We’ve collected the best Actor Quotes from the greatest minds of the world: Will Smith, Mohanlal, Eleanor Roosevelt, Amanda Seales, Aishwarya Rajesh. Use them as an inspiration.
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The first time that I performed as an actor was the first day on the set of ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.’
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Actors are one family over the entire world.
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I’m probably an actor that tends to, instead of putting things on, think about it more in terms of taking away what’s not in the character, until I’m left with what is. If that makes sense. That’s probably a particularly American way of working, but maybe not. The end of any movie is a readjustment.
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For every successful actor or actress, there are countless numbers who don’t make it. The name of the game is rejection. You go to an audition and you’re told you’re too tall or you’re too Irish or your nose is not quite right. You’re rejected for your education, you’re rejected for this or that and it’s really tough.
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I don’t try to make actors play crazy characters. I like where there’s a certain element of who they are and truth to their performances.
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An actor is never so great as when he reminds you of an animal – falling like a cat, lying like a dog, moving like a fox.
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It’s a very odd thing with Hollywood, where you do stand-up, you’re good at it, then they go, ‘How would you like to be a horrible actor?’ Then you say, ‘All right, that sounds good. I’ll do that.’
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I don’t know a single actor who is not picky.
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From my experience, I would say no: actors of East Asian descent don’t get the opportunities white actors do. I know that’s inherently a problem in a country that produces a lot of period drama, but I have to fight so hard to get parts that don’t have something to do with China.
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I’m so lucky to have the opportunity to work with some directors and some actors I wouldn’t have dared to think I would work with one day.
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My career aspirations as an actor have always been driven foremost by the creative desire to be versatile.
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As an actor, I feel one should use his look to trick people.
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You know to me, being a good actor, the most important quality is you’ve got to love to play, and to just be open to anything.
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You have to find it in the moment, and that’s one of the challenges of being an actor – especially a film actor – is that you have to maintain these heightened emotions for long periods of time. There’s no trick to it. You just have to do.
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I’ve proven I’m courageous. I’m gutsier than anybody; I’ve got a better imagination than anybody; I’m essentially more creative than any other actor I know, and I’ve proven I take risks. I don’t think I need to prove anything to myself any more.
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As an actor, we’re unemployed a lot, so I’m familiar with the stress of trying to get a gig, and sometimes you take shows that you don’t really want to do to keep the money coming in.
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My favorite thing about being an actor is that I get to be so many different people in one lifetime. You sort of get to be all of these different characters.
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Showtime has given new, young filmmakers – black, white, across the board – an opportunity to make films, as well as actors who want to cross over into directing.
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Is this film more interesting than a documentary of the same actors having lunch?
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Denzel Washington is a big Hollywood movie star now. But he started out as an actor in the Negro Ensemble company.
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Being Latino and being an actor has been a unique struggle and opportunity. When you don’t fit into what may be a more stereotypical vision of somebody whose name is Pedro is, it can be a little bit harder to navigate.
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I was going to be a Marine before I was going to be an actor. I was really serious about joining the Marine Corps.
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The actors in ‘Eight Men Out’ really know how to play, and the background athletes are all professionals.
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Every once in a while as an actor, you do something that the kids really like.
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It’s just as important to be a good human being as it is to be a good actor.
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Jamie Dornan is one of those guys who has no idea how gorgeous he is. He’s crazy in love with his girlfriend and a crazy talent and a great singer and a great actor; just a lovely, lovely human being. It kind of makes you want to throw up a bit, but in all the right ways!
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Being a good actor isn’t easy. Being a man is even harder. I want to be both before I’m done.
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I never dreamed about being an actor, because that was out of reach. Coming from a small town that was big in farming, and also big in clothing factories, you don’t dream about being a professional football player or an actor.
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Honestly, every person, every individual has a process, and my philosophy, whether it’s an actor or an animator, is you try to understand the process that person has so you can get the most out of them, but I think you have to sort of manipulate that process with honesty.
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Theatre owners cannot threaten actors with defamation cases and take them to court or seek compensation for losses incurred.
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We will need to reach out to all those actors – to governments, to civil societies, to businesses – and help in mobilizing them to help in this fight against climate change.
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It was very clear to me I wanted to be an actor when I got out into civilian life.
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The pleasure from acting comes from having great writing to work with. If it’s well written and the character is interesting, then, as an actor, that’s the raw material I need.
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My favorite part of the whole filmmaking process is working with a fantastic cinematographer, a fantastic actor or actors, and then just creating emotions and stories. I get so excited by that. That’s the part I’m utterly addicted to.
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The most important film I made, in terms of its subject and the great responsibility I had as an actor, was a film I did about the founder of Pakistan called ‘Jinnah.’
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There is a deep camaraderie of insecurity between us actors. You rehash choices you’ve made among those who are close to you and inevitably bang your head against the wall when you finally figure out the scene… a day after you shot it!
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I consider myself absolutely a character actor, and that’s what I want as a career. I don’t need to be the lead star or any of that, as long as I’m doing stuff that I’m proud of, really.
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Life as a poet and actor truly became full circle as I stood on stage as host of ‘Verses & Flow‘ and lived in both of these outfits. It was one of the best experiences of my professional life.
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Poetry is almost like my foundation for everything. I almost feel I am a better actor and writer because of it.
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What drew me into being an actor was that I never got cast in the school plays – and it used to kill me.
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There’s nothing more boring than unintelligent actors, because all they have to talk about is themselves and acting. There have to be other things.
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I’m not in the loop; I don’t know any actors, really, just the ones I work with.
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Today some actors get a little full of themselves about what they’re doing.
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I see a lot of actors for whom life becomes one big schedule. I guess I try to be more sensitive to my private life – to take a breath of fresh air and be in the countryside or on a golf course.
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Most actors don’t really have a director’s sensibility. They have an actor’s sensibility.
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I need theatre for my equilibrium, because in theatre the actors don’t care so much about image, about celebrity – you are more independent. There is not the narcissism, maybe, that you find in cinema.
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Every actor and actress is possessed of the absorbing passion to create something distinctive and unique.
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Even though I’m an actor, I’ve gone to productions where there has been someone whose work is known in film, and you can’t take your eyes off them. It unbalances the production. Whether they’re good or not, it doesn’t matter.
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I was very excited and interested as a background dancer or as a theatre actor or when I was working on TV, or even on the film which didn’t do well, like ‘Byomkesh.’
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I do think that’s so much a part of what being a director is – in working with actors – to really try and be sensitive to what each actor needs to get to where he wants to be.
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It’s important for an actor to self-analyze.
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It’s good for an actor to have, well, a big gob.
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You just hope that you will get the opportunity to do what you love and pay your bills, and that is being a success as an actor.
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The real stars are not good actors or actresses. They’re personalities.
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I’ve been an actor since I was 18. So that’s my proper job. But I was not a very successful actor, if you consider being able to afford your rent successful. I did lots of old people‘s tours; reminiscence tours.
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As soon as you get two actors in a room and they’re locking eyes, they’re doing a scene.
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Being an actor really, really strengthens me as a director. There’s just a certain type of understanding that comes from having been there and knowing how much is really being asked of actors that helps me.
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The best part is it’s a dream come true. I’ve always wanted to be a working actor, and the good part of it… it’s all good! I work long hours, but it’s amazing. They pay me. That’s amazing! I get to kiss Keri Russell, and that ain’t too bad.
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One of the pleasures of being an actor is quite simply taking a walk in someone else’s shoes. And when I look at the roles I’ve played, I’m kind of amazed at all the wonderful adventures I’ve had and the different things I’ve learned.
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Actors are hard to photograph because they never want to reveal who they are. You don’t know if you’re getting a character from a Chekhov play or a Polanski film. It depends what mood they’re in.
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When you talk about a great actor, you’re not talking about Tom Cruise. His whole behavior is so shocking. It’s inappropriate and vulgar and absolutely unacceptable to use your private life to sell anything commercially, but I think it’s kind of a sickness.
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‘The Fight Club’ DVD is great. I like anything that has really good extras because as an actor, it’s really great to see the behind-the-scenes stuff and see how different actors approach their particular project.
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I think, before ‘Watchmen,’ I was the guy from ‘Grey‘s Anatomy‘ who’s a pretty good guy, a pretty charming sweet guy, and so as an actor, I really wanted to do something as far from that as I could.
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I’m not a Method actor. I don’t believe acting should be psychodrama. I look within myself and see what I can find to play the role with. If I’m playing a blind man, I don’t go around blindfolded for days. A lot of good actors would, but I don’t go in for that very much. I like to just make it up as I go along.
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As an actor, you always have aspirations to play different roles.
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My take on it, like a filmmaker or actor, is if you have much more colors within your creation, eventually people will appreciate what you’re doing, and the other stuff is secondary, like critiques or even awards or anything else, as long as people enjoy it.
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Theatre is a must for actors. They should try it at least once. It makes you disciplined, teaches you to respect your work, and boosts your confidence as an actor.
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I don’t think I’m a neck actor in otherthings. But in Bridgerton,’ particularly with the way the corset sits andthe attentionon the neck, it makes you hold yourshouldersacertain way.
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Currently, I work as an actor, but I still love music.
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Great actors try to dismiss all ideas from their conscious mind in order to provide an experience that is real.
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My advice to an aspiring actor would be to never stop learning or working for what you want. Nothing comes easy, ever, if you want something, you have to work for it. By working for it I mean work on your craft, learn from people who have something to teach. It’s just like anything else, practice makes perfect.
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I’m probably the most pessimistic actor I know. I’m always sure I’ll never work again.
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As an actor, I’ve always wanted to do characters that would help me find my connection with others and connect all of us together. You always want the energy of the character, the spirit of the person, to enter you. I’ve been doing this for 26 years and some of the things I’ve done are always with me.
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It’s always a little mind-boggling to realize that these famous actors know who I am.
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Movie-making is serious business. The director and the crew are already under a lot of pressure to give their best to the audience. Therefore, the best part for me as an actor is to act well in the movies and make a jolly atmosphere with the co-stars on the sets.
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There is but one stage for the peasant and the actor.
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All my characters are me. I’m not a good enough actor to become a character. I hear about actors who become the role and I think ‘I wonder what that feels like.’ Because for me, they’re all me.
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I consider myself a blue-collar actor, just chugging away.
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To be a character actor is to be open, to be a chameleon.
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I’m really not interested in acting as a facade, I’m interested in it as an emotional expression and as a transcendent experience for an individual. I find that a lot of people, a lot of young actors, haven‘t gotten to the point where they’re comfortable being stripped down. They’re still interested in ornate jackets.
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A lot of people try to paint this child actor stigma, but I always looked at it as a great opportunity.
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In the courtroom, it’s where a lawyer really becomes an actor. There’s a very fine line between delivering a monologue in a play and delivering a monologue to a jury. I’ve always felt that way – I’ve been in a lot of courtrooms. The best lawyers are really theatrical.
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I think all those actors from that generation, like Bogart – they were wonderful actors. They didn’t act. They just came on and they did it, and the characters were wonderful.
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I’m a singer, song-writer, actor, actress, athlete. Girl, I’m everything.
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Part of the work is determining through what instrument you are playing. Actors are physical, olympian storytellers and we should be able to create entire landscapes with nothing.
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These actors who were in ‘Dope‘ are the actors I want to continue to collaborate and make films with from here on out.
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You see actors who make family work, but it’s difficult for any woman.
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Whether you want to be a good actor or singer, you need to be responsible and professional – and you have to learn to work well with other people and be a team player.
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To be an actor you have to be a child.
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I think the true artist – musician, dancer, writer, actor – a true artist is able to sort of articulate pain and tragedy, in a way that sort of expresses what the listener or the beholder may have been feeling but was less able to communicate.
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I go to conventions all the time. I’m not one of those actors who’s public-shy, meaning I don’t mind when someone comes up. It doesn’t happen often in the real world because people don’t recognize me because I was in makeup, but when it does, I don’t usually mind it at all if somebody says something.
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I’m an actor and it happened to go my way that day.
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I was offered and accepted a part in ‘A Few Best Men,’ and then the Australian actor’s union argued that there were too many British actors. And the director decided to lose me.
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There is an imperative need for the creator in every supporting actor to be able to perceive the gravity of these roles.
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When you see a person, do you just concentrate on their looks? It’s just a first impression. Then there’s someone who doesn’t catch your eye immediately, but you talk to them and they become the most beautiful thing in the world. The greatest actors aren’t what you would call beautiful sex symbols.
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When I played Robin Hood, I knew the great role was Alan Rickman’s and it didn’t bother me. I always think that leading actors should be called the best supporting actors.
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As an actor, what you dream of is being able to portray people that people empathize with and understand and really feel for.
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In these interviews, they’ve been asking me for a while, ‘If you could do a scene with anybody that you haven’t done a scene with yet, who would it be?’ It would be Christian Stolte. He’s the most incredible actor. He is always the smartest person in the room.
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You have the massive world that was created by Marvel, and then you have these very intimate actors around you. There was as much character work on this as there would be on a little independent film. So, I felt very fortunate in that sense.
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As an actor, you think you know your craft, you know the conflicts in your character, but often you don’t.
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Sometimes you think about the job that we, as actors, do. I take it very seriously, and I care very much about it, but I’m paid to make believe. When you’re a kid, you go to your friend’s house, and it’s, ‘Let’s pretend we’re both cowboys!’ Without belittling it, that’s basically what I do – I tell stories.
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The learning curve on soaps is through the roof because it’s a three-camera setup. There’s a master and then there’s two singles. And the great thing about soaps, and soap actors will tell you, is that when you get your line wrong, they don’t re-shoot it. They just cut to the person listening.
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I always knew I’d be more of a character actor than a leading man, and I always wanted to take that and run with it.
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Anyone who has been given the gift of being opposite an actor who gives and gives, it just makes you better.
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I don’t like the actors to work together beforehand. I trust my intuition, and I like when the actors are the same.
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Actors, we like stories, we like storytelling, we love being a part of the story, and if you give us a story that’s interesting then we’ll want to do it.
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A lot of actors, we aren’t that special; you get a well-written scene, and it’s virtually actor-proof.
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All children are natural actors, and I’m still a kid. If you grow up completely, you can never be an actor.
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They say that theater is the actor’s medium, television is the writer’s medium and film is the director’s medium, and it’s really true.
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The biggest and the most important thing my mother told me is to be a good actor you first need to be a really good human being and an honest person.
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As an actor, you usually live your life with faith.
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The magic doesn’t come from within the director’s mind, it comes from within the hearts of the actors.
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You know, young actors say all the time, ‘Should I use my own life experience?’ And my response is, ‘What choice do you have?’
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Every part I play is just a variant of my own personality. No real character actor, of course, just me.
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It becomes very easy as an actor to immerse yourself when you’re in the real places.
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A rapper is about being completely true to yourself. Being an actor is about changing who you are.
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As an African-American actor, a lot of our stories haven’t been told.
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My favourite actor is Denzel Washington, he’s a smooth character so he could play me too!
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I am inclined to acting. I like to act and I like being an actor.
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It is easier to get an actor to be a cowboy than to get a cowboy to be an actor.
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It’s a scary thing going into the workforce with a $50,000 debt and you’ve been trained as a classical theatre actor. There’s always a depression in the theatre.
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The applause is a celebration not only of the actors but also of the audience. It constitutes a shared moment of delight.
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I lived in America for a long time before I started working as an actor. Some actors show up on set and have never done an American accent before, so they rely on a slew of technical mechanisms. Part of what makes an accent is understanding why people speak that way – you have to understand the culture.
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Actors walk around wearing these little tool-belts of acting skills. And I just don’t find that interesting to watch. I never want to see someone who clearly can cry at the drop of a hat. That’s so uninteresting.
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I personally believe the film turns out better when shot in one short schedule, plus it doesn’t stress the actors.
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It’s definitely nerve-racking to be the center of attention. I’m not the kind of an actor that just craves attention 24-7 – but it’s part of the deal. You’re the leader on the set.
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It helps for actors if you have one director.
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I like the character roles. Somewhere back there I really came to the conclusion in my mind that the difference between acting and stardom was major. And that if you become a star, people are going to go to see you. If you remain an actor, they’re going to go and see the story you’re in.
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There’s too many actors in LA. I mean, I’ll go out there from time to time, but I always find it pretty soul-destroying. I don’t drive, and the people kind of rub me the wrong way. It’s just not home. You know? It’s not New York. It’s not… my town.
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I played pretend games as a kid, army, whatever, but I never wanted to be an actor.
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I have a very thick skin altogether – surprisingly, many actors are rather fragile, but I get that of the 10 million people watching an episode, probably 3 million hate me, and I’m comfortable with that.
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I wouldn’t be the actor I am without New York.
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Doing voiceovers is so great because even though many people would think it’s just your voice, you really do use all your physicality. I’ve done everything from playing a butterfly to Alice in Wonderland when she’s 10 feet tall, so it allows you to be an actor and build new characters.
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I never really had that father figure to look up to. I think that’s the reason I’m so ambitious. I felt like I wasn’t appreciated as a child so I wanted to prove my worth as an adult, as an actor.
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One scene is enough for a good actor to leave his mark in any film.
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You always take a little bit back with you at the end of the day. I always put a little bit of myself into the characters, too. You find parallels, points of connection, things like that. But I’m not an actor who gets so incredibly haunted by my characters that I can’t come back.
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I grew up in East Germany, so we had to learn Russian in school… everybody hated it. I never thought it would come in handy… And being an actor, I’ve been able to use it quite a bit.
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I don’t want to just fall back on the fact that I was on the cover of ‘GQ’ for being an actor.
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I don’t believe that directors need to essentially manipulate actors into doing things. You can suffer for your art, and you can make your own self suffer for your art. You don’t need anyone else to do it for you. I work best when there’s a safety trampoline of kindness.
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I’ve had the opportunity to work as an actor and tell stories that transform.
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I’ve grown so much, not just as an actor, but as a human being.
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I was trained classically in violin and voice, which led to musical theater. Then I left the music scene to chase acting, which is when ‘Neighbours‘ came along. It was a fantastic playground for actors, and the cast around me taught me a lot.
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I look at the action scenes as placeholders when I arrive on a script, knowing that I’m going to expand on them when I understand the constraints of the movie, the locations of where we’re shooting, the abilities of the actors, and where we want to go with the characters.
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A good actor must never be in love with anyone but himself.
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I never said that I wanted to be an actor when I was a kid. I didn’t know. I thought I was going to be a singer and musician. That’s what I had been doing, for a huge part of my life.
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Sometimes people just need to feel heard, and being an actor has taught me to really listen.
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Something that I’ve always been really keen on representing is some honesty with the way that we view ourselves. That’s something I’ve always appreciated watching actors that I’ve looked up to, is when they look like you and me, or they have a funny elbow, or they have, you know, a hairy face.
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I decided I would open this little actors’ workshop I always told actors to look for. That gave me something to do on Wednesday nights, and after about a year of that, I realized that some of the things I was saying to actors probably had broader application. I ran into a magazine called ‘Speakers For Free.’
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I like to grow as an actor, and you can do that by playing parts that are unfamiliar to you and uncomfortable.
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Sigmund Freud said we act out our own dreams, but if you are only an actor you are not acting out your own dream. You are simply participating in someone else’s dream.
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I try to cast actors willing to believe in the world of the movie, who can make an emotional investment in the world we are creating.
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George Blagden is a great actor.
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One of my favourite actors of all time, although he doesn’t necessarily play villains, is Peter Lorre.
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It’s like an athlete. He has a string of hot years, and then he fades into nothingness. The actor doesn’t necessarily fade into nothingness. After his hot years, he fades into a different category.
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Many actors have protested about mobile phones going off in theatres, but the real menace now is people texting during a show. It may only disturb a few people around them, but for me, as an actor, when I spot them answering their emails, I am outraged.
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On ‘The Impossible,’ I was taught how to act. Naomi Watts was there every day constantly teaching me. That was where I discovered I wanted to be an actor.
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When I meet a good actor, I would like to be a director. When I meet a good director, I would like to be an actor. When there is a good script, I would like to be both a director and an actor. The switch is very natural, not intentional.
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At the end of the day, I’m an actor. I’m not here to sell other stuff or use off-screen things to generate whether or not I work. If I’m any good, I’ll work; if I’m not, I won’t.
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I’m sure no one really wants to think of themselves as a child actor.
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I’m – you know, I’m not a good actor.
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With ‘Stones is His Pockets‘ you have effectively a bare stage with two actors and yet a whole world in rural Ireland is created. There’s the countryside, the bar interior, the dressing room and the star’s bedroom.
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Even the finest actors will have great difficulty showing somebody’s loneliness. To put an actor on a chair and ask him to do nothing and yet tell the viewer everything about the character, it’s a difficult task.
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Sometimes I don’t feel like an actor. Sometimes I speak about it like it was another job, and then I go, ‘Wait a minute – I am one!’
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I’m a ballplayer, not an actor.
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I’m a con artist in that I’m an actor. I make people believe something is real when they know perfectly well it isn’t.
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The trap for an actor is that you become too successful at what you’re trying to do, and you can find yourself stuck there.
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I pray to God every day that he makes me the biggest superstar, but before that, I ask God to make me a good actor. Being a star is hard, but being an actor is even harder. I want to be both before I am done.
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For me it came from the material. It was so well written and brought the opportunity to work with great actors. And of course the opportunity to ‘mince about’ was an added element that I wanted to take advantage of!
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As a director, it is important to understand the actor’s process.
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I have the cliche ‘struggling actor’ story. I was waiting tables in New York, went out to L.A. soon after graduation to get some jobs, but it didn’t work out. I wanted to cut my teeth in professional theater, so I came back to New York. It made my journey a longer one, but I really wanted to excel in the theater.
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An actor is an actor is an actor. The less personality an actor has off stage the better. A blank canvas on which to draw the characters he plays.
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Comedy is underrepresented in every actor’s life, because it’s so bloody difficult to write.
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With a book I am the writer and I am also the director and I’m all of the actors and I’m the special effects guy and the lighting technician: I’m all of that. So if it’s good or bad, it’s all up to me.
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I think I discovered I wanted to be an actor when I got the first pay cheque.
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Plastic surgery and breast implants are fine for people who want that, if it makes them feel better about who they are. But, it makes these people, actors especially, fantasy figures for a fantasy world. Acting is about being real being honest.
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I love acting. It’s way different from singing, but I like really put my ten thousand hours in to be really good. I want to be a premier actor. I want Oscars, I want recognition, and I want to move people just as much as I move people with my music, the same with my acting.
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To be honest, as an actor, job security is not a trait.
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Washington is no place for a good actor. The competition from bad actors is too great.
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I think it’s a shame when you come across young actors and musicians who haven’t had the time to learn their craft. It doesn’t matter if it’s acting or music; you really have to learn how to do it from the bottom up because unless you have a great work ethic… fame is a terrible thing to have.
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Getting sober was one of the three pivotal events in my life, along with becoming an actor and having a child. Of the three, finding my sobriety was the hardest thing.
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As an actor, I love to play a good crying scene.
320
Ninety per cent of how you learn is watching great people. When you are surrounded by good actors it lifts your performance.
321
There might be the odd person in my family who was an artist down the line, but no one in my immediate family is an actor of any kind.
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I’ve always basically done everything that’s been offered to me. I’m one of the few actors who enjoy working a lot.
324
My father Kamran Khan was a successful producer, director and actor in B-grade films.
325
It took me a long time to find out that I was born to be an actor. It was the last thing on my list, although my list was very small. I didn’t know what to do. But kids weren’t supposed to know what to do back then; we were all cute and we’d find out what we’d do later in life.
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How many actors have a shot at being a part of something that became a part of pop culture? It’s been very rewarding. I’m not getting the 20 million bucks for the new movies, but at least I’m getting warmth and recognition from people wherever I go.
328
The actor is too prone to exaggerate his powers; he wants to play Hamlet when his appearance is more suitable to King Lear.
329
I had a niche. And my niche was that I was brown. So it’s like, ‘Great, I get to go up for all these ‘brown parts.” I call them ‘brown parts’ because that’s what they are. That’s not to be resentful, because I loved playing those parts – I got to meet so many cool actors.
330
It’s well known that actors are lousy writers.
331
With film, you have very limited tools to convey subjectivity – voiceover, the camera’s point of view, good acting – but even the very best actor in the world is crude by comparison with what you can do in a written paragraph.
332
You want to play another kind of character in another genre, and it’s been something I’ve been trying to do if I can in the career so far, and it’s something I hope to continue because it’s interesting to me and you get to do different things as an actor.
333
It’s not a prerequisite for an actor to be obsessed about his looks. I know there are people who don’t look in the mirror at all, and I’m getting there.
334
Actors are adults playing hide-and-ego-seek.
335
It’s a long struggle being an actor; I don’t know if I’d ever recommend it to anybody!
336
At the end of the day, my biggest fear in life is that I’m gonna wind up being an actor who plays the dad on a TV show like ‘Full House’ or ‘Small Wonder’ or something – I’m, like, the desexualized dad in the show ‘Alf.’
337
I could have gone the route of a lot of these former child actors, but I didn’t want that for myself. Like I said, when I was 14 years old, I decided to quit. I didn’t ever want to do it again.
338
Musicians are like a preacher, a teacher, an actor. You are the mediator who can transfer the energy of beautiful music to the others.
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I think people are used to seeing actors be wide open and desperately giving of themselves, and while I do that on a movie set as much as I can, it’s so unnatural for me to do it on television, in interviews, in anything like that. I also don’t find that my process as an actor is really anyone else’s business.
341
Simple formula for the actor: prove you’re creative enough to get the job, sane enough to keep the job, and hungry enough to give up everything else to keep them happy.
342
I have been working as an actor for 16-17 years now. The funny thing is I still feel awkward in communicating with the public as a star. It hasn’t been long since my drama ‘Goblin’ ended, and I’m looking forward for some time to rest.
343
‘Heirs‘ is really a good drama. Everyone put out their heart and soul into this series, from the actors to the whole staff. That’s why I think we won awards for this drama.
344
There are many good-looking actors.
345
It’s interesting – a lot of good actors are good mimes. But I’m terrible. If I tried to do an impression, nobody would know what I was doing.
346
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I’m an actor, I’m not a politician.
348
There’s a personal me, there’s an actor me and there’s a star me.
349
I’m always studying actors and movies. You can never not do your homework.
350
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It’s been a lot of fun getting to work with Tracy Middendorf, who plays my mom. As an actor, it’s always fun to have different parents and to create different familial dynamics than you have in your real life.
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It’s very hard to be a good actor, you know. It’s easy to be cute.
355
I would love to get great performances from actors as a director, because that’s what I’m always looking for, a director that’s going to help me go places I’ve never been before.
356
Telugu and Tamil actors have been so open-hearted and warm in welcoming me to be part of their industries. This appreciation from such people means a lot to me.
357
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A Dumont actor was considered to be too stilted – the way we Dumont actors used to speak.
359
I think by eighth grade I knew I wanted to be an actor. I’d done church plays and stuff, but my first actual acting class was in eighth grade. I was obsessed with it.
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I remember my parents were always around, and that was glorious, but as an adult and as an actor I look back now and see, no, they were at home for long stints because they were unemployed.
363
Actors always start with the voice and language. That’s wrong. They should start with the body. The body is an actor’s most important resource.
364
It is important to keep the filmmakers interested in you so they can offer you everything and anything. We actors are not given work on the basis of audience poll; the filmmaker will cast you after they see and like your work. It is essential to do different kind of films and not get typecast.
365
I have worked with so many actors, some have been stars, while at times, I have been at a better standing than them, but it doesn’t really matter.
366
I wouldn’t say I’m a Method actor, but I do try to focus very deeply on what character I’m playing, and everything else goes out the window. I forget about everything. I try to get everything else out of my head.
367
I’ve always been a bit of an orphan, because actors say, ‘Well, he’s more of a dancer.’ And dancers say, ‘No. He’s really a singer.’ And singers say, ‘No. He’s an actor.’
368
I think trust is the most important thing. If the actors and the director and the crew trust each other and you set up perimeters and boundaries, you give everyone space to do great work.
369
Never stand still. Only stand still enough to learn, and once you stop learning in that stance, move off. Always keep yourself engaged, in theater, in whatever job you can get. If you can’t get an acting job, then go backstage. Or take tickets. But be around actors because that is where you will primarily learn.
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General Zia-ul-Haq, a dictator and unscrupulous political actor, used Islam as a pretext for waging war in Afghanistan and adopting an aggressive stance towards India. By advancing a more orthodox version of Islam, he was able to hold on to a repressive regime and quell any opposition.
376
A lot of movie stars are not great actors; they’re just very good-looking. And when they start to age and they don’t have the looks any more, then it’s over.
377
I research every part thoroughly. I talk it out with my actor friends, but then I throw it all away when I get to the set. You have to be spontaneous.
378
I’m not an activist, I’m an actor. I don’t want to be an activist.
379
An actor is something less than a man, while an actress is something more than a woman.
380
I think the more you do as an actor, the more facility you have to switch on and off.
381
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How can a president not be an actor?
384
I feel respect is in your hands as an actor when portraying a character, particularly when it’s from the Indian subcontinent. I do make a conscious effort to do so and often talk to the directors especially about the heavy accent when it’s not needed.
385
I’m not as good a singer as I am an actor. So that’s why I – the stories I like so much is because I’ve been a story teller for a long time. I started as a singer and found out I didn’t have a very good voice. That’s the reason I went into acting.
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After college, I went to Alley Theatre in Houston to work in their apprentice actor program. I thought I was gonna get discovered. It didn’t happen. I moved back to Germantown, Tennessee, outside of Memphis, and taught at my old high school.
389
My husband is an actor, and we don’t talk about acting at home.
390
My older brother Joel became an art teacher; my brother Rip ultimately became a television producer and singer and actor himself.
391
I was the first person in the family to be an actor.
392
I would never say anything derogatory about another actor even in my sleep.
393
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I’m such a loser; I don’t really go out. None of my friends are really actors, so in that regard, I still have all the same friends and do all the same things.
395
I’m not an actor, I’m a movie star.
396
‘She’s Gotta Have It’ and ‘School Daze,’ I really didn’t know what I was doing. And the biggest indicator of that was the acting. ‘Do the Right Thing‘ was like the first film where I really felt comfortable working with actors.
397
It’s a nice challenge to escape your reality. I think that’s why actors do what we do. We like to play other people. It’s therapeutic.
398
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I’m not an actress who’s a fan of gratuity, so I don’t seek projects that have nudity for nudity’s sake. I don’t know any actors who do, unless they’re in ‘Spartacus.’
400
We make a contract within ourselves as actors or directors or writers about how much of ourselves we let into projects. You can actually figure out before you work on something how much blood you will have to let emotionally.
401
I always had an actor within me.
402
I never saw myself so much as an actor. I wanted to be a cartoonist like Charles M. Schulz and create my own world and be able to have a studio at home and not commute and be able to be with my family.
403
I’m an actor first and foremost, who happens to do improv. I’ve also done sitcoms, I’ve done stage.
404
As an actor, you have to face the public all the time. It is a job that people fantasies, but it also creates prejudices; these prejudices are the scariest things. People judge a personal life or your image, and it can affect the characters I play. Therefore, I try not to showcase my personal life too much.
405
I think, in general, independents don’t have a lot of access to really good scriptwriters or actors or actresses, so they’re very limited in what they can do.
406
I’m no actor, and I’ve got 64 pictures to prove it.
407
I get more fulfilment from being a father than I do from being an actor.
408
As a producer, sitting on the other side of the desk, I have never once had an agent go out on a limb for his client and fight for him. I’ve never heard one say, ‘No, just a minute! This is the actor you should use.’ They will always say, ‘You don’t like him? I’ve got somebody else.’ They’re totally spineless.
409
What really makes it fun for an actor is when the script is good.
410
I have an immense amount of respect for acting. I’ve always loved movies and was always fascinated by movie-making. But to become an actor, I wanted to commit myself.
411
When an actor asks you to read his script, your heart sinks. The number of scripts I’ve been given by actors that are so unbelievably terrible!
412
Anant Nag and Vishuvardhan sir are two of the best actors with whom I have worked.
413
The actor should be able to create the universe in the palm of his hand.
414
I love to choose the right actors. It’s kind of a pleasure to work with them and watch them imbue your concepts that you write.
415
Leonardo DiCaprio is a very serious young actor.
416
I think we all want to find the love of our life and live our fantasies. What art student hasn’t used his art to get girls? What journalists or actors haven’t used their craft as well? It’s a very human instinct to pursue.
417
It’s every actor’s dream to work in a hit show on Broadway and also shoot a television show.
418
I started ‘Outer Banks,’ because there’s so much hype around it. I saw one episode and I didn’t really continue, but I got to keep going at it. Two of the actors on there were also in ‘Stranger Things,’ and all my friends always ask, ‘Oh my God, you know Madelyn Cline. She was in ‘Stranger Things’ too.’
419
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Sometimes you take a job for the money, sometimes you take it for the location, sometimes you take it for the script; there are just a number of reasons, and ultimately what you see is the whole landscape of it. But I can tell you from behind the scenes – that’s what it is, as an actor.
421
Whatever you do, make sure you want to write more than you want to be a writer. Make sure you want to act more than you want to be an actor. That is what will sustain you.
422
I think the only way to return my followers‘ kindness and show my appreciation for their support is to become a better actor – and to help people any way I can.
423
As an actor, the first thing you learn in drama school is you never judge.
424
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I’m picky, very picky. I wanted to be an actor since I was nine years old, and I figured that was only one way to ever have any longevity, and that’s to be careful about what kind of work you do.
426
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Acting is not that far from mental disease: An actor works on splitting his character into others. It is like a kind of schizophrenia.
428
We all, as actors, have to fight these battles, where it’s like, ‘OK, that’s a little far-fetched.’
429
An actor’s popularity is fleeting. His success has the life expectancy of a small boy who is about to look into a gas tank with a lighted match.
430
An actor without a playwright is like a hole without a doughnut.
431
I always wanted to be an actor, but with a speech impediment it’s kind of tough. I decided to roll the dice and take an acting class, which was very, very nerve-wracking… my stomach would just be in knots.
432
I started to think maybe I could become an actor, but I didn’t have the confidence.
433
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In many ways, education is a lousy business. Teachers are not normal economic actors; almost all of them work for less money than they might fetch in some other industry, given their skills and advanced degrees.
436
437
I mean, I enjoy my work as an actor. But to make a difference in people’s lives through advocacy and through supporting research – that’s the kind of privilege that few people will get, and it’s certainly bigger than being on TV every Thursday for half an hour.
438
To be a Dumont actor was considered to be a great honor for an actor, yet it also had its disadvantages.
439
To have a part that is written for you certainly helps an actor.
440
Having a persona people recognize, it’s the thing that probably gets you paid the most – but it’s also the thing that virtually every actor in the world doesn’t want. ‘Cause, like, no one would believe me if I wanted to play something ultra-realistic, like a gangster or something.
441
442
What a costume designer does is a cross between magic and camouflage. We create the illusion of changing the actors into what they are not. We ask the public to believe that every time they see a performer on the screen, he’s become a different person.
443
I certainly have never been an actor who can play the Everyman guy – or, I don’t tend to get those parts. I’ve tended to play eccentrics. I’ve played a lot of villains, of course.
444
Every time I work, it’s an educational process because I learn by watching other actors. My career is always going to be an ongoing study.
445
And that if you become a star, people are going to go to see you. If you remain an actor, they’re going to go and see the story you’re in.
446
On the web, people are experimenting with something new in terms of characters and stories. It is exciting for actors, as we get a chance to do something new.
447
I’m good at reading people. If I wasn’t an actor, I would be a psychologist.
448
Typically, actors overplay jargon or toss it away in an extravagant display of casualness. Real people hit the important parts hard.
449
If there is something magic about the collaborations I have with actors it’s because I put the character first.
450
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I love learning new things from the other actors.
452
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People forget actors can adapt and change their appearance. In this industry, people sometimes cast to type, or as close to type as possible, but actors are a lot more versatile than you think!
455
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Times are changing fast and we, as actors, need to upgrade our armoury every now and then.
457
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459
The truth is that to enjoy acting one must be an exhibitionist at heart, one must revel in those exposures of the emotions which would be agonizing to a shy or reserved person. All the great actors have been and are exhibitionists.
460
461
I used to be very controlling with visuals and editing, and I would pretty much craft the performances; now I have learned to trust the material and the actors.
462
Seems to me that this business, for actors anyway, is not so much about whether or not you do good work. It’s about whether or not you get the chance to do good work.
463
I’m a character actor.
464
Representation matters. And it’s about more than just actors on a screen. It’s about snacks, it’s about food, it’s about culture, in every possible way.
465
Sometimes you can just hear the actor in the language.
466
467
I heard I am one of the most representative bachelor actors of Korea with Kang Dong Won, So Ji Sub, and Hyun Bin.
468
On ‘Old School,’ I was not an actor, I was Snoop Dogg, so I came to the set with a whole different vibe, and a different crew of people. And on ‘Starsky and Hutch,’ I was more of an actor. I wasn’t Snoop Dogg, the rapper.
469
470
Johnny Depp was the most polite young actor I’ve ever worked with.
471
472
Everybody wants to have their ‘Breaking Bad.’ It went to Bryan Cranston. It couldn’t have happened to a better guy or a better actor.
473
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I mean, sometimes… a comedian becomes an actor, and they just don’t deliver, because the bottom line of comedy is to be funny, and the bottom line of acting is to be truthful, and they get that mixed up sometimes, or don’t even notice that that’s the thing.
475
476
A lot of actors never talk to other actors about how they’re doing things, or why. I think it’s important to share the way you’re thinking.
477
I remember being amazed that actors had a union. I thought only coal miners had unions, or guys that worked in automobile plants. That’s an indication of how naive I was.
478
Peter Capaldi is such a brilliant actor, and his Doctor is such a wacky and wonderful character, I can’t wait to see what adventures are in store for him and Bill throughout time and space.
479
Some people bare their entire life on the Internet. There are politicians and actors, who like that. But there are some who don’t want to do that.
480
I went to Second City, where you learned to make the other actor look good so you looked good and National Lampoon, where you had to create everything out of nothing, and SNL, where you couldn’t make any mistakes, and you learned what collaboration was.
481
I’m just an actor, and if I can leave something behind that my kids will be proud of, then that’s what I want. I don’t want my kids to be embarrassed by anything I’ve done.
482
As actors, we put in our best, but when people don’t like a film, you have to learn to deal with it. I’ve learnt not to get too emotional.
483
A lot of times black actors get stuck in a box. They’re up against a lot of limitations for the kind of films that they get approached about. It’s easy to get stuck in a box and just be approached about nothing but urban films.
484
485
There’s so much emphasis on Daniel Day-Lewis and his process, which is appropriately his own. But I was just blown away by his generosity as an actor. He’s so giving as an actor that he just naturally commands the focus on set.
486
I think it’s damaging to know too much about a person, about an actor.
487
My job, as an actor, is to give the director options. You can only hope that the takes that you thought were the best were chosen. But, then again, if I don’t watch it, I’ll never know.
488
For everybody, the tide comes in, the tide goes out – if you’re an actor, particularly.
489
My mom says that when I was a little kid, I always used to say I wanted to be an actor, but I don’t remember that.
490
When an actor has money he doesn’t send letters, he sends telegrams.
491
If I’d had the choice when I was 14, and someone had said to me, ‘You can either be a footballer or an actor,’ I’d have said: ‘Well, can’t I be a footballing actor?’
492
To me, spending millions of dollars recreating the world’s sadness with actors and props and sets – it seems like a kind of arrogant waste of money… Unless, that is, it’s a film about an historical event.
493
If you’re a movie actor, you’re on your own – you cannot control the stage. The director controls it.
494
In my own case, I’m an artist, and I’m really interested in expanding the vocabulary of human action, and basically empowering people through interactivity. I want people to discover themselves as actors, as creative actors, by having interactive experiences.
495
One of the fun things about being an actor is stepping outside yourself and outside of your own experience. It’s challenging yourself to totally commit to something that in your core is so wrong.
496
I guess I say this for younger actors out there: you have to be brave, and you have to be ready to fail, and that’s the only way you can be unique. So when a director is confident enough in what they’re doing, and they allow their actors to be brave and bring in stuff, the more likely it’s going to work out okay.
497
The hero of the ‘Peanuts‘ is Charlie Brown. I play the dog that sleeps on the top of his dog box who’s a philosopher. I’m drawn to that. So I’m drawn to Barbossa as I’m drawn to Einstein, because they are outsiders, and I suppose, as a character actor, that’s the turf that you’re locked into, in a way.
498
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500
God, I don’t think I could give advice when such other incredible actors have done it before me and done such amazing things. I think it would be unfair of me.
501
502
I feel an acting stint would help me widen my reach as a singer. Being an actor would let me reach out to people who may not have heard my kind of songs.
503
504
‘Kung Fu‘ was never cancelled; I just left. I decided I had enough of it, and I thought I should do a movie right away, because I think when you leave a television series, it’s important that you establish the fact that you’re a movie actor really quickly, or you might never get that chance.
505
I never thought about becoming an actor. Even when I applied for university, I didn’t choose theater as a major to become an actor.
506
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I enjoy acting now more than I ever have. I’ve had lots of difficult times when I was younger, but that was all tied up with thwarted ambition. It’s hard being a young actor, because you don’t realise until later that it’s only ever about doing the work.
509
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511
A lot of young actors will do a scene and then run off and look at themselves. I don’t believe in that at all.
512
I’m not what you’d call a Method actor.
513
I am sure every movie I’ve made, even as an actor, had multiple test screenings. And I am sure there have been horrible things written about me. But I never have to see them!
514
515
I think every actor wants to be an FBI or cop at one point.
516
I love working with children and this young boy, Thomas Sangster, is quite a remarkable young actor. He raises your game, you know. He certainly raised mine.
517
518
I’ve no apprehensions and inhibitions as an actor.
519
Actors have to have conversations not just with dialogue but with silences.
520
521
It’s difficult because nothing’s preordained by plan and you can’t control it. That’s one of those joys and thrills and nerve-racking realities of being an actor. A lot has to do with luck, no matter what your talent or contribution can be.
522
Some of the biggest and most popular movie stars in the world are limited or have constantly done what they do really well. Being versatile is not necessarily the greatest quality for an actor.
523
Most good actors have a huge intelligence about the human condition and a real open heart to different kinds of people and behavior.
524
You don’t pay an actor to act. An actor will do that for free because we love to act. You pay an actor to wait.
525
If you’re a young person who wants to become an actor, it’s really important to walk into a casting room with a sense of yourself and some life experience. You can really delight a room and have them already choose you before you’ve even said a word!
526
When my mother got home from work, she would take me to the movies. It was her way of getting out, and she would take me with her. I’d go home and act all the parts. It had a tremendous influence on my becoming an actor.
527
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529
My closest friends are Roger Moore, who is an actor, Sean Connery, who is an actor, Terry O’Neill, who is a photographer, Johnny Gold, who was the boss of Tramp, and Leslie Bricusse, who is a composer.
530
I’m still an actor who wants to work all the time.
531
My job as an actor is to just tell the story as best I can from my character’s point of view and let the audience decide.
532
I don’t think I’m misunderstood, but there is definitely a certain side of me that the press focuses on – my body, my hair, or who I’m dating – which has never really served me as an actor. It’s served me in the commercial world, making money as a model, but the media perception has really hindered my acting career.
533
The goal for me is always to have the opportunity to work in different genres. This is a great and exciting time in my career, where I can have the opportunity to work in different genres, and also I recognize there’s not a lot of actors who have that opportunity and I’m grateful for it.
534
535
Working in front of the camera keeps me alive. I couldn’t care less about actors’ trailers and food on sets and stuff like that – I just want to act.
536
Cyber-enabled theft of trade secrets by state actors in China has emerged as a major threat to our economic and, thus, national security.
537
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539
An actor has to be very, very careful, as one of the most wonderful props – and actors love props – is a cigarette. There’s so much to do with it: you can bring it up to your face, play with the smoke. It’s just the greatest – ever since I was 16 and in acting school in England, I’ve been playing around with cigarettes.
540
I’ve seen up close what can happen when actors talk publicly about their relationships: their personal life gets dismantled. It’s a show business game, and it’s one game I won’t play.
541
542
Humpty’ was something I had to do. I had to stretch myself as an actor.
543
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545
When I’m on stage, I feel alive. It’s the most rewarding feeling an actor can live.
546
I think actors get too comfortable. I like being uncomfortable as an actor because it keeps you alive. I don’t know, I think it’s important.
547
548
As an actor, acting is like playing a sport. You do this thing that’s intangible, and while it’s happening, it’s great. But then when it’s done, there’s really no tangible product. Someone else is capturing it and turning it into something tangible.
549
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551
If you’re an actor, even a successful one, you’re still waiting for the phone to ring.
552
My father Arun Ahuja was an actor, and he did films as a hero.
553
Having a director who is also an actor makes for that very relaxed way of working and it’s empowering.
554
Working with animals forces an actor to work harder because you have to be quick when it comes to improvisation, and you can’t break character – at all.
555
Once you’ve gotten the job, there’s nothing to it. If you’re an actor, you’re an actor. Doing it is not the hard part. The hard part is getting to do it.
556
557
It is the quality of the moment, not the number of days, or events, or of actors, that imports.
558
As with real families, my fictional family on ‘Life Goes On‘ had its ups and downs, and as part of the fictional downers, the actors were often called to cry on cue. This absolutely terrified me, because I was a pretty happy kid who didn’t have much to cry about.
559
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561
If you’re a lead actor, people are just waiting to say ‘you’re too old’ or ‘you’re too unhip.’ If you’re a supporting actor, you can just work forever.
562
563
I’m much more proud of being a father than being an actor.
564
As an actor, the biggest compliment you can get, in my book is for someone to believe that you’re the character.
565
People need to realise what real happiness and success is, because success as an actor is fleeting. You can be up there one day and gone the next.
566
It’s funny, because there are so many stereotypes out there about actors and movie stars in general, but I’ve had a great opportunity to meet a lot of them, and maybe it’s just because they don’t behave that way around me, but I rarely see that kind of abuse of power.
567
I learn something new everyday about myself as an actor, my capabilities, how far I can stretch myself, throw out emotions I never knew I had.
568
Hollywood is where they shoot too many pictures and not enough actors.
569
We’re actors. We’re the opposite of people.
570
There are a lot of actors who will watch the monitors. They’ll do a scene, and then the director will look back to see if he got whatever he wanted. I just find it odd to sit there and watch yourself.
571
I went to university for a year, and I’m not one for schooling and have no enjoyment sitting in a classroom all day and ended up going to live in England for two years, just to travel. I worked in a bar in a hotel for a couple of years and had no intention of becoming an actor. That’s where I met my agent.
572
As an actor, some of my favorite things to work on are night exterior scenes. Any time that we’re on location and shooting at night, it’s just magic. I got to do that so many times working on ‘Vampire Diaries‘ that it filled my hat.
573
I don’t see myself as a ‘black actor,’ I’m just Shemar Moore the actor.
574
I didn’t become an actor to be famous. I genuinely love acting and never expected to make a penny at it.
575
As an actor, we have to be so vulnerable that it’s really hard to involve yourself with the other aspects of filmmaking.
576
I used to say that I wanted someone cute and nice, an actor too, so he’d get it. But now I think it would be good for me to date someone who’s not in the business.
577
578
There is nothing that I don’t like about being an actor.
579
580
581
582
Theatre is an actor’s medium. An actor has little control over a film. Which is why most actors who have done theatre, and then come to films find the former more creatively satisfying.
583
I think all actors are professional liars.
584
I’m an actor. Actors are supposed to act.
585
I am a method actor, but I’m also a film actor as well as a method actor. Characters that don’t have humility, whether they are heroes or villains, are hard to relate to. All characters in every aspect of what we do should have humility. If they don’t, then they’re a cartoon character.
586
Remember: there are no small parts, only small actors.
587
I do know there are a lot of people who seem to be in my corner, and that’s, of course, wonderful. I’m really more interested in the nomination than in the award, because I think the nomination just puts you within a group of outstanding actors.
588
The real joy is in constructing a sentence. But I see myself as an actor first because writing is what you do when you are ready and acting is what you do when someone else is ready.
589
590
Good actors, you always know what they’re thinking. That’s why they’re good actors.
591
The fear of every actor is when is this life going to be snatched away from me? Which is the day or year that the audience is going to decide ‘that’s it.’
592
From a Buddhist point of view, emotions are not real. As an actor, I manufacture emotions. They’re a sense of play. But real life is the same. We’re just not aware of it.
593
594
I worked in this bar called the Raincheck Room in the ’60s; it used to be over on Santa Monica Boulevard, and, y’know, it was a pretty hip place. Lots of actors hung out there.
595
Frankly I’ve never really subscribed to these adjectives tagging me as an ‘icon‘, ‘superstar’, etc. I’ve always thought of myself as an actor doing his job to the best of his ability.
596
597
598
In the Indian film industry, especially those of us who are in mainstream cinema, we invariably play a typical hero’s role. More often than not, we cater to the public perception. However, there is a latent desire in most actors to do a role where you can go all out and experiment.
599
600
601
Jokes apart, people are constantly asking me, ‘What are you doing for the industry?’ When one makes a blockbuster, you plough back money into the industry. If my film makes 100 crore, I’m not taking the entire sum home! It gets distributed between the exhibitors, distributors, producers and actors.
602
603
I think I’m a better filmmaker than actor, so I already know that. That’s OK. I can handle not being a famous actor.
604
Let’s not get too precious about it: actors are not heart surgeons or brain surgeons. We are just entertaining people.
605
Actors know what actors are insecure about – and they’re all insecure.
606
Though all actors do not make good directors, Dhanush is really one of the finest. He knows exactly how to direct an actor to extract the performance the way he wants it. Perhaps that is happening because he is a performer himself.
607
608
Some movies I see today have the most dramatic plot points but the actors are not playing them dramatically.
609
I was always a closet lover of acting. My mom was very practical. She never, ever restricted our dreams, always told us we could do or be anything. Then I said, ‘Maybe I want to be an actor’. And she said, ‘Maybe not that’.
610
In an era of global value chains, worldwide sourcing and the never-ending search for new markets, we must be careful to avoid the proliferation of regional standards. A multilateral approach holds wider benefits for more actors.
611
To grasp the full significance of life is the actor’s duty; to interpret it his problem; and to express it his dedication.
612
I don’t really know who I am as an actor: the best thing would be to experiment with it for the next 30 years and never really find out.
613
I hate to think of the day when nobody remembers me as an actor and I can’t get good tables in restaurants.
614
I watch a lot of movies. I’ve watched movies since I was a kid. My dad brought me to the theater once a week. Always – it was a must. So I think that influenced me a lot to be an actor.
615
616
I’m constantly trying to find something that’s different from me, whereas some actors do the same thing, again and again. That’s not for me.
617
Every actor craves choice.
618
An actor has to remember the primary reason why he chose the profession that he did. If every role that I do doesn’t challenge me, then what is the point of being an actor?
619
I guess just a lively imagination is the best effort an actor can have.
620
I got really into Martin Scorsese as a teenager, so then it was kind of the whole reason I wanted to be an actor. Just like tons of young actors, I think, get freaked out by the Scorsese/DeNiro movies. I loved all his movies in the ’90s, too. Then I got a part in ‘The Aviator’ and couldn’t believe it.
621
Nothing is so discouraging to an actor than to have to work for long hours upon hours in brightly lighted interior sets.
622
623
It’s the actors who are prepared to make fools of themselves who are usually the ones who come to mean something to the audience.
624
Actors will say, ‘My character wouldn’t say that.’ Who said it was your character?
625
I had a certain career as an actor that I think was quite personal as well, and had a lot of integrity, but I wasn’t writing my own things or directing my own movies.
626
Cooking is a great leveller. You can be a sports star, an actor, an entrepreneur, anything, but cooking strips it all away.
627
A successful swindler has to be a great salesman even more than a great actor.
628
Being an actor: that’s a pretty big net. That’s a big playing field. The Screen Actors’ Guild is filled with many, many, many, many people and vastly different careers.
629
My motto is that the audience should notice the actors, not the clothes.
630
631
We are no longer demonstrators. We are not actors, we are now people committed to the proposition that if the government won’t stop the war, we will stop the government.
632
633
An actors’ tribute to me is in his work.
634
635
636
Actors search for rejection. If they don’t get it they reject themselves.
637
638
My advice to young actors is probably to do some theatre; definitely do that. I keep running into these actors who have never been on stage, and it’s invaluable for an actor. What you will learn about yourself is huge.
639
I had no intention of being an actor. I was quite good at it. I was pretty capable at other things but never any good at anything.
640
There is less pressure as a character actor. It generally means that you will be acting for all of your life, which is my intention. It is not my intention to just be a rich and famous person, that would be pretty boring.
641
I’ve often wondered about people that come to the profession late in life. I’ve wanted to be an actor since the first grade. I watched a play being performed by the third grade class, and it was… magic.
642
643
The actor already comes with emotions to the scene: fear, the fear of being in front of the camera. It is this fear that spurs the emotion of the scene. I too am afraid; I don’t know exactly what I am searching for. On the set, we are all participating in this fear together.
644
My gut told me ‘Kanaa’ was worth taking up, and it’s a dream role for any actor.
645
646
I think what makes a good actor’s director is somebody who understands what I’m doing and is respectful of it, but who also has a vision and is directing me toward their vision in a way that feels productive.
647
When I was a little kid, I wanted to be an actor.
648
I’m not someone who enjoys long talks, long rehearsals. I’m very technical: I tell my actors, you come in, you sit down, you pick up a coffee, you look here, you say the line. We try it with the cameras rolling, and if it doesn’t work, we adjust it until it does. It’s very simple.
649
My parents weren’t actors or studio executives.
650
There’s something strange about theater. My characters consistently demonize elitism, but of course it’s taking place in a theater where only so many people can see it. I’ve been in silly popcorn movies – the kind of thing that as an actor you might feel embarrassed about – but those movies reach many more people.
651
Actors like Daniel Day-Lewis, Gary Oldman, they totally immerse themselves in their parts.
652
653
I didn’t set out to make this kind of picture. It just came my way. But its been going on for me for 16 years now and its wonderful for an actor to work consistently. There seems to be an insatiable audience for this type of film.
654
Black or white good parts are hard to come by. A good actor with a good opportunity has a shot; without the opportunity it doesn’t matter how good you are.
655
656
I’ve been lucky enough – well, maybe unlucky enough – to have had a lot of friends who have had their ups and downs. And for an actor, that’s good. Life experience in any regard is good. So I’ve seen a lot and I’ve had my own experiences.
657
I couldn’t be a conventional commercial actor without being a star-kid. That kind of a big film needs a certain mounting, a little paraphernalia around you. And nobody would give me that.
658
659
I don’t have a great instrument. I don’t have the kind of ungodly control over my voice and body that great actors have. And I’ve worked with enough great actors to know that I’m not one.
660
I have a large watch collection, and classic watches are especially important to me. I had a silver Rolex, and I actually gave it to my little brother. He wears it every day. He’s an actor, so whenever he goes to an audition, he can look down, see it, and it gives him confidence. It was a great thing to pass on.
661
I always thought I was a pretty terrible actor.
662
I’m not Tom Cruise. Very few British actors are. If you look at the body of work I’ve done it’s pretty obvious I’m not going to make a ‘Mission: Impossible.’
663
664
665
666
667
It’s OK if Tim McGraw goes and does a movie, and it’s OK if Justin Timberlake does a movie, but it’s not OK for an actor to become a singer. I never understood that.
668
669
I’m an actor, not a star. Stars are people who live in Hollywood and have heart-shaped swimming pools.
670
You spend enough time on set as an actor and it’s great when a director was at some point an actor or understands acting. They’re able to finesse performances out of you that a lot directors can’t get.
671
I feel bad for young actors who become huge stars too quickly, because you haven’t had a chance to practice your craft a lot.
672
Actors in general have become very spoiled in the roles they choose these days. When I first started in this profession – about a hundred years ago in the last century – it was all about taking risks, it was about doing the job and honing the craft.
673
674
Well, I always try to look at my characters as being better than I am. That’s one of the reasons I guess I became an actor – because you get to create a persona that’s bigger or better or more interesting than your own.
675
676
Actors are agents of change. A film, a piece of theater, a piece of music, or a book can make a difference. It can change the world.
677
Superstars come and go. I want to make sure I am always a producer’s actor. I may be refused to be called a great actor but I have never troubled any of my producers in my life. Honesty always catches the camera, and that is what my strength is.
678
Voice actors I used to know who were starting out in comedy were guys who did a lot of voices. They were usually comedy actors who developed their comedy by doing tons of impressions and voices that were usually very funny. And I never did any of that, so that’s, I guess, why I don’t consider myself a voice actor.
679
As an actor, I tend to enjoy going to the dark side.
680
When I was a younger actor, I would try to keep it serious all day. But I have found, later on, that the lighter I am about things when I’m going to do a big scene that’s dramatic and takes a lot out of you, the better off I am when I come to it.
681
I think actors are very obsessed about looking different and behaving differently, but all people need is just a different film. They don’t want a different you; they want a different story.
682
683
People are ready to take good actors, irrespective of whether he is a TV actor or a filmstar.
684
I have been an actor for most of my life. When I started out, I didn’t think about anything except what was good for me. Like many movie stars, I became all wrapped up in myself.
685
I remember my first scene with Alan Rickman, and I was anxious because he is a slight ‘method’ actor; as soon as he is in his cloak, he walks and talks like Snape – it is quite terrifying. But I really wanted to talk to him because ‘Robin Hood’ was one of my favourite films.
686
I didn’t have a problem with rejection, because when you go into an audition, you’re rejected already. There are hundreds of other actors. You’re behind the eight ball when you go in there.
687
It’s the persona that makes you a leading actor. A leading actor has something extra that’s fun to watch. But it isn’t usually about acting.
688
Fame is an upshot of what I do. If you’re a successful comedian or actor, then you’re a famous one. But it’s not the driving force. It’s a by-product.
689
690
691
692
693
694
You respect all of these people that you know in the business as actors. And they sort of turn around and say, we really like your work. It’s a nice acknowledgment.
695
All actors are insecure. And I’ve got my insecurities, which is why I go to the gym all the time.
696
I ran away from three different boarding schools before joining a circus school, and eventually I became an actor. The only thing I learned at boarding school was never to send my child to one.
697
I went to Northampton College of Further Education. I left there – when I was 16, I left Kingsthorpe Upper – and I went and did a diploma in performing arts, so it was my start in the training process to becoming an actor.
698
In every shoot, between the actor and the director there is manipulation. I’m not saying that negatively. It’s healthy.
699
It’s easy to become very self-critical when you’re an actor. Then you get critiqued by the critics. Whether you agree with them or not, people are passing judgment on you.
700
Stage actors are usually much more conscious of speaking up and making sure that everyone can hear in the back of the theatre; a film actor probably thinks of that a little less.
701
Our job as actors is to just try to be as accurate and as mindful of what the audience is going through and receiving and processing.
702
I don’t feel comfortable with the glorification of violence. But, as an actor who has had long periods of unemployment, you have to be lenient with your convictions.
703
Every actor has to make terrible films from time to time, but the trick is never to be terrible in them.
704
705
In a very short period of time, actors can become kind of relevant and hot.
