A Quote by Anna Deavere Smith

If you think about what acting is supposed to be, my job is to disappear. — © Anna Deavere Smith
If you think about what acting is supposed to be, my job is to disappear.
The trick to being a good actor is getting so involved in your character that the camera disappears, the 50 bored guys eating doughnuts disappear, friends disappear. To get to that point when you don't have to think about it, you're just acting and reacting in those circumstances.
Actually, acting turned out to be the perfect job for me, because I had a lot of different interests. I thought about being a priest at one point. I thought about being a teacher. I thought about being a lawyer. But I think acting is probably the best job for me.
I'm looking for me to disappear, and the acting to disappear, and all you see is a real person.
That's the one thing that's funny about going from modeling to acting. In modeling, you're supposed to think about what you look like all the time. When you're in front of the camera, if you're not considering that, God knows what the pictures will look like. With acting, you have to completely forget it.
I can't actually think of a job where I was relaxed the whole time. I don't think I would want to do that job. When I break into a cold sweat when I'm reading, I think, 'Oh good. That's what's supposed to be happening.
I can't actually think of a job where I was relaxed the whole time. I don't think I would want to do that job. When I break into a cold sweat when I'm reading, I think, 'Oh good. That's what's supposed to be happening.'
Acting in particular is a fun job when you have a good script. I don't know about acting when you don't have a great script. I'm gonna say that's not a great job, it's kind of a dumb job. But when you have a good part in a good script, it's the best job, in a way.
I think, if I'm doing my job correctly, I'm presenting a scenario for you as the reader to engage with on your own. I mean, that's what the best art is supposed to do. It's not supposed to be political. I think if you read all my books, you know where I stand, pretty much.
No. 2 pick, you're supposed to do a job - you're supposed to turn the franchise around. And I don't think I did it to the best of my abilities. I didn't live up to that standard.
I think so many people give us ideas of what we are. I think as women especially, because we're sensitive by nature, we're more vulnerable, we absorb other people's ideas about what we're supposed to think or who we're supposed to be and how we're supposed to act.
Acting in Los Angeles can be very isolating because you either have a job or you don't have a job - and if you don't have a job, it's all about getting out of your house. It sucks to sit around waiting. That's death.
I don't usually like talking about acting or what my process is, and all those kinds of things, because I don't necessarily think it's helpful to talk about how I do my job.
Acting is our job, not talking about it. In France, they know me like I belong to their family. I go somewhere and I feel like I'm sometimes the aunt, the grandmother, the mother, the sister. They all know me. But it's not supposed to be that way.
My favorite thing about acting is you have to learn how to work with people that you probably would never try to. Some people just aren't supposed to be in a room together, and you have to be in a room with a group of people who might not all get along and you have to figure out how to come together for one thing. That collaboration is special, and people don't get to exercise that. I think that's why people become stubborn, and I think that's why people become uninspired to change. In this job you have to.
Acting is our job, not talking about it. In France, they know me like I belong to their family. I go somewhere and I feel like Im sometimes the aunt, the grandmother, the mother, the sister. They all know me. But its not supposed to be that way.
I had a wife and children. I was mostly working in painting and decorating and then taking the occasional acting job as they came along. At that stage in your life you have to think about your priorities. It looked like I was going to have to take the building more seriously and give up acting.
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