Quotes About Acting

Acting was something I always really wanted to do and, when I left school and was old enough to get an agent, 'Coronation Street' was, like, the thing to get into.

With acting, you see some of the kids are literally just off the street, untrained, and they are great. And others are off the street, untrained, and kind of horrible.

I once did a role which I couldn't rehearse in my street clothes, I had to have the character's costume on before I could rehearse it. I just couldn't think as the character unless I looked like him, or I knew that I looked like him.

To me, acting is acting... I'd be happy working on a street corner in a mime troupe.

My musician friends could always practice what they loved doing, but I can't go on a street corner and start reciting a monologue. Acting is very collaborative, and you always need other people with you - mainly an audience.

I have a background in theater. At the time I read 'The Loved Ones' script, I was playing Catherine the Great of Russia onstage. Straight after that, I played Stella in 'A Streetcar Named Desire' and Isabella in 'Measure for Measure.'

People who don't know how old I am can cast me as the woman in 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' and can cast me as Stella in 'Streetcar Named Desire,' and they are miles apart.

My acting career began on the streets of New York. When I was a cop, I played many impressive roles, from derelict to a doctor, and my life often depended on my performance.

I don't love acting. How can you love something when you sit around 12 hours a day and work 10 minutes a day? I'm just doing it because it keeps me off the streets and out of jail.

The first movie I saw where it convinced me I could be an actor was 'Mean Streets,' so whenever I see Robert De Niro and he says, 'Hi, Denis,' it's still a really big deal.

I played Nina in 'The Seagull,' and I remember thinking it's incredible to see all the actresses in the past that've played her. It's quite strengthening. You feel a part of the family of actresses going through and giving something of themselves to the role.

I know my strengths are doing a weird accent or having weird mannerisms so when I have to play a normal human being, I'm like, 'this is too hard.'

I don't think I know enough about acting to direct. You need to be a slight megalomaniac, not where you want to take over the world, but where you want to make every single decision and the buck stops with you. It's an awful lot of stress.

It's funny, because even though on a drama like 'Picket Fences' those long monologues would stress me out, doing special effects where there's a green screen and there's nobody there to to react to and you have to recite all this dialogue, it's so much more difficult.

I prefer comedy, as I have to act while playing a gangster. I have to put in a lot of effort to turn into a gangster, as I am not like that in real life. In comedy, one doesn't have to take up such stress.

I am calm but on the outside, mostly. When I'm on a film set, the stress is so humongous that I'm dying inside - I'm extremely stressed, but I do try, and... well, I don't try. I think it's my natural reaction to not externalize things.

I started my acting career at around when I was getting stressed from my singing career.

I feel more comfortable in drama. Comedy is a high-wire act. I find it stressful. It's a precision science in a way.

I always find filming stressful. I get very caught up thinking about my character - 'Am I doing it right? Should it be done this way?'

I would be an actress for the rest of my life just because it's really relaxing. Writing is hard work, and stand-up is so stressful before you get on stage, but acting is a complete ensemble experience.

Acting is fun, but directing is very stressful.

The goal is always just trying to stretch yourself as an actor.

I love being the character actor. I get to stretch my muscles a little more.

Obviously, when you finish something like 'White Collar,' there are so many opportunities to just do something similar because people want that kind of thing, and I really have tried to stretch myself out, for better or for worse. I hope that I'm able to get to continue to do that, as an artist, and I'm not the guy who shows up to be charming.