Quotes About Acting

Writing is the life blood of everything in Hollywood. Without writers, there are no scripts, no acting work.

'EastEnders' changed everything. I was a jobbing actress living in Stepney, and I was on the dole at one point. Then people started to send me scripts, which was always my dream.

I choose films based on scripts.

I was drawn to gay parts because of their scripts, what the roles offered.

I never choose scripts on the basis of whether the girl is like me. I don't want to play myself... I live with myself, and it isn't fun!

If I get good films, I would definitely do them. But most of the stuff that I get is not good at all. They were not good scripts.

I get a lot of scripts, but they're all for the same type of character.

You start out with scripts pre-written, with no specific actor in mind, so you've got to build a character on top of that foundation. It's not just lifting words off the page, it's constructing a history around them as well.

When I did 'Scrubs', we were able to always do one as scripted, and then we got to play a little bit and do some stuff. I thought that was pretty loose, but then coming on 'Happy Endings,' it's even looser.

Sean Penn has announced his retirement from acting about 72 times.

That's the mark of a really great actor, when he can make you feel the emotion without having to search for it.

I said I would like to do some theatre, so people started searching for some jobs for me, and I didn't think it would be the lead role in 'Equus.'

I've never been on a show that's run for more than a season.

Every actor dreams of getting a second chance to reprise a role.

I came up through Second City, so I'm used to playing 20 characters every night who are very different from each other. I wouldn't want my career to be any different.

Playing basketball is second nature to me; acting I found far more challenging.

That theater community that comes with acting and being in the theater is second nature to me. It's in my blood.

I knew I was good at sports, and I knew I loved acting and performing, so I really dove into that, and school always became secondary.

I can overact in two seconds.

If you have a five-second role in a film, and those five seconds make sense, then that is what matters.

Most kids, you can turn off their auditions after five seconds, because there's nothing authentic about it.

The big secret in acting is listening to people.

When I was a kid growing up, you maybe secretly wanted to be an actor, but you never said.

I was really interested in acting and thought secretly I could do it but didn't tell anyone. It was a quite private thing that I wanted to do.