Quotes About Acting

'The Last Seduction,' 'Sleepless in Seattle' and 'While You Were Sleeping' did a lot to get me noticed for bigger roles.

I did 'Malice,' 'Sommersby,' and 'Sleepless in Seattle,' and they're as disparate characters as I've ever played. But somehow, there was that thing - they were all second male leads, so they all didn't get the girl in some weird way.

Being an actor is really, really hard, no matter how you slice it.

Over the years, I've had a slight ebbing and flowing of confidence in my non-comedic role abilities.

I played a homosexual bodyguard in 'The Last Detective,' and that was quite a pleasure to do something slightly different. I was a very camp bodyguard!

British actors come at acting from a slightly different angle. Because a lot of the films are cast out there, they are so used to the angle from which the Americans, and certainly the young guys from L.A., are coming at it, that I think it's interesting for them to find these English actors who maybe approach acting from a different place.

The process changes slightly from role to role. Obviously, there are different things you're called on to do. You're not digging deep for Basher Tarr like I was for Paul Rusesabagina, but at the end of the day it's still all make-believe and you still are trying as realistically as you can to depict these characters.

I find acting slightly nerve racking, but I like the challenge.

I was 26 when I went to my first acting class. I'm naturally quite shy. I'm a quite private person. There's this really strange acting class in New York called Black Nexxus. For someone who's slightly shy or self-conscious, it's the most frightening thing you can do.

In many ways, playing a real person is slightly easier because you have a road map. When you're playing someone fictitious, there's myriad ways in. With a real person, there's boundaries, and that sometimes makes the work easier.

I slightly lost my enthusiasm for most acting, but I've done some little bits and pieces - curiosities.

When you're first reading the script and thinking about playing the part, it's slightly daunting. It's easy to question, 'Is an audience going to like me? And is that my job?'

Acting is a community where you come in and out of each other's lives. I'm slightly envious of the Golden Age of Hollywood. It must have been frustrating to be owned by the studio, but it was also like being in a company, working with the same people, and that appeals to me.

I was playing a lot of bigger, sort-of-comedic characters in slightly heightened realities, and it had been so fun and fulfilling for a long time. But it got to a point where I just felt like I didn't have that in me anymore.

I'm a perfectionist, and I like to do each scene slightly differently every time.

Acting has made me a nicer, happier and a slightly richer person, too.

I'm starting to play lots more naturalistic, realistic people than when I first started. Maybe because I was doing character comedy shows, and I was doing slightly weird, oddball characters with weird accents, those were the characters that I got cast to play - which made perfect sense.

Being a plus-size actress, it is slim pickings, so anytime any role comes up for a plus-size actress, my agents are all over it, and they were like, 'You have to book this job. It's 'American Horror Story.' It's a big deal.' No pressure, right?

Ageism is interesting for me because I've been playing someone in my 40s since I was 20 or so, but I have experienced it. I've been lucky in that I haven't had to play the ingenue and feel that slip away.

It's so fun to just slip on different hats and play different characters, even if it's just for a minute.

My effort is to slip into any role that is offered to me. The minute you go into those costumes, those grand sets, and start prepping up for the role, you become the part or at least start feeling the part.

Be it television or film, or theatre, I can modify myself, develop any character and slip into any role.

As an actor, I belong to a strange slot, where you may have all sorts of roles in your kitty.

My progression into acting was pretty slow. I was constantly performing in different kinds of small shows. One year I would be in a magic show, the next year in a circus show, then a small play, and then a dance show.