Actors get so tripped up in playing a character and a situation that they only bring a limited part of themselves to a role and ignore what is actually happening in favor of what they think should be happening.
If you are auditioning for the part of a beat detective it's very tempting to try and recreate what you think a TV cop should be. You act tough, become humorless, and and lose about 80% of your capacity for empathy. What this fails to acknowledge is: if you wanted to be a cop in real life, you probably could have been.
There are all sorts of personalities in every profession. Lead with the part of yourself the role calls for, but don't forget that the other parts of you still exist and should be present in your work
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Also I want to plug Margie Haber Studio. I just finished their month-long intermediate cold-reading intensive and I am feeling so much more confident in my work. The around the world project taught me how to stop acting, but it wasn't until I took this workshop that I had permission to be human again. I can't recommend it highly enough.
