believed were the most valuable gifts I could offer children in the business. It was quite apparent in my adult classes that the strongest deterrents keeping them back, both in the business and the creative side, was low self-esteem and damaged hearts. Over and over, when students were unable (none of them were ever consciously unwilling) to perform or to secure a working place in the industry, it was because they ultimately didn’t believe in themselves or had been so damaged that only a glimmer of potential could peek out.
How, I kept searching, can we repair these brilliant hearts and psyches so their talent can soar? And how, most importantly, did they arrive here in the first place? It is this concern that is so vitally important to any class—acting or otherwise—into which you take your children.
Most of us are taught that we must be going AFTER something: we must win, beat someone, get the part, grab the award, and book the job. We become focused on getting “the end.” And the message behind this is it is not okay, common, or accepted—let alone needed—to make mistakes and re-evaluate ourselves along the way. We have been taught in no uncertain terms that the enjoyment of the process is not what’s important. We have bought the message that to be loved is to succeed, and vice versa. And there is no generation more at risk than our children of today.
At the tender age of four, we throw them into schools they must "audition" for in order to be accepted. We immerse them in facts and figures that behaviorists have proven are detrimental to a young child’s cognitive development. We fill their hours with lessons, teams and "enrichment classes" that fill up the precious imagination time of being alone or playing pretend. And I’m concerned about how much we are listening to our children’s hearts.
Therefore, the Dee Wallace Stone Acting Studio’s first principle is to love the child for who they are. If we have a child who "doesn’t want to be here" because of fear, we allow them to get up when they’re good and ready. In class, we want kids to have fun reaching their fullest potential; fear does not allow a child to do that.
The second is high self-esteem. When a parent’s questions center around “Can you get my child to agents and managers?” or “He doesn’t really want to do this, can you help?” I usually direct them to other studios. Sure, we deal with agents and managers all the time. Casting directors, too. But that is focusing on the results. My concern is that their child truly loves to act and that it empowers them. If they have that, the rest falls into place naturally because there is no resistance from the child subconsciously. We usually evaluate whether a child wants to be in class, help them to discover why they want to be there or suggest to the parent we believe the process is having a detrimental effect and for the child’s sake, maybe they need to re-evaluate their intentions with the child’s wishes.
The third principal of the studio highlights trust. Every student in the entire studio is encouraged to trust themselves, to encourage and trust each other, and to develop a trust of our love and support. They know we will push them, expand them, and demand of them—but never at the cost of who they are. A child never blossoms from fear, anger, ridicule, or belittlement. A child always soars with love, kindness, appreciation and encouragement.
On behalf of The Dee Wallace Stone Acting Studio, my wonderful instructor, Stanzi Stokes, and I invite you to participate joyously in allowing your children to celebrate themselves in acting and life. If they love it from their hearts, the audience and the world will take them into theirs.n

Dee Wallace Stone has appeared in over 400 commercials, 50 movies, including E.T., and over 150 TV shows. Stanzi Stokes has cast Terminator, Harry & the Henderson’s and Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. She has a degree in Early Childhood Education.
Call for more information:
818.876.0386 ext. 3