Quotes About Acting

I cooked a little bit in my first movie; I did a movie called 'Made.' For the little kid in the movie, I do a scene where I'm preparing a pasta puttanesca. I always loved watching that scene.

A really irritating thing when you're watching a film is if somebody's accent isn't bang-on - it distracts you from getting into the story because you're thinking: 'Where are they from?'

I grew up watching Marlon Brando, Christopher Walken, Robert de Niro, and Al Pacino and even Robert Duvall and was impressed by their caliber of work.

I'll say initially acting was my first love, and that's what I pursued. But then, so far as even my first day on a film set, and just watching how things were set up, I just said, 'I think I want to be in charge.' I am very much type-A. I am a bit of a control freak.

I've learned by watching films that inspired me and people who inspired me like Robert Redford and Paul Newman. I love old school acting. I love subtlety, and I also love being spontaneous, and that's really what works for me.

One of the things I like about a character: I always think it's fascinating when a character can turn on a dime and go from one emotion to another. I like watching that.

I honestly didn't know how well Bin Roye would fare with audiences. I couldn't be indifferent while watching it. I kept seeing tiny nuances that I could have changed with my role.

I grew up watching movies and television, and one day, when I was really young, I told my mom I wanted to become an actor, and she was really supportive and got me involved in local theater and commercials.

I've been watching 'Californication' since the pilot aired and had always thought that it would be so much fun to guest star on.

All through my life what I've loved doing is watching movies. I love the escapism of film, I love stories. So it is incredible to be able to be in them as much as I am, to see them from the first stitch in a costume to the end product.

I don't mind watching plays once in a while, but as long as I don't have to be in them.

Movies are boring. It's like watching paint dry. I did a little role in a movie, and it was eight lines. I was there for three days. It's just horrible. Television is 15 hour days. Movies are 18 hour days. And it's 18 hours of doing not a thing.

I remember watching 'I Love Lucy' with my little brother. We were obsessed with 'I Love Lucy.' And I just remember thinking, 'I want to do that.' I love old comedic actresses - Madeline Kahn, Lucille Ball.

'Law & Order' is a dream come true. I grew up watching it! I always wanted to portray a character on the show because it's always so riveting.

I love watching amazing actors and actresses that you can't take your eyes off of because everything they are doing - even if it is just twiddling their thumbs or scratching their eye - it's just interesting.

It's a trap I've fallen into earlier in my career - trying to be liked. Don't do it. When I watch TV and I see someone trying to make me like them, acting cute or quirky or goofy, I'm not impressed. Don't act like America's watching you. Just latch onto your character. Characters are flawed. Be unlikeable. Be flawed. Be a person.

I started in community theater at 7 years old. I loved being on stage and performing. At the time, I didn't correlate that the stuff I was doing on stage was the same thing that I was watching in my favorite films.

Seeing, say, 'My Left Foot,' and 'The Last of the Mohicans.' How is that the same person? Or people like Johnny Depp, who can play Jack Sparrow and Edward Scissorhands. I am so interested in the transformation, in not knowing anything about them and watching somebody create a character. I'm not really interested in personalities.

My parents were involved in community theater in New Jersey. Instead of hiring a baby sitter, they would take me with them. So my love of acting seeped in from watching my parents and seeing them having fun.

I find it very strange when people say that they are trying to solve 'Uncle Vanya' or find a solution for 'Henry V.' Plays aren't puzzles. They are about playing. But so much theatre has become about performing and acting rather than playing, which is a great pity because audiences are captivated by watching people play.

I don't just want to be a cute girl in a comedy or the actress who just does the same thing over and over again. I want to play roles that are distinct. I want to have a more varied career like actresses Viola Davis or Angela Bassett - those are the people that I grew up watching and admiring.

I grew up watching Kathy Bates, and 'Misery' is one of my favorite films.

I like watching different kind of shows, but I hate watching myself on TV. I feel I am a terrible actor.

When I'm watching somebody act, it's a behavior editorial function - I look at someone act, and I might say, 'I don't believe him when he says that.' I don't know why I don't believe him, probably because the people that I've met, they don't act like that when they say stuff like that and mean it.