Quotes About Acting

I've moved into directing as well as acting, and it has taught me never to take casting personally.

So from an actor's perspective, you really have no idea how you're acting.

I don't think my approach to acting is all necessarily in service of the character. I think, selfishly, I've put it in service of myself, my perspective on the world and helping my life.

I think that music is a deeply personal thing for me that I can tell my stories and experiences through. Acting is a really great opportunity to practice empathy and experience other people's perspectives and lives.

Winston was a bit of a challenge, all right, from a lot of different perspectives. It wasn't just the culture or the class divide or the historical baggage - it was also the age difference. We had to see if I could be aged-up legitimately, without it becoming some sort of hokey acting challenge.

If you go into a bank or a shop and you want them to believe that you're going to shoot them, that's an acting exercise. If you want to turn to someone else who's as tooled up as you are and persuade them to put their knife down because you'll use your knife, that's an acting exercise. Nine out of 10 delinquents are frustrated actors.

I grew up in Mexico, not the U.S., and the fact is that there just aren't any parts for Latin actresses. I have to persuade people that my accent won't be a problem, but an asset.

I stumbled into acting because a friend persuaded me to leave my 9 to 5 job and get into acting.

The first movie I was ever on was a Dennis Hopper film down in Peru.

I don't know why actors are just attracted to really messed up people, but it almost makes it more fun, in a perverse way.

When you're in something like 'Game of Thrones' and get the chance to play a part like Bronn, with that cast and with Peter Dinklage, it's wonderful.

With Peter O'Toole, you just had nothing but fun.

You never saw Peter Sellers the actor trying to make you laugh. All he was doing was the character. What I'm saying is that I don't think you should know you're in a movie. I don't like it when actors are winking at the audience and saying, 'Right, isn't this funny? Are you with me?'

I was 17 when Peter Jackson asked me to be in 'Heavenly Creatures.'

It got so that I couldn't play anything but a Peter Lorre character.

But the two of them together, broke my heart. Olympia and Peter, those scenes... When they're kissing in their 20s and then kissing in their 70s, that's what it is. And they had never met five minutes before they shot those scenes.

I love musical theater. That's what I started off to do when I was 7, and my first show was 'Peter Pan.'

One person who has taught me a lot and inspired me a lot was Peter Falk. I was fortunate enough to have worked with him in this movie called 'Vig.' He brought my work to a place where it literally shouldn't have been for another two or three years.

When I met Peter Weir, we did a movie called 'Master and Commander' together, and that's when I really started to understand the power of acting, the power of directing, finding the emotion in performance.

I'd love to work with Lena Headey, Alfie Allen, Charles Dance. I'd love to work with Peter Dinklage.

Meeting Peter Dinklage was just great.

I never thought I would sing or dance - ever, ever, ever. My idea was to be Laurence Olivier or Peter Lorre or some great classical actor. I thought I'd be a character actor.

My background with acting is deeply interwoven with my family life and my childhood. It's a 'Peter Pan'-like narrative, something that was golden but could also be a bit dubious.

Nobody can ever describe how much you explore a character on a Peter Berg movie until you're doing it.