Quotes about Acting

As Michael (Chekhov)'s pupil, I learned more about acting. I learned psychology, history, and the good manners of art - taste.

I don't ask other actors questions. I think that's too intrusive. I just watch. I don't want to be constricted to an idea of what acting is by anyone else. I want to take my own education.

Whenever I don't have anything to do, I play Candy Crush or Scrabble. We actors have time between shots, which we need to kill. And we cannot call friends or family, as you are called at a moment's notice. So you need to do something which you can dispose of immediately when called for a shot.

I played Mary at the age of seven in my first nativity play, and I loved it - there is something so fascinating about embodying someone else.

I started writing and acting in these little plays and then I was discovered by Dustin Hoffman. He got me my first audition for a film he was in, called 'I Heart Huckabees.'

Acting is an opportunity for me to try to explore and examine and expose humanity's weaknesses that are intrinsic to our nature as humans and learn from them; thereby, it's like a sociological expose.

When I go from a role with heavy prosthetic makeup, which I've done quite a bit of as well, and then do a role where I'm not wearing any, I have to be conscious of toning everything down.

So I sat down with him and portrayed more the side of the character he needed to see. Which is what I do when I go in for an interview for a part I like. As much as you think you're dealing with creative people, they see you for what your image is out there.

If you believe - which I do - that acting is a bit like advocacy for your character, then of course I want to find the positive points.

I did 'Deathly Hallows' so my kids could get on the 'Harry Potter' set. They met Daniel Radcliffe, who was a darling and couldn't have been nicer to them so I'm a hero right now.

Every time you work is a challenge. There's a constant worry about it, and it's a side of acting I don't like.

The conventional wisdom is that if you are gay, you cannot play the romantic straight lead in a movie.