Animators do not need to work on sensory exercises, physical relaxation, emotional recall or voice development, all essential for stage actors acting “in the present moment.” Animators must create an illusion of a present moment – 24 frames = 1 second. To envision and create this illusion requires an entirely different set of skills. One of the best persons to help acquire them is the multi-faceted theatrical professional, actor, author and acting teacher: Ed Hooks.
Ed Hooks has taught professional-level workshops and scene study in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago. His stage, film and television credits include more than 100 roles. The actor in an animation is the character on the screen, but it is the animator who must endow the character with the illusion of life. To do this, the animator must understand the connections between thinking, emotion and physical action, which are the building blocks of human behavior. Ed Hooks pioneered acting training specifically for animators (as opposed to stage and movie actors), and his Acting for Animators masterclass has been presented to tens of thousands of animators around the world.
After a thirty-year career as a professional actor and acting teacher in the U.S., Ed began teaching animators in 1996 at DreamWorks/PDI when that studio was preparing Antz. Since then, he has taught for most major animation studios and video game companies internationally, including Sony, Disney Animation, CD Projekt Red, EA, Blizzard, Epic, Valve, Framestore, Ubisoft and Microsoft. Ed Hooks lives with his wife, Cally in Lisbon, Portugal. His most recent book, Craft Notes for Animators – A Perspective on a 21st Century Career – is also published by Routledge.
During The Art Department Eindhoven 2019 Ed gave extended masterclasse on Thursday 3 and Friday 4 October.