What touches us deeply as human beings are stories of perseverance. We admire people who, despite enormous obstacles, continue to fight for their dreams and goals. It is these stories – of struggle, vulnerability and ultimately victory – that move us, inspire us and give us hope. We don’t want passive characters who surrender to their fate and remain in their victim role. We want to see heroes who act, transform and turn their pain into strength. This is at the heart of the Chubbuck Technique.
This revolutionary acting method was developed by renowned acting coach Ivana Chubbuck. The Chubbuck Technique helps you create powerful, authentic and multi-layered characters – people who don’t get caught up, but use their pain, fears and desires as a driving force to achieve their life purpose or objective.
Because at the end of the day, no one wants to get stuck in pain or fear. Real emotions are not the end station; painful emotions are the fuel for change. And that is precisely what makes this acting technique so inspiring – for both the actor and the audience. It makes this acting technique empower the actor and consequently also gives hope the audience.
12 Practical Tools to Analyze and Create a Character
The Chubbuck Technique consists of 12 practical tools that guide you step by step in analyzing and bringing a character to life. The process begins with analyzing the character—asking why they do what they do, without judgment. We seek to understand their behavior with compassion and curiosity, rather than labeling it as good or bad. Once we have this understanding, we personalize it. We connect the character’s needs, fears, and desires to our own life experiences—our pain, our unfulfilled needs, and our personal history.
This technique challenges you to address everything in yourself: your mind, your body, and your emotions. You get to know yourself very well as a human being and as an actor. Through this process, you learn to use your pain not as a weakness, but as a source of power—to solve, resolve, change, and come to catharsis. Pain equals prosperity: by transforming your past struggles into purposeful action, you empower both yourself and your character. We cannot change the past, but we can change what we do with it.
Why More and More Actors Swear by the Chubbuck Acting Technique
The Chubbuck Technique is used worldwide by both emerging talent and established movie stars. Why? Because the success is undeniable. As an actor, this acting method gives you concrete tools, emotional depth, and the confidence to make bold choices.
- Based on behavioral science, psychology, and cultural anthropology
- 12 powerful tools to analyze scripts, understand and build characters
- Insight and understanding without judgment – about your character and yourself
- Using your own pain, insecurities, and traumas to fuel your character’s objective
- Practical exercises to access your emotional core
- Tools to create connection and chemistry with another actor – essential in scenes
- Specific exercises to truthfully portray characters who are addicted, under the influence of drugs or alcohol, are a parent, a psychopath, dying, or being killed
- Building psychological layering in characters
- Focus on behavior: acting is above all doing
- Breaking through mental, emotional, and physical blocks
- Learning to make bold, unique acting choices that set you apart from other actors – the key to success
- Performances that touch, impact, and connect the audience
No wonder top actors such as Brad Pitt, Charlize Theron, Jake Gyllenhaal, Halle Berry, and Travis Fimmel have been working intensively with this technique for years. Their transformative performances are living proof of the power of this acting method.
Beyond Acting: A Journey of Personal Growth
The Chubbuck Technique is much more than a tool for improving your acting skills — it’s a transformative journey of self-discovery and empowerment. At its core, this acting method teaches you how to take your own pain, vulnerabilities, and unmet needs, and turn them into fuel for powerful, authentic performances.
But the impact doesn’t stop when the scene ends. As you learn to harness your emotional truth, you begin to break through personal limitations — fears, insecurities, even deep-rooted blocks. You grow not only as an actor, but as a human being.
You become stronger, more open, and more courageous. You stop “pretending” and start living your characters from a deeply personal place. And the magic? When you perform from that place of truth, your audience feels it. You move them, because you’ve allowed yourself to be moved and turn your pain into a source of empowerment. You give them hope — because you’ve found it in yourself.
The Power of the Actor, Revised and Updated – The Handbook by Ivana Chubbuck
Want to get started with the Chubbuck Technique yourself? Then The Power of the Actor, Revised and Updated by Ivana Chubbuck is your bible. In this practical and clearly written book, Ivana takes you through her 12 tools, illustrated with concrete examples from her work with famous actors as well as from iconic films and plays.
- Required course material at many renowned acting schools in the U.S.
- Translated into more than 20 languages worldwide
- An indispensable reference for every actor who takes his profession seriously
Want to experience this technique for yourself? Then find a certified Chubbuck coach, acting class or workshop near you – and discover how your personal story can be the key to creating the most compelling characters.