I have to seriously wonder just how many actors you've worked with, or for that matter even known. Every actor must bring their character out from somewhere. They usually have to attach a personal experience to the scene they are attempting to portray to get the emotional level right, and you'll see that notion reflected when you watch any interview with them.
This goes to the point of my original post; these actors who portray other people really aren't being themselves. They have researched and sometimes even actually lived awhile in the actual environment for the characters they are playing to add authenticity.
A few people have said the advice "be yourself" is suppose to warn against mimicing other magicians, but the problem is they mimic because their natural self is uninteresting.
Actors literally go and add something to their personality so they are now a different person...or at least have a different side. Pierce Brosnan is actually a goofy guy if you've ever seen him on a talk show, but he can't "be himself" when he was playing James Bond.
When you are scripting your magic, and you decided to talk about the Chinese coins you use, because of your time spent in China…when you have never been, you WILL get called on it.
Most definitely. But if you actually visited China and it adds a lot to your personality then you would be authentic if you're doing a piece of magic with Chinese coins.
That's why having life experiences that have nothing to do with magic is important. My point is that while the advice "be yourself" might have started with good intentions, I think a lot of people these days use it as a reason to "stay the same". Today we as a society are rather weak...ultra-sensitive...and cannot take any criticism. So the advice "be yourself" becomes an excuse to "not change because you are special just the way you are" and I think that has become a very crippling attitude.