How to cry on command: a step-by-step routine, techniques and tricks

To cry on command, actors relax their body and breath, connect to a specific trigger (an old memory, an imagined loss, the character's circumstances or a piece of music) and then play the scene, letting tears arrive as a by-product instead of chasing them. When a shot needs tears on an exact cue, film and TV sets also use menthol tear sticks applied under the eye, never in it.

Teachers agree on one thing more than any technique: trying to cry is the fastest way not to. The rest of this guide is a routine you can practice, the emotional approaches by acting technique, the physical tricks and their limits, and how to handle many takes, stage runs and self-tapes.

Tears are not the performance. StageMilk's acting editors put it bluntly: tears are "no guarantee that a performance is genuine," and holding them back can be "the more genuine and interesting option" (StageMilk).

Your eyes make three kinds of tears. Basal tears are always there to lubricate and protect the cornea; reflex tears wash away irritants "such as smoke, foreign bodies or onion fumes"; emotional tears "are produced in response to joy, sadness, fear and other emotional states" (American Academy of Ophthalmology). Cleveland Clinic lists the same three types and notes that emotional tears can come from joy and anger as well as grief (Cleveland Clinic).

That is the whole problem in one line: emotional tears follow a feeling, so you cannot order them up directly. The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute warns that actors often use emotional memory "in search of a particular manifestation of emotion, such as tears," which pulls focus off the memory itself, so the feeling never builds. Strasberg's reassurance: "the emotion will always appear, but it may not look the same" (Strasberg Institute).

Stress is the other blocker. StageMilk calls it a major barrier and recommends deep breathing to reach an "open, and vulnerable, emotional state" (StageMilk). A tense actor watching for tears is doing two things that both work against crying.

Use this sequence in practice first, then in rehearsal. Each step comes from the teachers and sources named in it.

1. Drink water well beforehand. Casting Frontier calls drinking "a lot of water" a prerequisite, since a dehydrated body does not produce tears easily (Casting Frontier).
2. Relax and breathe. Release physical tension with slow, deep breaths. The Strasberg Institute has actors rehearse their relaxation and sensory work at home, including for on-camera jobs (Strasberg Institute).
3. Build the character's world. Picture in detail where you are, who you are with and where you have just come from. StageMilk says repeating this makes the world feel real, so letting go at the key moment is easier (StageMilk).
4. Pick one trigger and rehearse it. A memory, an imagined situation, an object or a song (see the next section). Practice it until you know roughly how long it takes to work on you.
5. Build in levels. Michelle Danner Acting Studio teaches that crying "develops in levels": let the breath move from small breaths to heavier ones instead of jumping to a sob (Michelle Danner Acting Studio).
6. Play the action, not the tears. Go after what your character wants from the other person. Danner's summary of David Mamet's Practical Aesthetics is "objective-based acting rather than emotions"; the feeling comes from pursuing the goal.
7. Treat the moment as a beat. StageMilk suggests rehearsing the crying moment as "just another beat in the script" until you can hit it reliably, like a hard note in a song.
8. Come back down. Give yourself time to leave the character's headspace afterwards (more on that below).

Every major acting technique has an answer to "how do I get there?" Michelle Danner Acting Studio, a Culver City school, lists them side by side (Michelle Danner Acting Studio). Try more than one; actors usually find that one works for them and another does not.

• Affective (emotional) memory, from Strasberg's Method. Choose an event "sufficiently unusual to have made an impression on you" and rebuild its sensory details. Strasberg's instruction: "Make no effort to capture the emotion itself, but only the object and event that caused it" (Strasberg Institute). The Institute uses only memories at least seven years old, because a recent memory's effect is hard to predict (Debunking Method Acting Myths). Arlo's method acting guide explains the full sequence; LA schools that teach it are on the method acting classes page.
• Imagination, from Stella Adler. Instead of your own past, use "vivid imagination to create emotional depth" (Michelle Danner Acting Studio). Casting Frontier's version: imagine a loss in rich sensory detail, for example "What if you lost the most important person in your life?" (Casting Frontier). See Stella Adler classes in LA.
• Substitution, from Uta Hagen. "Replace the fictional circumstance with a real-life situation" that gives you a similar feeling. See Uta Hagen classes in LA.
• Your scene partner, from Sanford Meisner. Stay in the present and "react truthfully to your scene partner": let what they do to you move you rather than preparing a feeling in private. See Meisner classes in LA.
• The body, from Michael Chekhov. A psychological gesture uses "physical movements or gestures" to reach the emotion from the outside in. See Michael Chekhov classes in LA.
• Music and objects. Actor Damon Herriman listens to a playlist of sad music before big crying scenes, according to StageMilk. Casting Frontier also suggests a trigger object tied to the feeling, and notes that happy memories of kindness or gratitude can bring tears too: "tears are tears."

Arlo's acting techniques guide compares these schools of thought in depth if you are deciding which class to take.

Physical tricks produce reflex tears, the kind your eyes make to wash out an irritant (AAO). They give you wet eyes, not a feeling, so use them as backup for a technical shot, not as a substitute for the scene.

• Menthol tear stick. "A stick of wax packaged in a standard lipstick tube" containing menthol, the same cooling compound found in cough drops; applied near the eye, it makes the eyes water (Deseret News, by Steve Biggs, president of a special-effects supply company). Casting Frontier says to apply tear sticks or sprays lightly under the eyes, not to use too much, and to keep them out of the eyes (Casting Frontier). On a professional set, let the makeup department handle it.
• Tear blower (tear puffer). A small spring-loaded device that "shoots a single puff of menthol-laden air into the actor's eye" for instant tears; it has to be hidden from camera and both eyes puffed at once (Deseret News). It is a set tool; do not experiment with it at home.
• Yawning. Several big yawns in a row can give the eyes and face a sorrowful look (Casting Frontier).
• Everything but the tears. A crying expression, heavier, uneven breathing, whimpers and a quavering voice read as crying even when the eyes stay dry. Casting Frontier suggests practicing them in a mirror.
• Not blinking, onions, pulling a nose hair. All three appear in casting-site lists. StageMilk's position on these tricks is "I DO NOT RECOMMEND ANY OF THESE," and the onion affects everyone near you. Arlo would skip them too.

Eye safety: never put menthol in your eye or rub your eyes after using it. Cleveland Clinic advises seeing a provider if your eyes are irritated, itchy, red or swollen (Cleveland Clinic).

Before you prepare, read what the scene actually asks for. The New York Film Academy describes seven distinct kinds of crying an actor may need (NYFA):

• The single tear: restrained, no melodrama.
• The terrified cry: fear-driven, and "a lot kinder to an actor's larynx" than screaming.
• The indecipherable blubber: emotion so strong the words are hard to understand.
• The happy cry: weddings and reunions; a few laughs that could pass for sobs help sell it.
• The distinct cry: a recognizable sound of your own.
• The silent cry: the character hides it; wipe tears with the back of the hand and act as if you are not crying.
• The full release: "really let loose, and bare your soul."

Fighting back tears is often the stronger choice. Casting Frontier points out that body language and visibly holding tears in can communicate despair without a drop (Casting Frontier). In an audition, a truthful moment that stops short of tears beats a forced cry.

• Film and TV. A film set can mean many takes, and eyes dry out. Michelle Danner Acting Studio suggests eye drops only if dryness is uncomfortable, and warns to "avoid forcing emotion" (Michelle Danner Acting Studio). Steve Biggs writes that directors typically give an actor a few minutes to work on a memory before the lines (Deseret News); ask for that time if you need it. StageMilk also encourages actors to speak up on set about what they need.
• Keep more than one trigger. "A memory that makes you cry one day might not work quite as well the next," Casting Frontier warns, so keep several in reserve. The Strasberg Institute adds: start each exercise from the beginning with no expectation of repeating last time's result (Strasberg Institute).
• Stage. A run asks for the same moment night after night. StageMilk recommends theatre scenes and monologues for practice precisely because they let you build into a moment without the pressure between "Action!" and "Cut!" (StageMilk).
• Self-tapes. You control the clock: warm up first, record the whole scene rather than starting cold on the crying line, and keep the take where the moment is truthful even if no tear falls. Arlo's on-camera and self-tape classes guide covers setup and classes.

To practice, pick a monologue with a real turn in it. Offbook hosts monologue and script text, so find one on Offbook rather than copying it from a random site.

Emotional work has a cost if you do it carelessly. Casting Frontier warns that leaning on personal loss can leave you emotionally depleted or unable to stop crying, and StageMilk cautions against drawing heavily on traumatic events (Casting Frontier, StageMilk). The Strasberg Institute stresses that its approach "is not based on past trauma, but it is based on past experiences," and that a lingering feeling after a scene is "like a rock thrown in a pond": it fades once you stop giving it energy (Debunking Method Acting Myths).

• Use old memories, not this year's wounds, and choose joyful ones as well as sad ones.
• Plan a deliberate exit: change clothes, wash your face, talk to a castmate or friend.
• StageMilk's advice after a heavy scene: take time to leave the headspace and "be kind to yourself."
• If a memory still overwhelms you outside of work, stop using it and talk to your teacher. Arlo's method acting guide summarizes what research says about emotional acting work.

Crying on cue is a craft skill, and the safest place to build it is a class with a teacher who can see what you are doing. In LA that usually means a technique class (Method, Meisner, Adler, Hagen or Chekhov, linked above) or a scene study class.

Before you commit, audit the class and ask how the teacher handles personal material and emotional exercises. If you are just starting, the beginner's guide to acting classes helps you choose a first class, and the acting class price guide shows what LA classes currently cost.