The Actor's Guide to Creating a Character

“Bill Esper’s training gave me many precious gifts… . He is a master teacher and I use what I learned with him every single time I work. I will be forever grateful.” —Christine Lahti, Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning actor, Academy Award-winning director

“Simple, straightforward, inspiring and invaluable… . This book reminds me of how incredibly fortunate I was to have been taught by Bill Esper.” —Timothy Olyphant, Emmy and SAG Award winner

“Reading this book brought me back to Bill’s classroom. His vast experience and joy of the craft resonate on every page. Studying with Bill was an amazing time of discovery.” —Gretchen Mol, Boardwalk Empire

“My time studying with Bill Esper left me feeling like a completely trained actor and a more honest, grounded person. Training and studying with him has informed all the stand-up, acting and writing I do. I am forever grateful.” —Amy Schumer, Comedy Central’s Inside Amy Schumer

“Anyone serious about acting ought to read this excellent book and then run to New York to study with Bill. He is the real deal—insightful, generous, uncompromising, and endlessly inspiring.” —Stephen Adly Guirgis, actor, playwright, artistic co-director of LAByrinth Theater Company

“I read Bill Esper’s first book with total glee because it reminded me of all the guidance he gave me not only as a beginning actor, but as a person hungry to live a full artistic life. His words not only illuminate the Meisner technique brilliantly, they also serve as a beautiful rumination of how to live a creative life. He was and is my teacher and spirit guide. Bill Esper is a national treasure and he has generously shared his wisdom and effervescent soul through these books and I am eternally grateful.” —Patricia Wettig, Thirtysomething, Prison Break, Brothers & Sisters

William Esper was a graduate of Western Reserve University and the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre in New York City. He trained as both actor and teacher under Sanford Meisner and worked closely with him for 17 years, serving as Associate Director of the Playhouse’s Acting Department (1973-1976). He founded the William Esper Studio in 1965 and the Professional Actor Training Program at Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts in 1977. He died in 2019 at age 86.

Damon DiMarco earned his M.F.A. from the Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts under Bill Esper’s tutelage. He acts professionally on stage, screen, and TV, and teaches at Drew University. Damon’s other books include, Tower Stories- an Oral History of 9⁄11; Heart of War- Soldiers’ Voices from the Front Lines of Iraq; and My Two Chinas- The Memoir of a Chinese Counterrevolutionary with Baiqiao Tang, which features a foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

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