OK, I stole this from my friend John's blog. Again. But it's so good! Check his link -- I've posted it on this site.
And his wisdom for actors:
I always tell students that the audience already wants to believe, so the less effort you put into pretending, the happier they are. It's like when you walk into a store already intending to buy a shirt and the salesman starts pissing you off by trying to sell you a suit. And sometimes you wind up walking out of the store without the shirt just to get away from the guy.
