Reel

Bio

Dov began his acting career at the age of 12 when he was cast as the lead in a short film (LOVE CHILD with Neve Campbell) out of Young People's Theater in Toronto. He quickly piled up a series of credits before moving to NYC when he was cast along side Judd Hirsch in Broadway's revival of A THOUSAND CLOWNS.

Dov has spent the last 30 years as a working actor. His credits include supporting roles in: CHEATERS (Jenna Malone, Jeff Daniels), KNOCKAROUND GUYS (John Malkovitch, Dennis Hopper), GET OVER IT (Ben Foster, Kirstin Dunst), HAROLD & KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE (John Cho, Kal Penn), SYMPATHY FOR DELICIOUS (Mark Ruffalo, Orlando Bloom), ARE YOU HERE (Owen Wilson, Zach Galifinakis), TIME OUT OF MIND (Richard Gere), 5 TO 7 (Frank Langella). Leading roles in: WOLF GIRL (Tim Curry), THE DELICATE ART OF PARKING, PRETEND WE'RE KISSING (Zoe Kravitz), ASTHMA (Krystin Ritter), POOR BOY (Michael Shannon), and series regulars: LAW & ORDER SVU, LITTLE MEN, WHICHBLADE, TILT, BILLABLE HOURS and DETROIT 1-8-7. Recent work includes roles in HBO's CRASHING (Judd Apatow), Showtimes's HOMELAND, a Supervilian on HBO’s TITANS, recurring guest star on NBC’s TRANSPLANT and supporting role in feature film ALL MY PUNY SORROWS (Allison Pill, Sarah Gabon). Dov is featured in the second season of THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY for NETFLIX as well as season 4 of THE BOYS on PRIME.

Throughout his career Dov has been committed to growing his craft and studying technique while seeking out the world-class teachers. Dov began training in Linklatter Technique with David Smukler and Natsuko Ohama as well as Meisner at the Atlantic. Upon moving to Los Angeles Dov trained with legendary coach Sandra Seacat who's Jungian dream work helped Dov lessen the perceived divide between character and self, then continued with the excellent Kerrie Keane who emphasized Energetic Openness and Spontaneity. Dov then studied with Michael Beckett who's been teaching at HB studio for over 50 years and was trained by founding teachers Herbert Berghof and Uta Hagen, where his understanding of the finer points of craft, the role of the artist and technique have been sharpened.

Dov has been coaching actors for many years. Currently facilitating a master class in Toronto as well as holding workshops in NYC.

He’s currently in training and seeing clients in the field of Somatic-Psychotherapy.

Dov is managed by Anonymous Content and Abrams Artists.

Teaching/facilitation/coaching

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS:

Unleashing the creative self

and becoming character

a character embodiment workshop

3 DAYS, NYC, december 4/5/6 530PM-930PM

The essence of our job as actors is being in character—inhabiting a total mind-body experience of the needs, beliefs, fears, gifts, demands, cruelty, body tensions and so on, of a character’s reality. Embodied in the here and now, without judgment. Our job is centred around character and our ability to embody a character-experience.

This workshop focuses on the fundamental elements of our craft, changing the way we use ourselves and our energy in service of revealing character. The workshop allows the participants space to explore their own creative skill, and energetic abilities of transformation. We are cultivating a pathway to our own intuitive flow and inner genius. The playful inner child who revels in their creative freedom.

Stepping into another character’s world brings insight for the actor on how they habitually organize their own reality. Actors have found this holistic character embodiment approach to be nourishing as an artist as well as on their healing journey as people.

Tools are presented as essential character building blocks and the actor is allowed to experience how their creativity and essence puts together the pieces and moves within different character structures. Character is a system for organizing reality and directs our perceptions and actions. The actor will receive a practical, working model of character and how to apply it in their work. Focus is placed on the actor’s ability to transform their lens of reality and move from an entirely different place, developing the energetic skill of stepping into a character’s shoes.

The goal of this workshop is to sensitize the actor to their own creative impulse. To lower the noise (judgment, criticism, distraction, control) and allow the actor to make contact with their own inner creative signal. This is not a scene study class. This work centres on the creative and energetic aspects of our craft and the stuff of character, allowing all actors to work at the same time and for the whole of class. Moving from the remembering, controlling self to the experiencing self.

This workshop borrows techniques and fundamentals of group therapeutic processing work to strengthen the actors conviction in themselves through contact with and support of the group through time for sharing and connecting. This workshop is a community of artists growing together.

All levels are welcome. Please contact me to set up a consultation to see if this class is the right fit for you.

COST: $300 (Early bird discount $250 by Nov 6th)

Weekly masterclass

TOronto, Sundays, 530pm-830pm—somatic character work—ongoing

This weekly class is designed to bring the actor into deep contact with their inner creative flow. The signal of which tends to get buried with all the noise of the mind/culture/industry.

Cultivating sensitivity to the experiencing self, the actor is introduced to the tools of character structure and is allowed to discover how their inner genius “puts things together”.

The thrust of this class is the actor reclaiming authority on their creative abilities without interference from the teacher.

Using the tools of character structure, the actor explores their ability to create an infinite amount of character experiences within their own system.

This class builds on group dynamics to support the actor in finding confidence in their creative abilities. The actor discovers who they are as an artist and cultivates boundaries and integrity with how and what they create.

Contact me if you’re interested in joining to set up and interview.

Working over Zoom

I’m currently working one-on one over Zoom. I offer training/coaching based in “creative re-habilitation” that is, connecting and moving from the actor’s source, opposed to the need to fulfil imposed ideas. The principal is based in non-violence, not forcing or efforting a “performance”, rather allowing the actors innate ability to enliven the character.

Using tools based in dramatic structure and psychology, we work towards building characters that excite the actor then allow the actor’s creative energy to embody it. More like channeling than “acting”. More like experience than “performance”.

A beloved teacher of mine once said: “They shouldn’t have called it ‘acting’, they should have called it ‘being’.”

Weekly work

I find ongoing training and ‘workouts’ function best when meeting weekly. The process of building faith in ones creative abilities happens through consistent “proof” to yourself that you are indeed a genius. I have found that consistent work towards our creative and career goals to be extremely fulfilling.

Please contact me to discuss working together. 

More about the work

Using tools based in dramatic structure and borrowed from psychology actor crafts a structure that fulfils both their creative yen and the obligations to the story. Once the structure is discovered, the actor allows their body to do the rest. The “performance” phase is somatic (of the body), we allow our creativity and the character to have it’s own life; our natural energy moves inside the character structure we created and a new, never seen before character is born.

Our work focuses on creative exercises and improvisations. You will have the opportunity to experience and take on countless characters and build faith that you can effortlessly play an infinitude of roles. Following your own energy and getting out of your head. Creating characters has everything to do with designing the “filters” of how that character understands life and the world, then pouring our own energy through those lenses. Something quite alive comes out the other end and we’re not in control of it.

Creativity has a kind of channeling aspect. We don’t know what we’re going to create—it’s stepping into the unknown—and it’s fun and life affirming and joyous when it’s flowing. When we’re moving from ideas and rules about “good/bad” or even applying various techniques we’re not available to that flow of energy. My goal is to make acting fun and effortless again, just as it was when we were kids playing make believe.

More than anything, I feel the actor deserves a safe space without critique or opinions to discover what they want to create and how their own energy wants to move.

A note on criticism

Typically in acting classes, the teacher presents a problem in the actors work (criticism) based on their opinion of what “good” acting is or how they might direct the work being presented. The actor seeks to solve this problem by constricting themselves and efforting towards an outcome. What actors are often paying for is to be exposed to the very good opinions of a teacher. However, this isn’t always helpful in the actor finding freedom and confidence in their own abilities and creativity.

The actor tends to give over to the authority of the teacher about what “good” acting is subconsciously exerts control over their energetic system to meet the teacher’s expectations. Teachers tend to get in the heads of students and the student automatically crafts all their work to the taste of the teacher.

This cycle of trying to please and chase an ideal, removes the actor from their creative power and sense of authority. But most importantly, removes the artist from the fun and joy of creating a character that didn’t exist before.

Working with criticism keeps the actor in a state of control, one step removed from “being” the character, attempting to solve the problems the teacher has presented. To reach an ideal that’s outside of themselves.

The idea behind a non-critical process is that the actor discovers their own goals/desires/tastes/opinions about what they want to create and how their instrument wants to function. Doing “good” work becomes more about creating what interests and excites the actor and less about an idea of “good acting”. The path to that creation may vary from role to role, actor to actor.

Actors can suffer in the paradigm that an authority outside themself has the ability to judge their work. When this dynamic is abandoned and the actor is allowing their flow, find themselves surprised and delighted with their own work.

Teachers tend to often offer direction as if they were “rules”. Rules aren’t helpful in the creative process. Tools are. My work is to offer tools to the actor and see what they come up with.

Collaborators

"Dov is one of my favorite coaches to work with. His work is playful, fearless, masculine and feminine and everything in between. His awareness that there are millions of possibilities for a character makes the search for the right choice deep, challenging, and always fun."

-Zoe Kravitz (BIG LITTLE LIES, MAD MAX, X-MEN)

"I have worked with Dov on countless auditions over the 4 years I’ve known him.  In the past 3 years he has become the only audition coach I go to. He’s extremely gifted at freeing me up and getting me thinking about working on the material for the fun and excitement of finding it. He helps me let go of the unhelpful thinking about how to mold myself into something I’m not to get the job. I always come to him stressed out saying things like, “I’m totally wrong for this” or “this isn’t in my wheelhouse.” And I always change my mind by the end of our session. By making me forget about GETTING the job and instead focus on the fun of finding my own personal way into the work, we craft something together that gives me confidence. Through conscientious personal discussion, he helps me stop trying to play the character, and instead find the person inside me who is that character. So that I am just being, instead of acting. I leave armed with my own unique take on it, that I know no one else is walking in with because it’s ME. Dov is special in this regard. I believe he has the power to help people, not just with their auditions but with their confidence in themselves as actors and artists in general. He’s the best!"

-Sarah Steele (THE HUMANS-Broadway, THE GOOD WIFE-CBS)

"Dov is a very gifted, disciplined actor. It has always been a privilege to work with him. He has a questioning mind and a free spirit. His instrument has been honed to be so natural on stage and camera that it is hard to believe his is actually acting. His experience in many professional films and TV prime time series has seasoned his natural gifts to prepare him to be a talented guide for other actors. His often very unconventional take on script analysis opens up a myriad of possibilities even for common parts, infusing them with new and intriguing meaning. His dedication and obsession with craft is an inspiration for any actor, old and new. The many times he has auditioned and won paid roles clearly qualifies him as an able instructor for others in the art of getting a job in the difficult journey of any actor."

-Omar Chagall (Law and Order, Sopranos, Che, Frida, Unforgettable)

"Working with Dov is like opening a wonderful gift that someone you care for gives you just because. He is an exquisite combination of precise insight, near-infinite patience, vast experience, and unwavering support."

-Laurie Woodward