Quotes About Acting

I like to learn the lines and not get any precontrived things in my head about the part. Just get on stage and see what the other actors are doing, and respond to them as honestly as I can.

I adore acting; it's in my blood - quite literally - but I can honestly say the most creative thing in the world for me is being a mother.

I honestly don't want to act anymore.

Acting means nothing unless it's truth. And honesty.

There's an old actor's saying about how you don't work with children or animals. I disagree with both of them. Some of the best times I've ever had were working with kids because there's an honesty to them.

I've always felt that acting is acting, at the end of the day, so whether you're doing comedy or heavy drama or anything else in between, you always have to bring a semblance of honesty to it. It's all make believe.

People say, 'Oh, you do theater!' And I say, 'Honey, I do theater to get better TV and film roles.'

I was very successful, and I graduated with honors. And then I called my dad, who still lives in London, and I said, 'Dad, thanks for college, but I'm going to go act now.' It didn't go over very well.

One of my complaints with American TV characters is that they all have a particular schtick, a hook.

I went to Catholic school, and there was this teacher, a Brother, who saw I could go either way, good or bad. He took an interest in me and got me to do a play. I got hooked on acting, and it gave me something constructive to do. I had a lot of energy.

I wasn't really driven to be an actor or anything, but in college I decided to study acting, much to my parents' disappointment. I attended Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers where Bill Esper was, and that is where I really got hooked on the art of acting, and, almost, the chemistry of acting.

To some degree, Hollywood doesn't know what to do with me because the characters I do are so different. But hopefully, that will give me longevity.

Hopefully I won't be 35 still playing a 16-year-old.

When I do my job, I dive into these characters and try to flush something out of myself into these characters, and hopefully that translates well.

My job was to play my character in the best way that I could, and hopefully people will enjoy that.

I would drive down in my Volkswagen Jetta to Los Angeles and just audition, audition, audition, audition, and hopefully get something. I did that for two years, and the third year I came down, I auditioned for 'How I Met Your Mother.'

I can only speak for myself, but you never set out to be funny. You just set out to play the scenes real, and hopefully the funny comes.

I always go for just really, hopefully, great writing and great acting, being in the company of great actors.

I've not sat with my agent going: 'Where is the next hopeless girl I can play?' They just come along.

Some of the best actors in the world are very exterior actors, Anthony Hopkins being one of them. He knows exactly how to turn his face to get a certain expression. He knows exactly what to do with eyes, and with his voice. It's very exterior.

I've been doing theatre for years, but film acting has broadened my horizon.

Some of my acting heroes have built careers on playing characters who do horrendous things - they're repellent and lovable. They're not likable, but they're lovable. I think Christine is one of those characters.

I did three movies in a row, and that was horrible. It was a horrible experience for me.

Even as a kid, I would always imagine horrible circumstances in which I would find myself in my head, and imagine how I would feel, and act it out a bit for myself, because I was a bit of a freak like that. I love doing things like that, and I get a real buzz from it afterwards.