Does A Good 'Poker Face' Matter For The Celebs Of Our World?

Colin Farrell’s recent comments about his lack of poker face - and Tilda Swinton’s possession of one - got a lot of people thinking. How much does a poker face matter to the elite of the world in 2025 and beyond? Do they need to be able to hide their feelings, or is authenticity the new currency on which fame runs these days?

The obvious answer here is that it’s a bit of both. Everyday people certainly value actors who are honest, who show integrity, who can be trusted. At the same time, the need to hide information, conceal their feelings, and even bluff on occasion, has certainly not gone away.

The Literal Value Of The Poker Face

Obviously, for celebs who are keen gamers, the poker face has very clear and undeniable value. Lots of celebrities, including stars such as Ben Affleck and Jennifer Tilly, play poker for real money, and here, the ability to conceal your feelings and avoid giving any hints about your cards is critical.

Lots of these engage with poker tournaments on a regular basis, so they get plenty of opportunity to figure out their own tells, work on eliminating them, and practice reading other players.

You can’t really play the game without a decent poker face; you’ll give away too much about your cards. Bear in mind too that it’s not just about your literal facial expressions. It’s about how fast you take your moves, how aggressively you raise, and other physical tells, like your posture and how rigidly you move. Anyone who plays poker for real money will spend time learning about these cues, both so they can read others and so they can find ways to minimize them in their own behavior.

There’s also very obvious value in being able to maintain a poker face while on set for those in the acting world. If you let your real feelings interfere on the screen or the stage, you’re going to struggle to maintain your persona, potentially ruining the immersion for audience members. Actors, then, have to practice fashioning a poker face… but how much does it matter when they’re not in character? There are quite a few reasons they might still need to conceal information and bluff effectively. Let’s dig into those.

Avoiding Giving Spoilers

It’s amazing just how easy it is to accidentally give away information in today’s world. Even something as small as confirming whether they are in an upcoming picture or whether they will attend a certain premiere can lead to audiences guessing about plots and character deaths (or reappearances). With savvy, detective-style audiences always looking for clues about upcoming media they love, actors will sometimes need to decline to comment or avoid showing enthusiasm for a franchise in the interests of avoiding spoilers.

This can come up surprisingly often, so it’s something actors must learn to navigate, especially in interviews. Their behavior will be analyzed thoroughly by fans, meaning even an expression or a gesture can give something away. Here, having a decent poker face is to an actor’s advantage.

Of course, that doesn’t mean every actor is going to have one or that they are essential for success in our world. Colin Farrell’s comments that we referenced earlier show pretty clearly that it’s not critical - and he’s a well-known, highly respected actor.

Managing Relationships

Navigating relationships and various controversies is a real challenge for some actors, and a poker face can prove vital in keeping things neutral. After all, the stars of our world are only human; sometimes, things come up that provoke strong feelings and result in the need for press statements or social media comments to be made.

In these moments, celebrities sometimes need to either conceal or mitigate their emotions, softening the message and ensuring it’s in keeping with the image. After all, these people are their own brands - what they say really matters. That doesn’t mean they must be inauthentic in these moments; it just means they may not show the full strength of their feelings in public.

This is probably the most challenging area for celebrities of all kinds - actors, singers, models, influencers, and more - to navigate. They need to be true to themselves and express their feelings, and at the same time, manage their public image. It’s a tricky balance, but it must be walked!

It also extends far beyond their expressions and body language, threading into the words they choose and the amount of communication they put out. Humans are very good at picking up on subtle cues and reading between the lines, meaning celebrities need to think hard about the whole package before they determine what they’ll say and how they want to say it.

So, the concept of a “poker face” is pretty broad-ranging when we apply it to celebrities, and it’s something every individual is going to take in a different way. There are clear benefits to being able to conceal information and manage your messaging, even in a world where authenticity is growing increasingly important and we encourage celebrities to feel comfortable in themselves.