Teacher Spotlight: Eddie Robinson

Doug GoldringCommunity, Training

We’d love to introduce you to one of our incredible TBG teaching artists, Eddie Robinson! Read our interview with him below…

What do you enjoy most about teaching?

ER: I think the thing I enjoy the most is watching students gain confidence: confidence to fully embrace who they are as a person, as an artist, and to be courageous enough to express and share that with an audience.  As an actor who always struggled a bit with self-doubt and self-criticism myself, watching that light turn on in students is so inspiring and encouraging for me to keep growing and gaining more confidence as an artist as well.

What is a TBG tool you love to use in your own acting journey?

ER: It has to be the “Do Stuff” and “Really Do It” tools. They both sound like such simple tools, and I guess they are in a sense, but you get so much mileage and storytelling out of giving yourself a physical task to perform on stage or on camera. And for me, it has a way of anchoring me to the scene I’m in, helping me to calm whatever nerves or judgmental voices I might have while performing, and helps me tell so much about my character and the environment they’re in. It works like magic for self-tape auditions too, trust me.

What is a project that you’ve been a part of that you are proud of?

ER: Well I haven’t worked on much recently due to the strike going on, which we have to win and WILL WIN, (editor’s note: hooray!) but the last project I worked on that I was really proud of was the role of Frank Wills, on the HBO show White House Plumbers, which premiered back in May of this year. It was probably the biggest project I’ve worked on to date, and it was truly an honor to play Frank. Mr. Wills is often referred to as the American hero that America forgot about, in the sense that most people don’t know that there would be no Watergate scandal or resignation of Richard Nixon, or an HBO show based on those events, if it weren’t for the actions and quick thinking of a lone, black, night watchman doing his job on June 17th, 1972. I hope I made Frank proud.

To take a class with Eddie…check out Beginner Acting Class I: The Basics starting 2/1!

See the TBG’s full schedule of classes.