Character Bleed

I may have read about this concept somewhere, or I may have just invented it myself. I refer to the phenomenon often experienced by actors whereby aspects of the characters they portray become somehow attributed to them personally. As an actor, I have experienced it when members of the audience relate to you offstage (for better or worse, depending on the role) as if you are still the character. Sometimes, even fellow cast members can treat you in that way, particularly if you only really know each other in the context of the production. Then there are the occasions when an actor him or herself gets so into a role that they find it hard to shed the character when offstage. This is most common among those who use mainly the ‘method’ method to get into character in the first place. Some famous ‘sufferers’ are said to be film star Jack Nicholson and stage and television star Leo McKern. I have recently been involved in four very different roles in three very diverse plays, namely the one-act 'Can We Still Be Friends', the powerful three-act 'M.Butterfly' and the current very popular two-act 'Calendar Girls' . However, before I proceed to expand on my observations of the ‘character bleed’ phenomenon as manifested therein, I invite others to make comment on the foregoing.