Bringing Training to Life.

why use professional actors for roleplay?

realism: A professional roleplayer makes the situation real for both participants and observers by maintaining a believable character and reacting truthfully. "Peer" roleplayers are often hampered by inhibition or embarrassment. Experience has shown that professionals are also taken more seriously by participants.

impact: Participants are quickly drawn into the reality created by a professional roleplayer. This results in a more memorable and effective learning experience.

flexibility: A professional roleplayer can portray and control believable and consistant emotions and characters. Whatever type of response is required by the facilitator, a professional roleplayer can deliver. This is especially valuable when roleplays are being repeated as a skill building exercise, as the roleplayer can tailor his/her response to reflect the participants' increasing competancies.

feedback: A professional roleplayer is trained in the art of offering unbiased, visceral feedback to the participant (if required). The feedback is centered on being descriptive rather than evaluative.

Jane Washburn
Director, Leadership Development
J.D. Irving, Limited

FAQ: Why use paid actors when participants can just role play with each other for free?

“When we role play ourselves, there are too many distractions for the participant and the learning does not reach true potential. Supporting Roles participation increases our return on learning!”

FAQ: How could an actor realistically portray a highly specialized manager or client from our field in a way that is credible and useful?

“Supporting Roles took the time to tour our facilities and understand our culture and business. They were very quick to pick up on the "unique" nature of our culture as well as portray a variety of employees accurately...from sales to technical to operational. Our participants were amazed at how realistic the role plays were. Having actors in our Coaching program was very high impact to a group of professionals with very high expectations!”