Quotes About Acting

In day-to-day life, our brain sends lots of signals. In acting, there are no signals. You have to believe in what you are trying to portray.

There's no really signature Leo DiCaprio role, like Jack Nicholson is Jack Nicholson no matter what movie he's in.

I've been performing my whole life. My mom signed me up for a theater program when I was five - I was the evil queen in 'Once Upon a Mattress.'

Because I was crazy and because my parents wanted me out of their hair, they put me in an all-day acting class... so they wouldn't have to deal with me, probably. And it just so happened there agents auditing the class, and I ended up getting signed.

My dad signed me up for some acting classes at a place in Honolulu, and there I got to audition for some L.A.-based talent agents. I got a few 'callbacks' and so my mom and I decided to fly to California and check it out!

I feel like I've done Pete Hornberger, and that is a painting I have signed, and I don't need to play that character anymore. So I'll get offers for panicky, pathetic guys, and while it's a great compliment to get them, I feel like I don't need to play that again.

In 'Citadel,' I play a very young father. When I first signed onto 'Hunky Dory,' I was actually 18 years old.

I haven't signed as many films as I'd like to because there are no good roles, as disheartening as it is to say.

Somebody saw me on 'Cheers' and thought that I was an actor playing a part as opposed to a guy just doing what he knew. And they gave me 'Night Court.' And by the time they realized I wasn't an actor, I had already signed a five-year contract.

Why do we have to pretend we're not in the sales game? I didn't sign on to be a salesman. I signed on to be an actor.

After being signed for 'Madras Cafe,' I joined Jogi Singh's acting classes, where I learned the basic nuances.

Ram Gopal Varma saw my pictures and called me for a meeting. He signed me on to play Vishnu Manchu's wife in one of his movies. He did not give me dialogues, instead he asked, 'What will you do if you were Vishnu's wife and this is the scene?' He explained the scene and I gave my inputs.

I realized a few years ago that as an actress I'd signed myself up to a life of disempowerment. I'm always waiting for permission to do what I want to do.

Nothing else is as fulfilling as playing a part in which you are able to have a significant say in the creative process all the way through. How many actors get to do that? It's extremely rare.

What you look like, whether you're Brad Pitt or Charles Laughton, is significant for actors.

I love acting, but I am a mom, and the roles just weren't coming because of a mixture of things: because I'm not ambitious, and because I'm older, and I had a baby. I really felt like I had said a graceful and completely happy goodbye to acting in a significant way. And I had sort of made my peace with that.

I have played bad-guy roles, but they were significant to the story.

I will work in films based on quality productions and significant characters.

When you are a pan-Indian actress, you are doing films in different languages and invariably, you end up not signing films in one language or the other for a brief period.

I signed with an acting agent first; I wasn't really interested in signing with a modeling agent. But that same day, they said, 'You should go over to Ford.'

I primarily look at how a role is laid out by the director. I take into consideration my co-stars, before signing a role.

To me what's most important when I'm signing a project is the character that I'm going to portray and whether it gives the opportunity to show different facets of my craft.

Actors have to have conversations not just with dialogue but with silences.

I enjoy playing characters where the silence is loud.