Do you have an expressive face?

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People tell me, that I have expressive eyes. They are green and quite big compared to the rest of my face. Even people I don't know came to me to tell me about my eyes, that they are somehow expressive, but they also said "beautiful, but weird and deep". People I know even told me, that my eyes get more light-coloured when I am passioned about something and with an SI, I can be very passioned. For the rest I don't display a lot of "body - or face-language".

I'd say most of the time I have a pensive expression as I'm usually thinking. I also wince a lot, whether it's due to brightness hurting my eyes, the need to close my eyes somewhat in order to concentrate, deal with some inner emotional turmoil, or just shut out the harshness of the world before me. I have trouble making eye contact most of the time but my eyes become piercing/dagger-like when someone's upsetting me.

I sometimes wish I could express positive emotion more but it's hard. I notice that in all my baby and young childhood photos I have a beaming smile, but pictures from 12 or older I just have a vacant stare, or if I am smiling it looks weird. I always look somewhat pained or uncomfortable when smiling in photos and I don't know how to correct it.

My face is like stone, permanently fixed with a miserable look of a misanthrope.

I have a fairly expressive face, when I choose to use it, but as I have posted on other threads on this site, I have difficulty making a sincere smile. If its not genuine than people usually tell me that it scares them. I can also make an extra unsettling face very easily. (very good for creeping out bullies)

what else is odd though, is that I have noticed that during extreme physical circumstances that cause emotion, I am completely blank and expressionless. But since that sounds wierd I'll just give an example

When I go on a thrill ride (which I don't do very often because most of them scare me) my face is just slack. nothing. I could be 20 feet in the air on a roller coaster, and scared almost out of my mind. But my face is as passive as it is now as I sit at my comp writing this.

People have always made it a point of telling me that I go through so many facial expressions in a split second when I'm thinking about something, or often, when something catches me off guard. It's like a bunch of disparate thoughts bounce off of my brain, and the associated facial expression flashes on my face before the next one hits.

However, I'm also always told to 'smile' or asked if I'm ok when I'm standing around, not doing anything. Apparently my 'neutral' face is very bothersome to some people. I also make what is apparently a very unusual face when I'm engaging in a performance or movie; as its been described, I turn my face slightly to the side and kind of squint my eyes/scrunch up my face. People come to the conclusion, when they see this face, that I am not enjoying myself...but it's usually the exact opposite.

All of that said, while I'm frequently not in control of the expressions that my face is making, that's only when I'm not participating in a social situation. In conversation or while acting (you can see an example or two of that in this teaser trailer of a film I made a couple of years ago: http://vimeo.com/10276436), I'm very aware of my expressions and can cue the appropriate one needed.

On a side note, a friend of my mine who was a terrific artist set out to draw a portrait of me many, many years ago, and he had an incredibly difficult time with it. He said my face was hard to draw...whatever that means. lol.

This is how I am as well. Abacacus wrote this perfectly,

Apparently so! A 'super-expressive' face.

Apparently it goes like this (based on almost 35 years of other people's reactions and remarks ):
if i'm fine and relaxed enough that i don't think of "making faces", i look angry/sad, depending on the person interpreting my face.
if i'm mad; i look fine .
if i'm in pain, i look fine .
if i'm enraged / terrified in company of NTs and about to have a meltdown and burst out crying uncontrollably , i look fine/ uninterested / bored. I can't speak though .
if i'm happy i look like a 12 y old.
if i'm shutting down people think i'm tired.
if i'm tired i look sexy (very inconvenient ) because my jaw relaxes and my mouth is open , and i guess my half closed eyes are a sex-signal of sorts? unsure .
if i'm acting to pass, i look like a manga character. all "oohs" and "aahs" and wide open eyes , hand clapping and jumping, weird theatrical motions. Not even a manga fan , must come from childhood (cartoons ).

my face expresses the fact that i am not interested.
my face is always in a state of idleness usually.
i never exert the muscles in my face except when i laugh, and i only laugh at things that others can not identify with. that is not by choice. sometimes i wish i could relate the element of what i am seeing that is making me laugh, but i never can, and when i see their bewildered faces after my failed description of why i am laughing, my laughter increases, and then i see their faces looking worried sometimes, and that elevates me to a new level of laughter that i sometimes consider that i should escape from because i think i may have a stroke or something. sometimes i can not breathe when i am locked in a laughter loop and i get scared.

A former roommate who was hyper-NT noted once that I had "dramatic facial expressions"...although she was trying to understand me better and likely meant it in an inquisitive way. I tend to agree with her, although when I do go through the motions of doing the expressions themselves, they sometimes don't feel natural.

I think it's more of how aware you are of facial expressions. I may not have an expressive face for most of the day, but that doesn't mean my face is not expressive in general. I automatically smile when I am happy, but I do not force to express something I do not feel.


I think that's the case with me as well. People misinterpret my feelings because I pull the wrong face.

Yeah, I know I usually have a smile on my face (not that it generally means much but that's not the point). I'd never have said 'super expressive' about it if my best (only) friend hadn't told me so, though! It might be part of my difficulties, ironically; not showing enough expression causes most here problems but too much isn't better.

There is a difference though between "expressive" and "exaggerated". This is also something that is important to understand for acting.

OK, now that I mentioned acting...

Most actors that I admire can express so much with their face without... doing much. I think it's a very interesting ability.

I don't really. It takes a lot to make me laugh. I've been told that my neutral face looks like I'm really mad. I find it extremely hard to smile when I'm getting my picture taken. I seriously can't smile unles it's genuine. The only time I find it easy to express myself and have an expressive face is when I'm drunk or high. I'm serious, my best photos are of me when I'm drunk. I can sometimes take web cam photos of me and look half decent but I have to be alone and focused.

Nah, I've pretty much got the just the one expression. It's been pointed out by a couple people that they can read my mood from my body; hands shake and back goes painfully stiff when I'm upset or anxious, rock back and forth and mess with my hair when I'm lost in thought (stimming? never been 100% clear about what constitutes that), use my hands a lot when I'm happy. But I've got the same blank/neutral look on my face the whole time.

People often try to read my emotional state from my face. It's annoying when they get it wrong. Aggravating when I tell them how I'm really feeling and they refuse to believe me.

I can make the craziest of faces. And I'm pretty awesome when my friends are with me.

I actually had a very interesting moment today. Today was a new trimester for school and I walked into my English class, unable to look at anyone and I just sat down very quickly by the door. When I'm in a situation like that, my face is normally blank but with a look of utter terror in my eyes. I was then approached for an introduction activity. Still staring blankly and talking monotone.

But then a friend came over that I didn't see was there, and suddenly I burst with expression!

I think it can be a very conditional thing. Like me. I'm only ever expressive when around friends and my immediate family.