What attracted you to Sanford Meisner as an acting instructor?
ES: I took a summer intensive with Sandy in Bequia in the West Indies where he owned a home. There I was exposed to his philosophy of acting: Acting is reacting; acting is living truthfully under imaginary circumstance. We did a lot of acting exercises, in particular, the repetition exercise, working with an independent activity and the double conflict exercise, all of which focused on dealing with your partner moment to moment and taking the attention off of yourself. What a great way to learn acting. Because I was no longer acting, but just being, reacting, and listening truthfully and being affected. Sandy’s training was amazing and life-changing. EM: Where did you get your start in showbiz? ES: I got my start in New York as a dancer while I was studying at Juilliard. Then after I graduated, I was a member of the Alvin Dance Repertory Theater. After that, when I made my transition into acting, I got into all the unions, EQUITY, AFTRA and SAG doing plays, extra work on soaps and feat
