Quotes About Acting

It would help a lot of directors if they tried a little bit of acting, so they can understand what the process is about. It certainly wouldn't do them any harm.

Since I started acting, I had to quit a lot of bad habits. I've tried to stop biting my nails, because people always look at your nails during auditions. Truth be told, I still have a 'cheat nail,' but I've been cheating less and less.

I tried to copy some of his mannerisms at first but it didn't work. And then I just let the spirit of the character grow in me and it just took its rightful place. I started to speak the lines and it felt right.

I have always tried to portray each role as differently as possible.

I've always tried to have a healthy take on the characters I play; they are only characters I play.

I really tried out for the part of Harry Potter, but they ended up picking me for the part of the enemy of Harry. Actually it is really fun playing the bad kid because it just has so many interesting qualities to it. And Daniel Radcliffe and I get along really well off set so it's really fun filming.

The film I did with Bobby De Niro, 'The King of Comedy' - an awful lot came to me out of that movie because De Niro never allowed me any room to be crazy. If I had tried to play it the way I would normally play it and get hysterical, Bobby would punch me.

I played the ingenue, of course, when I was young - but even with those, I tried to make interesting choices and mess them up a little bit - make them layered and complicated and not all stereotypes.

I felt so ashamed of my modeling history when I first got into acting, so I tried to hide that part of my life, because I didn't want to be looked at as too sexy for a role.

I guess the producers saw me and knew I was literate and I always tried to be alert and it's funny because you have to have a sharpness to do those shows, especially some of the ones I did in later years.

I think acting's very natural. It comes from a place of honesty, and if someone tries to teach you their way of doing it, that could be quite damaging.

I've even let my hair be lightened a trifle. But never have I dyed it for stage or screen.

Acting is a stressful environment to put yourself into, and stress triggers Tourette's, but I think it's partly an outlet because when I'm acting, I'm putting my mind, body, and soul into something, and that's one of the times during the day when I don't tic.

My father loved 'Godard and Truffaut.' He was more artsy. My mom loved the 'Bourne' trilogy; she likes big blockbusters. She loved that I did 'I Am Legend.' My passion for acting came with my passion for movies.

More than anything, I wanted to be Aragorn in 'Lord of the Rings,' and I wanted to be Lirael in the 'Sabriel' trilogy. The only way I was ever going to get to do that was act, so I tried.

I did 'Echo Beach,' a surfing drama that meant I was often topless. Next came 'Demons,' and the opening sequence had me in my boxer shorts; and then there was a scene in 'Trinity' with me walking around in boxer shorts. It was only one scene in each series.

Just say the lines and don't trip over the furniture.

Cardi B or Tiffany Haddish from 'Girl's Trip,' I think I could play those two.

Dentistry was an ego trip, and acting is a personal need. Usually it's the reverse, and I honestly don't think I had the talent in my hands to be a good dentist.

They were looking for someone to play the neighbor of the Jeffersons. I thought it would be a nice trip to Los Angeles. When you get a call like that, you don't expect much to come of it.

Acting gives you cosmic permission to take a trip in movies that lasts 24 hours a day, seven days a week, until the film is finished.

I was just doing bits and pieces of acting in the U.K. I'd been in the film 'Breaking and Entering' - Anthony Minghella gave me my start and I miss him dearly. Then I made the trip out to L.A., during one of their pilot seasons, which was when they were developing 'Gossip Girl,' and I auditioned, and things came together.

What I've learned about acting is that it needs to be mysterious. If you overthink how a beat needs to be played, it can trip you up.

I left drama school to do 'The Book Thief' - it was a real trip going straight from school kind of right into it, but I feel like the momentum of being in school put me in a good mindset as far as going into it as a learning experience.