Books About Acting: The 40 BEST Acting Books of All Time

It demands high levels of emotional intelligence, listening, self discipline and empathy. It requires incredible courage, groundedness and vulnerability to lean in to thoughts and emotions (repeatedly and on demand) that we mostly spend our whole lives avoiding.

I’m not an actor. But I have enormous respect for its masters. And what limited acting I’ve done has taught me more about myself and other people than any other form of self-improvement.

If you ARE an actor, and you’re here today looking for the best acting books ever written then rest assured: the rankings below are driven by the reviews and opinions of your colleagues – not my unqualified choices.

For the rest of us, if I could recommend only one new experience this year that will teach you more about yourself than anything else I can think of, join an improv or acting course and lean in to the challenging places it leads you.

In either case, you’ll learn a huge amount from the books about acting below.

So without further ado… here’s the list!

The 40 Best Books About Acting

Why these best books about acting and not others? The books about acting below are the top picks from my long list of acting books, ranked by a combination of Goodreads rating, number of Goodreads reviews and first publication date. The aim is to surface what’s most loved, what’s most popular and what’s proven timelessly relevant.

Think something’s missing? Email me and I’ll add it to the next round of updates. I honestly love hearing from you so please, do get in touch!

Books 1-10: The Top 10 Acting Books of All Time

The 10 best books about acting of all time are…

1. Impro – Keith Johnstone

Improvisation and the Theatre

Published 1979 // 208 pages // Rated 4.3 over 2,900 reviews on Goodreads

2. Audition – Michael Shurtleff

Everything an Actor Needs to Know to Get the Part

Published 1978 // 288 pages // Rated 4.2 over 2,400 reviews on Goodreads

3. Respect for Acting – Uta Hagen

Published 1973 // 227 pages // Rated 4.2 over 2,700 reviews on Goodreads

4. An Actor Prepares – Konstantin Stanislavski

Published 1938 // 320 pages // Rated 4.1 over 3,800 reviews on Goodreads

Books About Acting: Building a Character

5. Building a Character – Konstantin Stanislavski

Published 1949 // 352 pages // Rated 4.2 over 1,000 reviews on Goodreads

Books About Acting: Improvisation for the Theatre

6. Improvisation for the Theatre – Viola Spolin

A Handbook of Teaching and Directing Techniques

Published 1963 // 412 pages // Rated 4.3 over 600 reviews on Goodreads

Books About Acting: Games for Actors and Non-Actors

7. Games for Actors and Non-Actors – Augusto Boal

Published 1975 // 336 pages // Rated 4.4 over 500 reviews on Goodreads

Books About Acting: On the Technique of Acting

8. On the Technique of Acting – Michael Chekhov

Published 1953 // 240 pages // Rated 4.2 over 800 reviews on Goodreads

9. To the Actor – Michael Chekhov

Published 1953 // 288 pages // Rated 4.2 over 800 reviews on Goodreads

Books About Acting: Sanford Meisner on Acting

10. Sanford Meisner on Acting – Sanford Meisner

Published 1987 // 250 pages // Rated 4.2 over 2,300 reviews on Goodreads

Books 11-40: 30 More Best Acting Books to Read Next

Still curious? Here are 30 more great acting books to read next…

11. An Actor’s Work – Konstantin Stanislavski

Published 1938 // 693 pages // Rated 4.3 over 300 reviews on Goodreads

12. Acting – Richard Boleslavsky

The First Six Lessons

Published 1933 // 138 pages // Rated 4.1 over 700 reviews on Goodreads

13. Backwards and Forwards – David Ball

A Technical Manual for Reading Plays

Published 1983 // 112 pages // Rated 4.1 over 1,400 reviews on Goodreads

14. The Art of Acting – Stella Adler

Published 2000 // 275 pages // Rated 4.2 over 1,000 reviews on Goodreads

15. A Challenge For The Actor – Uta Hagen

Published 1991 // 336 pages // Rated 4.2 over 800 reviews on Goodreads

16. The Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual – Matt Besser

Published 2013 // 384 pages // Rated 4.5 over 1,000 reviews on Goodreads

17. Actions – Marina Caldarone

The Actors’ Thesaurus

Published 2003 // 196 pages // Rated 4.4 over 600 reviews on Goodreads

18. Improvise – Mick Napier

Scene from the Inside Out

Published 2004 // 130 pages // Rated 4.3 over 900 reviews on Goodreads

19. Creating a Role – Konstantin Stanislavski

Published 1961 // 320 pages // Rated 4.1 over 500 reviews on Goodreads

20. The Actor’s Art and Craft – William Esper

William Esper Teaches the Meisner Technique

Published 2008 // 304 pages // Rated 4.5 over 600 reviews on Goodreads

21. Freeing the Natural Voice – Kristin Linklater

Published 1976 // 210 pages // Rated 4.1 over 500 reviews on Goodreads

22. The Intent to Live – Larry Moss

Achieving Your True Potential as an Actor

Published 2004 // 368 pages // Rated 4.4 over 500 reviews on Goodreads

23. The Actor and the Target – Declan Donnellan

Published 2000 // 300 pages // Rated 4.2 over 600 reviews on Goodreads

24. The Moving Body – Jacques Lecoq

Teaching Creative Theatre

Published 1997 // 169 pages // Rated 4.3 over 300 reviews on Goodreads

25. Power of the Actor – Ivana Chubbuck

Published 2004 // 388 pages // Rated 4.3 over 700 reviews on Goodreads

26. The Creative Habit – Twyla Tharp

Learn It and Use It for Life

Published 2003 // 247 pages // Rated 4.0 over 32,500 reviews on Goodreads

27. Truth in Comedy – Charna Halpern

The Manual of Improvisation

Published 1994 // 150 pages // Rated 4.0 over 2,000 reviews on Goodreads

28. A Practical Handbook for the Actor – Melissa Bruder

Published 1986 // 112 pages // Rated 3.9 over 1,000 reviews on Goodreads

29. Speak with Distinction – Edith Skinner

The Classic Skinner Method to Speech on the Stage

Published 1942 // 680 pages // Rated 4.2 over on Goodreads

30. How To Be The Greatest Improviser On Earth – Will Hines

Published 2016 // 226 pages // Rated 4.5 over 500 reviews on Goodreads

31. Secrets of Screen Acting – Patrick Tucker

Published 1993 // 256 pages // Rated 4.3 over 100 reviews on Goodreads

32. The Viewpoints Book – Anne Bogart

A Practical Guide to Viewpoints and Composition

Published 2004 // 240 pages // Rated 4.3 over 500 reviews on Goodreads

33. Self-Management for Actors – Bonnie Gillespie

Getting Down to (Show) Business

Published 2003 // 326 pages // Rated 4.4 over 200 reviews on Goodreads

34. Strasberg’s Method as Taught by Lorrie Hull – Lorrie Hull

A Practical Guide for Actors, Teachers, and Directors

Published 1985 // 358 pages // Rated 4.3 over on Goodreads

35. True and False – David Mamet

Heresy and Common Sense for the Actor

Published 1997 // 144 pages // Rated 3.9 over 2,200 reviews on Goodreads

36. And Then, You Act – Anne Bogart

Making Art in an Unpredictable World

Published 2007 // 152 pages // Rated 4.4 over 300 reviews on Goodreads

37. How to Stop Acting – Harold Guskin

Published 2003 // 208 pages // Rated 4.2 over 400 reviews on Goodreads

38. No Acting Please – Eric Morris

A Revolutionary Approach to Acting and Living

Published 1979 // 176 pages // Rated 4.0 over 300 reviews on Goodreads

39. The Technique of Acting – Stella Adler

Published 1988 // 156 pages // Rated 4.2 over 200 reviews on Goodreads

40. The Stanislavski System – Sonia Moore

The Professional Training of an Actor

Published 1965 // 96 pages // Rated 3.9 over 300 reviews on Goodreads

BONUS: The Top 10 Acting Biographies and Memoirs

The 10 best acting biographies of all time are…

Best Acting Biographies: The Moon's a Balloon

1. The Moon’s a Balloon – David Niven

Published 1971 // 327 pages // Rated 4.0 over 7,900 reviews on Goodreads

2. By Myself – Lauren Bacall

Published 1978 // 512 pages // Rated 4.0 over 4,400 reviews on Goodreads

Best Acting Biographies: My Autobiography

3. My Autobiography – Charlie Chaplin

Published 1964 // 512 pages // Rated 3.9 over 8,300 reviews on Goodreads

4. My Life in Art – Konstantin Stanislavski

Published 1924 // 503 pages // Rated 4.2 over 400 reviews on Goodreads

Best Acting Biographies: The Lonely Life

5. The Lonely Life – Bette Davis

Published 1962 // 253 pages // Rated 4.1 over 1,000 reviews on Goodreads

6. Lucky Man – Michael J. Fox

Published 2002 // 260 pages // Rated 4.0 over 27,300 reviews on Goodreads

7. Acting in Film – Michael Caine

An Actor’s Take on Movie Making

Published 1989 // 186 pages // Rated 4.2 over 1,300 reviews on Goodreads

8. Greenlights – Matthew McConaughey

Published 2020 // 308 pages // Rated 4.2 over 118,200 reviews on Goodreads

9. Yes I Can – Sammy Davis Jr.

Published 1965 // 611 pages // Rated 4.2 over 600 reviews on Goodreads

Best Acting Biographies: A Life in Parts

10. A Life in Parts – Bryan Cranston

Published 2016 // 271 pages // Rated 4.2 over 14,900 reviews on Goodreads

Note: For more biographies and memoirs, check out this list of the 70 best biographies and memoirs of all time.

More Book Recommendations

Enjoyed this list of the best books about acting of all time? Here’s a breakdown of all the book lists and book recommendations on the site…

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Or, you can read all my book recommendations.

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Why Acting Is Awesome (Even if You’re Not an Actor)