This paper discusses the tools needed for the creative work of the actor, starting with the deepening of self-knowledge. It presents the report of the author’s pedagogical experience of an extension course, taken in 2018, which formed part of a research project focusing on the relationship between the expansion of the actor’s psycho-physical awareness and the creation of a character. Practices investigated included active meditation, neutral mask, Somatic Education (through Body-Mind Centering™ body systems) and elements of Michael Chekhov’s acting technique. The close relationship between imagination and perception was addressed, both as a basis for broadening body and psychic awareness and as a source of psycho-physical creation.