Scottish actor Thomas Doherty is climbing up the ladder as an actor as he transitioned away from the Disney actor persona. Some people may remember when Thomas portrayed Sean Matthews in the Disney show The Lodge in 2016. The same year he did the movie High Strung. From there, Doherty joined the Descendants franchise during the second (2017) and third (2019) installments. 2019 to 2020, Thomas played Sebastian in the Vampire Diaries and The Originals spin-off, Legacies. March 2020, it was announced that Thomas would join the cast for the Gossip Girl reboot.

With the actor steadily getting better roles, it may make one wonder how the former Disney actor is prepared for some of his major roles. While Thomas hasn't come out and specifically told what he does to prepare for every single role, he has done numerous interviews where he revealed some tactics he used to prepare him for some but not all roles.

8 Thomas Doherty Embodies Every Aspect Of The Character

Like most actors and actresses, Thomas Doherty embodies the character he's to portray. In an interview with Glamour, Thomas revealed after he got the call that he got the part of Max Wolfe in the Gossip Girl reboot he began with the physicality of the character.

"I got into my body and tried to find the way that he would sit, how he would stand, how he would move as he walked," Thomas said. "From there, I formulated a foundation for how the character physically was, and I built upon that with the way that he spoke, how he enunciated things, and how he would look."

Related: What Happened Between Thomas Doherty And Dove Cameron?

7 Thomas Doherty Attains Information Surrounding His Characters

When Thomas Doherty goes into character, he goes in 110%. Playing Max Wolfe was unfamiliar territory for Thomas because Max was a pansexual character. So, Thomas took it upon himself to educate himself on the matter to ensure he was headed into the role with knowledge. To Thomas, exploring the unfamiliar territory was fun for him, from the character's feelings to the character's thoughts.

6 Thomas Doherty Draws From Previous Experiences

Before acting out the scene, the Gossip Girl actor draws from his experiences to connect with his character, which is a method many actors do. When the actor pulls from a memory and aligns it with what his character is going through, the two connect, and the actor is able to correctly express the character's emotions through body movement, cadence, and facial expressions.

5 How Thomas Doherty Gains Background Of Series He's Joining

Before joining Legacies, Thomas Doherty had only seen some of The Vampire Diaries but none of The Originals. A little brush-up of the vampire franchise got him in the loop and caused him to nail it as Sebastian in the show. The same thing happened for Gossip Girl. He didn't get into it until his girlfriend around the year 2019 (probably Dove Cameron) convinced him to watch it. He got a call about the reboot and asked if he wanted to join the cast, and he agreed.

Related: 'Descendants' Dove Cameron Reveals That She Split With Thomas Doherty On Twitter

4 Omitting Previous Characters He Has Embodied

Thomas Doherty has been compared to Zac Efron/Troy Bolton and Chuck Bass, but he doesn't let that interfere when getting into character because the people he's being compared to differ from the characters he's portraying.

"You want to give the audience something different," Thomas explained to Seventeen magazine. "Something else that they can either relate to or not relate to. Enjoy or not enjoy."

3 Thomas Doherty Listens To Music For The Emotional Factor Of Characters

The Scottish actor isn't too crazy about music despite joking around about starting his own band in an interview or being on Descendants. However, the actor said he doesn't even listen to music all the time. Whenever Thomas is acting, though, and has to express his character's emotions, the actor will listen to music to help him quickly embody that character's feelings and get him into whatever headspace he needs to be in.

Related: Season Two Of 'High Fidelity' Needs To Happen... Fans Are Demanding A Cherise Episode

2 Thomas Doherty Takes Mental Breaks

People in the entertainment industry face many mental health issues due to working long hours, being in the public eye, not being in control of getting chosen for an acting gig, etc. Many actors have outside factors preventing them from doing their job. Thomas refrains from allowing that to happen by taking mental breaks. In Teen Vogue, Thomas revealed that while training for High Strung Free Dance, he had to work 15 or 16 hours and had to remain in his character's headspace but found it difficult. Mental breaks helped him to refresh and perform better.

1 Train. Train. Train.

For a lot of Thomas Doherty's shows like The Lodge, Descendants, High Strung, and his new movie The Invitation, he had to undergo extensive training. How much effort did he put into his roles?

Thomas publicly admitted to lying to the casting directors of High Infidelity about his ability to play guitar. But Thomas began learning to play the instrument after the little white lie to continue playing the desired character, Zander. For The Lodge, Thomas had to train to learn mountain biking before filming. He also had to train in various types of dances for High Strung and High Strung Free Dance.