A truly great acting book can grace an actor's library for a long, long time, and the information contained within can shape an acting career forever. Ditto for great books on screenwriting and filmmaking, which I don't recommend because I subscribe to the "paint by numbers" theory of screenwriting, but because I think they often help to break down structure and story into understandable pieces of information, which once learned, free the writer to be more creative. Here are my suggestions of the best acting and performing related books, filmmaking books, and screenwriting books, from someone who is an actor, a writer & while not a filmmaker herself, friends with quite a few who have also chimed in with their two cents worth about which filmmaking books are really helpful! I've included them all on one page because I think actors can benefit from reading writing books, filmmakers from reading acting books, etc because good actors writers, & filmmakers understand not just their jobs, but many the different facets of film production, and are better prepared to workas part of a filmmaking team to create a film that everyone is proud to be a part of. You can search on the Caryn.com Book Search page for other titles not specifically mentioned on this site.  Enjoy!