I think acting is an innate ability that not all posses. Do we all feel? Yes, but who actually cares? Nobody coming to see a play cares how you feel. It is not moving to see somebody emote and not DO anything about it. We want to see people DOING, not just FEELING. The only way to DO in a way that is compelling is to do truthfully. You don't need huge life experiences to act. You need an imagination, you need something that means a great deal to you, you need the ABILITY to let yourself believe anything.
"We don't value the lily less for not being made of flint and built to last. Life's bounty is in it's flow, later is too late. Where is the song when it's been sung, the dance when it's been danced? It's only we humans who want to own the future too."
- Tom Stoppard, Shipwreck