I’ve been around a lot of performers in a lot of different settings. I’ve directed, I’ve taught, I’ve acted, I’ve watched from both the audience and the stage manager’s booth. Every performer is unique, and everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. Yet, in all of the actors, dancers, and musicians I’ve worked with, I have found that there are exactly three traits every truly excellent performer has in common.

These traits are instrumental to success in the performing arts. You won’t get very far without them, and having them can put you on top in close auditions.

If you can honestly say you have these three traits, then pat yourself on the back! If you’re not so sure, read over this article closely and do what you can to pick them up immediately.

1.  You are Driven to Improve

What it means: You are proud of your abilities and secure in your talent, but you are always looking forward. You want to get better! You actively seek out learning opportunities and training programs. You invest in your training because you know you are the best investment you can make.

Why it’s important: It’s simply impossible to become an excellent performer if you’re not striving to become excellent. You can and must always take pride in the abilities you currently have and recognize that everyone grows at different speeds, but an excellent performer is never done growing.

A performer who is too comfortable with their current ability level will always fall rapidly behind their more driven peers. It’s helpful to remember that others are working just as hard as you, and possibly even harder. If you’re not working in some way to improve, you might be effectively moving backwards.

How to strengthen this trait: As a performer, you should find that “excellent” is a constantly moving target. As you gain experience and learn more about performing, you will constantly find new heights to aspire to. Assess what is holding you back and try your best to constantly crush your own expectations. (I wrote a guide on exactly that topic here.) Remember learning can take many forms: if classes or private lessons are beyond your reach, try reading books, watching informed YouTube videos, or listening to podcasts.

2. You Have a Positive Attitude

What it means: You’re pleasant to work with. You are genuinely polite and helpful, without becoming toxically positive. You avoid a fatalistic view towards personal growth.

Why it’s important: Being a performer can be very rough on your self esteem. If you struggle to maintain an attitude that allows you to bounce back after disappointments, you’ll always struggle to navigate the performing arts world.

This is a challenge, but maintaining a positive attitude (without becoming a toxic-positive doormat) is instrumental to personal growth and networking. Being too hard on yourself or shying away from opportunities for learning because of personal insecurities can severely limit your growth as a performer.

You don’t have to be happy all the time, though. Avoid the pitfall of thinking you have to be a mindless yes-man! Protecting your personal boundaries is important. You’re allowed to be upset about upsetting things— just be sure to handle them professionally.

How to strengthen this trait: Maintaining positivity as a performer is a lifelong struggle for even seasoned performers. Nothing will work for everyone, but learning about mindfulness and the growth mindset may be helpful for some. Therapy may be helpful if you find that you frequently feel unhappy or insecure. Having a good support network is mandatory.

And again: It’s important to remember that false positivity for the sake of positivity isn’t beneficial to anyone. If you find yourself putting on a mask to maintain a positive attitude, you’ll only do yourself harm in the long run. Don’t be a mindless positivity zombie! You’re always allowed to retreat, reflect, and even mourn when something doesn’t go your way. Just remember to keep it in perspective and find ways to look for silver linings where you can.

If anyone has any golden secrets on this subject, please feel free to share in the comments below!

3. You are Reliable and Professional

What it means: “The show must go on.” You love to perform and don’t let anything stop you. You’re reliable throughout the entire production process. You know how to manage priorities effectively and set yourself up for success. Being an intelligent performer also means you can assess when the show will have to go on without you for health or personal reasons. If something happens and the show truly can’t go on for you, you are professional and timely with your communications.

Why it’s important: Unless you’re a professional performer (and even if you are), there will inevitably be times where theatre cannot be your primary priority. You can’t always avoid family problems, mental health crises, scheduling mistakes, or genuine emergencies. However, you can control how you handle them. When other priorities or problems may interfere with rehearsal, you must communicate clearly with your production staff. Let staff know when you’ll be late or missing. Being known as unreliable is a good way to not get cast again.

This sounds harsh, but I mean it with love: If you cannot do your best to put the necessary time and energy into a production, you probably should not be in the show. Excelling in performance requires work, and lots of it. If you can’t dedicate adequate time to a show at the moment because of other priorities in your life, that is okay. But if your production staff isn’t on the same page as you about this, you run the risk of seeming like a flake.

You need to be able to assess when you cannot perform. Rather than attempting to bite off far too much to chew in terms of commitments, an wise performerunderstands that trying to split time between too many priorities results in every priority receiving poor attention. This is also the case in regards to health matters. A performer needs to assess when a show places too severe a strain on their mental or physical wellbeing. Part of “setting yourself up for success” as a performer also means preparing for health crises: maintaining a healthy lifestyle according to the input of your doctors and mental health counselors.

Once again, you can’t always control the bad things in your life. However, if you believe emergencies, other priorities, and health problems are stacking up such that you cannot give the production the energy it requires, definitely speak to the production team about your concerns. It’s better to speak up about issues and even quit a show when the problem first appears than to allow a potentially preventable emergency to blindside yourself and your cast. Though having an emergency doesn’t make you unreliable, not communicating about it doesn’t look good.

How to strengthen this trait: One more time: You can’t avoid every emergency. However, you can take steps to prevent and deal with them. Try to look ahead and keep a contingency plan, whether this means stockpiling some extra funds, discussing mental health management strategies with a therapist, or maintaining a good support network. Try to recognize when the warning signs appear, and take steps to prepare accordingly. Reach out for help when you need it, lest the problem become so big later on that no one can help. And remember to keep your production team in the loop!

For the problems you can’t avoid— and there will be problems you can’t avoid— hone your ability to communicate honestly and clearly. You’ll have to learn how to tell people “I can’t do this anymore.” This is a challenge. Remember a production team will always admire someone who speaks their truth over someone who tries to hide an issue.

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There you have it— the three traits that make an excellent performer.

Some readers might feel like I’ve left a few out. “What about stellar singing technique? What about prestigious training? What about years of dance experience?”

Those things are useful, but without these three traits, the rest will be hard to come by. These are foundational, and set you up for success in every other area.

My time working on school theatre has taught me this: It’s great for a performer to have talent and training. Yet, the most talented ones aren’t always the most successful. The ones who want to improve, show up excited to rehearse, and carry themselves professionally are always the ones who end up finding success.

They’re successful because they are already, by virtue of these three traits, excellent performers. 

Before you worry about taking lessons and classes, worry about mastering these three traits.

Without them, you won’t get far.