I think this process is different for everyone. Some actors are great observers and will draw from life. Some are experimentors and will keep trying out things until they find something that fits. Some actors want a physical prop, a pipe, a purse, a school bag, something that they can work. For others it is about the clothes. I am in that last catagory. It is all about the shoes for me. High heels, clogs, sneakers, bowling shoes: they say so much about how the character moves and who they are. That is me though. Like I said everyone is different. If you are having trouble try some props or costume pieces and see if that doesn't help a little. You are doing the baker's wife right? Try  rehearsing with an apron on, a kitchen towel, the boots and see if it helps. It couldn't hurt. Good luck.

I'm directing A Bad Year for Tomatoes and there is a very funny character who is a kind of back woodsman. He should have a beard, but my actor says he can't grow a good beard especially in two months. I need him to have a ratty looking beard. Any ideas?
Barb

I think the comment about the shoes is great--maybe its because our physical nature is shaped so much by our movement, but I'd think about starting a character with a walk that is very different than your own walk would be good.  If the character is impatient or nervous, perhaps that's reflected.  If the character is a direct person, maybe they pause for an instant before setting off in a direct line for their destination.

David Suchet who plays the character 'piorot' in the British ITV series of agatha christie.

While most actors are familiar with Konstantin Stanislavski's book on"method" acting -- finding a character within -- few people realize he ALSO wrote a book on finding the EXTERNAL workings of a character.

This book, called -- appropriately enough -- "Building a Character" focuses on exactly what this thread is discussing: using costumes, props, hats, etc to create the physicality of a performance.

Francis Fergusson, Education Theatre Journal
"In (this book) Stanislavski, assuming the reader's familiarity with the 'inner technique', proceeds to study costume and the wearing of costume, bodily movement, voice, speech and the use of language, and tempo and rhythm-- the more external but essential techniques whereby the actor learns to use his physical instrument . . . and he expounds them as only a master can; i.e., with the insight and authority of talent plus expeirence. Anyone who attempts to train actors or to direct plays will find here a great mine of practical wisdom."