Quotes About Acting

I used to do a Saturday drama group called Young Blood Theatre Company with school-friends in west London - nothing to do with my mum and dad. A casting director came to pick people out for a new BBC children's series called 'MI High.' She picked me, I auditioned, and I got the job.

I've always tried to have a pretty discerning eye with the roles that I've picked, which is maybe why it seems like I take breaks, but really, they're not breaks. It's just that there's not as much out there as one would hope. I'm lucky enough to be able to be choosy sometimes.

When I was in high school, the drama teacher picked me to play Iago in 'Othello.'

In the ring, you want every one of the 80,000 people in the building to know what you're feeling. On a movie set, every expression you make is going to get picked up times 10. They kept having to dial me back.

I don't know what's wrong with me - I don't know why I only get picked to play strange characters!

Some basic things I have picked up from Dad is how to interpret my character correctly, use the camera to my advantage and how not to hurry up with work.

I don't want to know what happens because I enjoy picking up a script and going, 'I do what?!'

I am always picking on something or the other about the way I have performed a scene.

I feel like I've been picky through the years and would do one movie a year or one movie every two years, and I want to work a lot more. So if I can find something that just happens right away as a director, I'll do it if I really love it, but otherwise, I want to keep working as an actor and getting better.

I don't like to leave my children for long periods of time. It's made me more picky about roles that are close, especially on television.

I would definitely like to work in India. It is just that I am quite picky when it comes to roles.

I've been really picky about the sort of characters that I want to represent.

He's very alive in a scene. He's a very good actor to act with. Even though through most of the picture he's blind, there are many places early in the picture I got to be with him before he was blind. Like convincing him in the office to do the picture.

I did 'Dirty Picture' when I was only 24 years old. From there on, I kept on acting and learning about acting.

It was wonderful to play such a part, but I was disappointed with the picture.

I've had lots of parts in movies that I've never seen. I mean no disrespect to them. It was really fun to go act, but I'm not calling my friends and saying, 'I couldn't be more proud of this picture. You should go see it.'

You know, I just tend to grow my beard out for 'Parks and Rec.' As an actor it's always easier to shave or cut your hair for a role, but it's hard to put fake hair on or grow hair for a role. When you look at pictures of me, the longer my hair is, the longer my facial hair is, that's just the longer I haven't gotten a job.

Doing those costume pictures was wonderful.

I've done my best to avoid B pictures.

I went there and helped him shuffle pictures of people, and one of the agents asked me if I was interested in acting. Of course, I was a little bit interested in it; I'm sure that's part of the reason I moved to L.A. even though I never admitted it to myself.

Partying and having all of those pictures taken distracts from the work that I do. It's not why I started acting. I didn't get into acting to be written about. It kind of just happened - so I accept that it's my life.

You can be more creative in acting by bringing your character to life and bringing a piece of you that wasn't there before. You could have five different actors play one role, and all five of them would be so different because each person brings a different piece of them into it.

I'd love to do a perlod piece. Maybe 'Caesar and Cleopatra.' I could do both roles- at one-and-a-half salaries.

I'd like to do a piece of Shakespeare. Any upcoming Shakespeare film. Just a bit to say I did a classic.