How to Cry on Command: 11 Tricks for Crying on Cue

There are several acting techniques and physical tricks you can employ to cry on the spot. To more easily convey strong emotions, try these techniques:

1. 1. Yawn before having to cry on cue. Taking a few big yawns in a row will lift your soft palate and elicit a physical reaction in your eyes, causing them to glisten. This can work as a starting point to wet the eyes, allowing you to launch into an emotional scene.
2. 2. Drink lots of water. If you want to turn on the waterworks, it helps to be hydrated. When filming a crying scene for a sad movie or in a dramatic play, drink plenty of water in the hours leading up to the big moment, so your body is hydrated and prepared.
3. 3. Keep your eyes open for thirty seconds. If you’ve ever had a standing contest, you may have noticed that about half a minute in, your eyes start to water. You can apply this same practice to making yourself cry—before the cameras roll, keep your eyes open for as long as you can. Without blinking, your eyes may start to well up, and no one will know the difference.
4. 4. Use a menthol tear stick. Actors cry a lot on camera, and it can be challenging to sustain that emotion for multiple takes in a row. As such, even professional actors will use menthol tear sticks—apply lightly under the eyes, and the fumes will make your eyes water. Do not use menthol sticks excessively, and avoid getting them directly in your eye.
5. 5. Breathe. To let out a good cry, taking a series of shallow breaths in your upper chest can activate stress hormones and bring forth emotional tears.
6. 6. Cut onions. People cry when they cut onions. These vegetables release the chemical irritant syn-Propanethial-S-oxide when cut. Once the tears start, they can be hard to stop for a few seconds, so cutting onions before a teary scene can help you let it all out.

For dramatic actors, learning to cry on cue is a near-requirement to advance in the entertainment industry. Follow these acting tips to turn on the tear ducts and reach the emotional state needed for a poignant scene:

1. 1. Connect the given circumstances to your own life. To fully immerse yourself in your role, find parallels between the character’s life and your own. Put yourself in your character’s shoes by summoning up memories of similar circumstances from your own experience as a way to elicit emotions based on real life. Tapping into sad memories and emotional pain can allow you to cry real tears.
2. 2. Listen to sad music. Listening to music you played during a hard time in your life or that simply makes you feel melancholy can be an effective way to shed tears. Curate a playlist of sad songs and listen to it right before you need to cry on cue.
3. 3. Watch an inspiring video or sad scene. It can help to look to media—maybe there’s a scene from a TV show that always gets you emotional or an inspiring news video about someone overcoming an enormous obstacle. It could be the saddest or happiest moment you’ve witnessed; either way, it may help you get on the path toward crying on cue.
4. 4. Read a moving passage. You might have a poem, quote, or scene from a book or play that never fails to move you. Keep these passages on hand so you can easily access them if they will reliably help you muster up tears.
5. 5. Play the truth of the scene. The best thing actors can do is play the truth of their scene. If your character’s arc is clear and the script is strong, drop into the reality of the moment and let the scene play out naturally—raw emotions and all.

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