You already know how to tell yourself to be confident.

You've said it in the car on the way to the audition. In the bathroom mirror with a toothbrush still in your hand. In the last breath before you hit record on a self-tape. In the thirty seconds before you walk into the room. Just be confident. ...

Some actors treat preparation like a dial. Turn it up enough and the nerves are supposed to turn down, so it's one more run of the scene, one more pass at the self-tape, one more read-through before go-time. And still, right when it counts, the heart rate climbs and the breath goes shallow and the b...