Acting coach Tanveer Ahmed has pioneered a very unique approach to training students in Method acting. Tanveer who is the founder of Creative Bites Academy an acting & film school based out of UAE, believes that any amount of discussions, reading, or lectures cannot help aspiring actors learn & understand the concepts of ‘method acting’ until the students go through the step-by-step process of applying the method acting principles practically in a professionally guided environment.
At its core, method acting involves immersing yourself completely into the character’s world and requires extensive research & analysis to understand the character’s traits, motivations, and backstory. This means digging deep into their psyche to truly grasp who they are as a person. So much so that you do not act at all, rather you become that character on screen.
Method acting also focuses on making physiological changes to reflect the character’s traits and experiences. It requires understanding how the character moves, speaks, and interacts with others to bring them to life on stage or screen.
In Tanveer’s ‘method acting’ training sessions, students are made to go through the step-by-step process of understanding & enacting a specific character. The session starts with picking up an interesting character e.g. A king, mafia, political leader, etc. Once the character is finalised the students have to undergo an in-depth process of understanding & analyzing the key personality traits of that character. The students are then taught how to develop the character’s back story. Based on the character traits and back story students are taught to understand the emotional & psychological aspects of the character. These three layers help students understand how the character will behave or react in different circumstances.
Tanveer uses specific acting techniques taught by Michael Chekov, a Russian theater practitioner, to help students practically absorb & reflect the character traits, back story, and emotions in their physiology e.g. the way they walk, talk, sit, and eat as the character
Inclusive of the above, there are over 10 different character layers that are practically taught to the students to fully immerse in the character. Once the students feel more comfortable in the skin of the character, they get into the costumes of those characters and shoot different scenes on camera. The actors then see their performances on the screen to assess how real they look as characters and what areas they can further improve.
This process is several weeks long but Tanveer truly believes that after going through this process when his students go out to perform during auditions or on the sets of a television or feature film, they feel more comfortable as they have already undergone the step-by-step process of understanding and performing a specific character.
No wonder Tanveer’s students have gone on to star in Netflix series, grace the silver screen, and secure roles in television shows. Their achievements are a testament to Tanveer’s unwavering dedication and the profound impact of his innovative teaching approach. His influence transcends borders, with aspiring actors from Mexico, Italy, Africa, and beyond flocking to his academy in UAE to learn the intricate nuances of acting.
Tanveer’s own journey is truly remarkable, from the stage of a school in a small town to the pinnacle of the acting education scene in Dubai. Tanveer has been acting in theatres since he was barely 9 years old. Under the guidance of his master, he worked in theatres & performed on radio shows for several years of his school & university life. Post-university Tanveer started working in an advertising & film production firm which further enhanced his understanding of the field of acting and filmmaking. He was also selected by the state police department to run street plays across the state as a part of the government’s social awareness initiative.
However, a family emergency in 2006 forced Tanveer to come to Dubai to seek financial security. At that time, the creative scene in Dubai was very limited. After a break of over 2 years, reigniting his creative spark, Tanveer started shooting short films in Dubai. His short films were received very well in the festival circuits. He was picked up as one the top 5 UAE filmmakers by HUM TV, he got the best film popular choice award (sponsored by Zee TV), his short films were screened in VOX Cinemas across UAE, and he was also honored for his films in National Theater of UAE and received many more such awards & accolades.
An initiative that he started in the year 2009-10 to train a small group of aspiring actors before casting them in his short film, turned into a full-fledged acting and film academy in UAE called Creative Bites Academy.
Tanveer Ahmed as a revolutionary force in acting education continues to flourish. His unique and very practical style of training method acting stands as a guiding light for aspiring actors in the UAE & Internationally.