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Some movie directors are in awe of actors. They love watching them work, but are unable to truly comprehend what they do. Although a good film director will love actors, it's also important to understand them. Actors will come to your material with a certain point of view that may be unfamiliar to you. Their acting training, if any, will likely give them a specific style of work that you can help or hinder.

Backstory

Many actors craft written or mental backstories of their characters to help them ground their performance. They find it helpful to know what this character was like at an earlier time so they can have a better idea of how they would behave now. This is of no consequence to a film director since he or she only cares about what is on-camera, but acknowledgment of the importance of the backstory can help you get what you want. An actor might want to chat about the character's past or maybe bounce some ideas off you. This isn't something you might think important, but you should. Help the actors tune their instrument and they will perform better.

Desire/Motivation

Actors don't just do what the script says, they are lots of things they do internally that affect their performance. They are the keeper of the character and they may object to things that don't make sense. If you want your actors to truly be on board with your film, you need to make the character motivation clear if they can't find it themselves. This is not an actor filibuster technique, it's an important part of portraying a character. There are so many choices they have to make that aren't laid out in the script and knowing a character's desire will help steer them straight.

Objective, Obstacle, Action

Actors are not in scenes to just be there; they are never like furniture. Even if a character does very little, that actor is busy at work. You may just see your film as a series of actors walking and making motions, but for the actors it's much more personal. If you can help make clear the circumstances they are working in it can help their performance. Actors have objectives for their character that the script may not make clear but the actors must know. There will be forces that oppose them in the film and if they aren't clear than the acting won't be either. To achieve an objective in spite of obstacles an actor takes a series of actions. To help really bring a character to life it might be necessary to help them suss out what precisely a character is doing though the script may not make it clear.

Sense, Emotional Memory

Empathy with the character may not be enough to get an actor fully in the emotional state they should be in. Sometimes we are supposed to be cold when it's hot. With some knowledge of how actors overcome these problems you can help them improve their performance. Instead of just hoping they can hit an emotional note, talk with them about their life and anything they can use to substitute with what's in the script. They may never have gotten mad when someone stole something from them, but might have been put in a frenzy one time when somebody embarrassed them in front of friends. If the actors need to cough incessantly as if the air is filled with toxic gas help them conjure the idea of strong vinegar under their noses or the time they were deathly ill and coughed all night.

Actors can't always be as self-sufficient as we'd hope. They need help sometimes, which is what a director is there for. A little knowledge about how they do what they do can put you in a position to help them do it better.