The biggest spur to my interest in art came when I played van Gogh in the biographical film Lust For Life. The role affected me deeply. I was haunted by this talented genius who took...

Growing up, I was always in my high school musicals and everything, but I kind of stopped doing all that when I finished school and acting became my main priority.

I think having children in general is always very helpful for acting.

There are five stages in the life of an actor: Who’s Mary Astor? Get me Mary Astor. Get me a Mary Astor Type. Get me a young Mary Astor. Who’s Mary Astor?

Be truthful, say what you mean and mean what you say, don’t ignore the given circumstances.

As far as acting in films, there is not much out there that is very interesting to do. The ones that are interesting to me are independent films and they have trouble raising money. With...

My whole career has been fulfilling my childhood fantasies, playing characters that are larger than life, getting to play a knight, an elf, a prince and a soldier.

vulnerable” for ferocity. I’m not witty. Funny. Sexy. Or mysterious By the end of the session, I am no one at all.

The actor must be full of passion. If he’s too cool he’s better off as the manager of a company, not someone who appears on the stage.

Also, painting and animation are really solitary pursuits, so the collaborative aspects of music making and acting are pretty welcome sometimes.

In life, you have to keep certain parts of yourself in check because you want to be a decent human being. But one of the guilty pleasures of acting is that sometimes you get to...

If you’re trying to learn how to act from a class, you’re analyzing the teachers’ movements and their intricacies, and it becomes like a pantomime of you wanting to be them, and that’s wrong. Literature...

All the world’s a stage,And all the men and women merely players;They have their exits and their entrances,And one man in his time plays many parts,His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,Mewling and...

Aye, Sir. Course laid in” is a seriously sweet gig, but when I was a teenager, it sucked.

[In high school] my interests outside my academic work were debating, tennis, and to a lesser extent, acting. I became intensely interested in astronomy and devoured the popular works of astronomers such as Sir Arthur...

When you’re performing, you’re playing to the back row. With acting, you have to be more nuanced.

In films, you are a commodity. You are a look, something that the camera really likes, something that has struck an audience in a certain way. It’s not really so much about transforming yourself the...

It is indeed hard for the strong to be just to the weak, but acting justly always has its rewards.

Fresh from a costume fitting, where I had been posing in front of the mirror assuming what I thought was a strong position – arms folded, butch-looking…you know – I met with the woman in...

I was the leading star in 1945. I slowed down my pace of acting assignments after I came into direction.

Your true destiny is desperately waiting on you to start thinking, acting, and walking with faith and courage.

You start acting in spite of your neuroses, not because of them.

In 2007, Lindsay Lohan seemed to be on top of the world, a bona fide star who had her pick of acting gigs. But it wasn’t long before the veneer cracked, and Lindsay’s life began...

Whether it be in acting, music, or even in dancing, I only want to do things that I truly connect to, and with my music, it’s everything that I am.

Acting is about enhancing your life, not representing something that’s missing.

If I didn’t have children I’d be a much better actress. I wouldn’t be so distracted. I could pour 100 percent of my energies into it, to promote the investigation which acting is.

My attitude goes back to my childhood. I used to audition for theatrical roles, and you can’t stand out in a room full of ambitious eight-year-old girls by acting the wallflower. I realised then that...

I wish the stage were as narrow as the wire of a tighrope dancer so that no incompetent would dare step upon it.

The thing that makes you say, “I want to do something” – that is the beginning of talent.

Even I don’t know myself… In fact, I don’t know if I really have a self at all, as I’m constantly playing different roles and pretending – not so much on stage as in real...

Absolutely not, because in acting I’ve found a domain that suits me perfectly. And that is so utterly rare.

The words of his various writing instructors and professional mentors over the years came back to him at times like these, and he found a new understanding in their advice: Writing is rewriting. The rough...

Every acting gig isn’t the same, every writing job isn’t the same, every live performance isn’t the same – the challenge is the level of difficulty or ease, and that may vary.

Success is not due to spontaneous combustion. You have to set yourself on fire.

A business like acting is 90% luck. You can be a star one minute and out of work the next.

I don’t know when acting came to be more about awards than about the work. Judging who’s better than the other person shouldn’t be part of why we’re doing this job. It should be about...

I’ve always been an improviser. I was one before I knew even what the word was… And acting, that I’ve been doing since I was 5.

Some people see acting as a kind of stroll on the beach, and some people see it as a kind of skydive. And I’ve had lots of strolls on the beach in my life, so...

Character actor’ is a technical term denoting a clever stage performer who cannot act, and therefore makes an elaborate study of the disguises and stage tricks by which acting can be grotesquely simulated.

If it must be enjoyed, then it must be done. And if it must be done, then it must be done well. If it is done well, it is enjoyed well.

Any actor who tells you that they have become the people they play, unless they’re clearly diagnosed as a schizophrenic, is bullshitting you.

Dane DeHaan, certainly, is kind of the best friend I’ve made through acting, in terms of another actor. He’s fantastic.

I think if you’re half-hearted you shouldn’t go into acting.

It’s not subtle or restrained. It’s not any of the things you like to think apply to your acting.

No one will die because of bad acting. No one will die because you missed a cue. We’re all human beings. If mistakes are made, you figure out that you’re going to live.

Believe it or not, I kind of went into professional wrestling so I could get an avenue into acting.

My first acting experience was a non-speaking role as a robot. My costume was a cardboard box covered in tinfoil, but I was so shy I refused to go on stage.

Acting is invigorating. But I don’t analyse it too much. It’s like a dog smelling where it’s going to do its toilet in the morning.

I really identified with Jess, because my own dream was acting, which isn’t the most conventional profession.

The best author is a dead author, because he’s out of your way and you own the play. Take what he has given you and use it for what you need.