Developing Your Character’s Physicality from Head to Toe

A character’s physicality is part of the actor’s toolkit. Physicality, along with voice and imagination, helps to tell a story, no matter if you’re doing a mime, tableau, monologue, or scene.

The drama classroom is a great place for students to explore different physical attributes that they can use to make characters unique and real. It’s important for your students to know how to develop their character’s physicality so that it is different from their own. One way to do this is a head to toe approach. That way, every body part is addressed.

Use this exercise in rehearsals or as part of a scene study unit. Click below for a worksheet version of the Head to Toe Questions.

Step One: Have students respond to the following Head to Toe Analysis Questions. They will encourage students to reflect on how their character’s physicality works. For each question, students will think about their character and make a specific choice.

Head, Face, & Neck

• The face is one of the first things someone will notice when they see or meet you. Think about how your character’s face shows emotions. Does your character show their emotions clearly on their face or do they mask their feelings (i.e. have a “poker face”)?
• Does your character look others in the eye, or do they look away, down, or in another direction? Why? (This is a good indicator of your character’s confidence level, or if they’re lying or distracted.)
• Does your character have a signature facial expression, or “resting face”? Do they tend to smile, sneer, grimace? Does this change throughout the play?
• Does your character have a physical ailment on their face or head (e.g., blindness, deafness, missing teeth, stiff neck)? These will affect how your character moves their head and face.

Upper Body (shoulders, arms, hands, chest, abdomen)

• Does your character have good posture? Do they stand up straight or slouch?
• Does your character swing their arms when they walk, or hold them tightly at their sides? Do they cross their arms, hug themselves, or wring their hands?
• How big are your character’s gestures? Do they use their hands while they speak?
• Does your character breathe deeply or take shallow breaths? Is breathing easy or difficult?

Lower Body (lower back, hips, pelvis, legs, feet)

• Does your character move slowly or quickly? Why? Do they limp or stumble?
• Is your character light on their feet or do they plod and stomp along? Do they lift their feet when they walk?
• Do your character’s feet turn inwards or outwards when they walk? Do they walk heel-first or toe-first?

Additional Physicality Thoughts

• How old is your character? (A 12-year-old, a 50-year-old, and an 80-year-old will all move differently.)
• How physically fit is your character? Are they strong or weak? Have they ever been an athlete?
• When your character walks, do they lead with their forehead? Chest? Or perhaps they lead with their lower body, like with their pelvis or knees?
• Does their weight affect how your character moves? Do they move in a way that is unusual for their physical build (e.g., a sprightly sumo wrestler)?
• What past or present physical challenges/ailments has your character had, if any? Injuries? Sickness? Pregnancy? Missing limbs? How does that affect how they move?
• Does your character need assistance to move? Do they walk with a cane, crutch, walker, assistance animal, or human assistant?
• Does your character even walk? Perhaps they crawl, creep, or roll (i.e. via a wheelchair, on a skateboard, or by doing somersaults).
• Does your character’s physicality change at any point? When? What causes the change? How does that affect your character?

Step Two: Once students have answered the questions, have them condense this knowledge into a paragraph description. Have students write a Character Physicality description. How would they describe their character’s physicality? How does knowing these details about their physicality help you visualize their personality? Put students into small groups and have them read their descriptions.

Step Three: Analysis and description are just one aspect of determining a character’s physicality. Students have to get on their feet to explore the details they’ve created and bring that physicality to life. Here are two exercises you can use with students:

Enter, Sit, Exit

• This is a silent exercise. Students have to enter a room, find a reason to sit in a chair, and then find a reason to exit. All of these actions have to visually demonstrate their character’s physicality. You could have students read aloud their description before they execute the exercise so that those watching can assess the application of the details.
• Discuss the exercise afterward. What was it like to turn a written description into physical acting choices?

Wedding Party

• This exercise involves everyone exploring their characters at the same time. Students will bring their character’s physicality to life while interacting with others. Do they make eye contact? What is their “resting face”? Does their character’s physicality change depending on who they are talking to?
• The scenario is a wedding party that all the characters have been invited to. Discuss with students whose wedding it is, and how all the characters fit into the scenario. Are some of them related to the bride? Are some of them working as wait staff? Use some creative license to make the scenario fit, but everyone has to focus on demonstrating their character’s physicality.
• Discuss the exercise afterward:
  • How does your character’s physicality change depending on who they are interacting with at the wedding?
  • What does your character’s “resting face” communicate at the wedding, and does it match how they truly feel about being there?
  • How does your character’s role in the wedding (family member, friend, ex, coworker, wait staff, etc.) influence their movement, posture, and energy in the room?

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to thinking about a character’s physicality. Giving students a starting point for how their characters physically express themselves is going to provide a doorway to further explore, ask questions, and create a vivid portrayal.