What a Character’s Relationships Tell You About Who They Are

When actors begin building a character, they often start with the character alone. They think about personality, background, physicality, emotional life, and all of the individual details that might help them understand who this person is.

Those things can be useful, but people do not exist in isolation.

One of the best ways to understand a character is to look closely at their relationships.

Think about your own life. You probably do not behave exactly the same way with your closest friend as you do with your parent, employer, ex-partner, or someone you have just met. Different people bring out different parts of us. History changes the way we speak to someone before a conversation even begins.

Characters should have that same specificity.

If your character has known someone for twenty years, the relationship should contain twenty years even if the audience never hears the history explained. Familiarity affects how people interrupt each other, what they are comfortable saying, and which subjects they know to avoid.

A scene between strangers carries a completely different kind of tension. Both people are still learning the rules of the interaction. They may be more guarded or more deliberate about what they reveal.

This becomes especially important when actors are working scenes out of context for auditions. You may only have a few pages, but those pages usually contain clues about the relationship. Look at how the characters speak to one another. Notice what they assume the other person already knows. Pay attention to what they are willing to ask for.

Sometimes actors spend so much time developing their individual character that they forget the scene is happening because of another person.

The relationship is often what gives the dialogue its meaning.

“I knew you'd come” means something completely different depending on whether you're speaking to someone you trust completely or someone who has disappointed you for years. You don't need to manufacture those differences if you have done the work of understanding the relationship.

This is also why working with scene partners in class is so valuable. A relationship cannot be entirely constructed alone. Eventually another actor enters the equation and brings their own behavior, instincts, and choices. Your understanding of the scene has to become flexible enough to include what they give you.

At TLS Acting Studio, character work includes looking closely at relationships because so much of human behavior changes depending on who is standing across from us. When that relationship becomes specific, the character often becomes much clearer too.

Enrollment is open for online and in-person classes in North Hollywood. If you are interested in working on character, scene study, audition preparation, or strengthening your overall craft, reach out for current class information.