Character Interview
Character Interview is an exercise in which a performer stays in character while the group or a facilitator asks probing personal questions. The performer must invent a coherent backstory, opinions, and emotional responses on the spot. The exercise develops deep character commitment and the ability to sustain a persona under interrogation.
Worth Reading
See all books →
Improvise
Scene from the Inside Out
Mick Napier
Embodied Playwriting
Improv and Acting Exercises for Writing
Hillary Haft Bucs; Charissa Menefee
Spontaneous Performance
Acting Through Improv
Marsh Cassady
Improvisation for Actors and Writers
A Guidebook for Improv Lessons in Comedy
Bill Lynn
Theatrical Improvisation
Short Form, Long Form, and Sketch-Based Improv
Jeanne Leep
Long-Form Improv
The Complete Guide to Creating Characters, Sustaining Scenes, and Performing Extraordinary Harolds
Ben Hauck
Related Exercises
Character Study
Character Study is an exercise in which performers spend extended time developing a single character through exploration of physicality, voice, biography, and behavior. The focused work produces richer, more specific characters than the rapid choices of performance typically allow. It provides a foundation that improvisers can draw on in scene work.
Character Walk
Character Walk is an exercise in which players move through the space while gradually adjusting their physicality to build a character from the feet up. Changes in gait, posture, tempo, and weight distribution produce distinct personas. The exercise demonstrates how physical choices generate character without any need for backstory or dialogue.
Emotions Characters
Emotions Characters is a character-building exercise in which performers construct a character whose entire identity is defined by a single dominant emotion. Rather than playing a character who experiences an emotion, the performer plays a human being for whom that emotion is the organizing principle of their existence: a person constituted entirely by joy, or anger, or longing, or fear. The exercise develops the skill of using emotion as a generative foundation for character rather than as a surface-level behavioral quality.
The Interviewing Process
The Interviewing Process is an applied exercise in which participants practice the dynamics of job interviews from both sides, using improvisational techniques to develop genuine presence, spontaneous response, and the ability to communicate under evaluation. The exercise treats the interview as a mutual scene with stakes for both parties.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Character Interview. Retrieved September 28, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/exercises/character-interview
The Improv Archive. "Character Interview." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/exercises/character-interview.
The Improv Archive. "Character Interview." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/exercises/character-interview. Accessed September 28, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.