Born to a family of Chinese heritage, Actor Elizabeth Tan spent her childhood in London, England. She is known for her wide-ranging roles in award-winning TV series such as Top Boy, Emily in Paris, The Singapore Grip, The Syndicate, and Dr Who. As an actor, it is her craft of transformation that allows her to play such a wide range of characters across TV, Film, and Theatre. The bringing together of many elements that make up a full character; and the multiple ways she explores to find a character. Find out about her craft and process here, inElizabeth Tan; Her Transformative Craft in the World of Acting.
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Actor Elizabeth Tan talks exclusively with us at .Cent about her deep creative research for parts in order to hone her craft. She talks of her need to explore, and that she is an obsessive people-watcher and will often go way beyond, whilst researching parts, than what most would consider normal preparation.
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She says
“I love watching and looking at the way people speak and move I’m so interested in people-watching and use it all in my work”
For example, when Tan played the complex character Vera Chan in the TV adaptation of the book Singapore Grip (The story tells of a love affair taking place around the time of the Japaneseinvasion of Singapore in the 1940s) she researched the character by going to London’s Chinatown, to explore more in-depth reactions.
‘Vera’s accent’ she explained ‘was someone trying to be very ‘British’ and ‘educated’ but with a slight underlying hint of her mainline Chinese working-class background.
She was a character desperate to portray herself as more than she was, really, in order to survive‘,
So for Tan getting the voice right was the first important part.
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She carries on:-
‘The accent in Singapore Grip was a melting pot of someone with a Chinese background who wanted to come off as very educated in a ‘British way’. So if you listen to her accent, it has an ‘edge’.
Sometimes I try to talk with people, whilst doing research. If I can go to a place and talk with people, in order to sharpen my work, I do.
As an example, going to Chinatown in London for The Singapore Grip, in period Chinese clothes, the character Vera dressed in, talking and answering in Vera’s personality, to gauge how the character was landing. I need my performance to be authentic‘.
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Her research then becomes about the physical aspects of a part, she says further:-
‘In order to take on a character, I need to be fully physically ‘in it’, otherwise it just feels like I’m ‘head’ acting. I have used animals for part of this process. I first did it at The Actors Studio in New York’.
The Actors Studio is a unique members theatre workshop where members gather together to work on their craft. Committed to redefining the art of acting, to developing a series of techniques an actor can use to search for and express the truth onstage, ‘in the moment’.
‘Once I used a Meercat! It gave the character a bounce and curiosity which enabled me to get into the physicality of the part. For The TV programme Top Boy I was a Snow Leopard.
Well, it was London and cold, the Snow Leopard was about the way this animal moved slightly differently, was street-smart, and brought a stalking feeling that tied into the character.
I was playing someone who was around drug dealers. The Character wanted an ‘in’ with the gang and so the animal for me gave that sort of posture and feeling. This way of doing things brings an immediate attitude for me’.
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Talking further about creating a role she says:-
‘The hair, makeup, and clothes are so important in getting into the role, whether it be nails or shoes anything that is a starting point that really helps create the character and the world they exist in. You need to be ready and open to it so that the authenticity comes through‘.
So once the character has been researched and prepped it’s about going on set with the rest of the crew and actors. Elizabeth continues:-
‘After creating the character I’m so thrilled when I actually get to go on set and work with other actors and see what they are bringing to the production.
Each of us knows our own character of course, but we each may well have our individual take on the performance in a scene and it may well play out differently than what we anticipated once we are in the scene together’.
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‘But this is what I love, it is when the craft of actors meets. It’s what happens when say two different crafts meet, two different actors together and it’s thrilling it’s exhilarating and it’s when the electricity happens. It’s the vitality of the moment.
There is room in these moments for something unexpected and magical that can be seen in an edit room that was not previously thought of, say by the actors or directors’.
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‘Because I do a huge amount of prep before I start I may well have an idea of what it will look like at the end, but of course, other actors are involved so the outcome really depends on what happens in all those ‘moments’.
What’s beautiful in the whole process is when it just flows; ‘in the moment’ with another actor where things just happen and you don’t even think consciously about it‘.
And then what happens post-filming or stage acting, She says:-
‘I don’t really feel comfortable watching rushes (‘raw’ footage’) Even if we have taken a scene 20 times I have an internal barometer that helps me with the truthfulness of my work. Also because it’s about the moment and so once done it’s done.
But I do enjoy watching the final project at the end to see how it has come together. To see what I thought in my mind and how it has played out when the whole comes together. Did I achieve what I set out to do, did I execute it as well as I could?
It is an opportunity to learn about my work and craft. I guess the whole process for me starts with curiosity and also ends that way’.
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Following on post-shooting Elizabeth explains:-
‘And so when you take the external stuff, the clothes the physical things off at the end of filming it is like a release. But there are sometimes characters that are hard to let go of even if they are bad because I tend to fall in love with my characters.
I do feel that I would love to revisit some of the ones I have played. When you spend time with ‘someone’ even a character you love them even with their flaws’
Elizabeth Tan’s latest project is a film for Netflix with Lindsay Lohan calledIrish Wish. Set in the rolling green moors of Ireland, the movie sees Lohan’s character Maddie learn her dreams for true love might not be what she imagined.
The film tells the story of Maddie (Lindsay Lohan) who has to put her feelings aside when the love of her life Paul (Alexander Vlahos) gets engaged to her best friend Emma (Elizabeth Tan). Days before the pair are set to marry, Maddie makes a spontaneous wish for true love, only to wake up as the bride-to-be. With her dream seeming to come true, Maddie soon realizes that her real soulmate is someone else entirely.
On working with Lohan Elizabeth says:-
‘I had an amazing time working with Lindsay Lohan. She is an icon for me even from my childhood as I watched all her films when I was a kid. And then doing a scene as her best friend in the movie was thrilling and surreal’.
And as a final thought, Elizabeth says:-
‘I am fascinated by so many things. After all, being an actor is about having a really genuine curiosity about people; and what makes them tick. That’s what is exciting to me and I love my job’.
Irish Wishwill be streaming on Netflix from 15 March.
