Felicity Huffman Thanks Exacting Teachers  1/2/06

Felicity Huffman credits harsh drama teachers with making her a successful actress, because she was once a hopeless amateur. The Desperate Housewives star is convinced a mixture of constructive criticism and a repetitive regime is the only way to learn the dramatic art. 

She says, "I remember I did a scene from Romeo and Juliet. I finished the scene and thought I'd done well. The teacher looked at me and went, 'Yes. Come over here and sit down.' Very gently he told me, 'I appreciate what you're trying to do, but...' "And he was right. I was terrible. He worked me through it a million times and looking back it was so kind of him, because I was so far off the mark. But that was the way to learn."