For us to be able to 'act' with the same intensity, authenticity, rawness and depth there are a few things we have to understand. The first is that we never ever become someone else. Every character we will ever play is inside us waiting to leap out. The second thing is that the character and us aren’t separate, the only thing that is, is the circumstances of both our life’s. We will marinate our life experience with our imagination to develop this person. Thirdly the character is a person and some separate entity. When we can get our head’s around this it makes it much easier to relate to a role and nurture it to life.
Getting into character doesn’t have to be an arduous task, but it should be one we take seriously. Whatever we do whether on stage or screen will be forever etched either onto film or in the minds of our audience in a concert. That is not a job an actor, a musician or anyone that 'acts' on any stage should take lightly.
More at: http://www.standbymethod.com/how-to-get-into-character/