A Quote by Lorraine Toussaint

You can't play history and you can't play historical characters. You just have to reduce it to the ordinary.

Lorraine Toussaint

Quote Topics

Characters Historical History Just Ordinary Play Reduce

Quote Author

Lorraine Toussaint
Trinidadian - Actress
Born: April 4, 1960

If you're writing something that's clearly labelled as an alternative history, of course it's perfectly legitimate to play with known historical characters and events, but less so when you're writing an essentially straight historical fiction.

Diana Gabaldon

I tend to play strong characters and people just assume that I would want to play romantic comedies, which I would love to do, but there are other women that do it so great and they maybe couldn't do what I do, play the kind of characters that I play.

Carrie-Anne Moss

When I realised that what I do really well is play women who are tough and vulnerable, it was a moment of clarity. Many female characters either have one trait or the other, but I play both. I don't need to play characters who are like me. I can just do that with my life.

Carrie-Anne Moss

Just like how male actors get to play varied characters, I would also like to play characters that people don't normally see female characters portraying on screen.

Song Hye-kyo

My process for determining which eras I'd write about was to just read history books that gave a really broad overview of Chinese history. And when I came across a historical figure or a historical incident that was especially interesting to me, ideas for characters and stories would surface.

Susan Barker

I look forward to playing characters where I want to play the ordinary, to be honest... Farmer's wife, tailor's daughter, the teacher characters that exist for real emotions.

Sobhita Dhulipala

Fish play in the water birds play in the sky ordinary beings play on the earth sublime beings play in display.

Thinley Norbu

Yes, I can play younger than my age. But I can play characters older than I am, too. I'm not an actor who can just play the kid.

Leonardo DiCaprio

I think it's interesting playing characters who are flawed and make mistakes because we all have - no one's just one thing - no one is just bad or just good - so I like finding flawed characters and playing with their redeeming qualities, whether you play it outwardly or not. I think that one of the reasons I'm an actor is that I love people and I love finding out who they are and why they do the things they do, so it is fun to play those kinds of characters.

Alexandra Daddario

Even while I'm really interested in playing female characters that are varied and interesting and dynamic, I'm not of the mind that you always want to play strong female characters. I think I just want to play characters that are interesting, and not all people are 'strong.'

Tessa Thompson

Historical fiction is not history. You're blending real events and actual historical personages with characters of your own creation.

George R. R. Martin

I always say that I know I'll be done playing basketball when I stop fighting on the floor. If you don't play with that edge or that competitive spirit, you're just another player out there. I can only speak for myself, but when I don't play with that fight then I'm just ordinary.

Diana Taurasi

I like to play non-cardboard characters. I try and bring out the many complex layers in the personality of the characters I play.

Kay Kay Menon

I always try to get as personal as I can with the characters that I play, which is a reason why I don't play a lot of characters.

Romany Malco

There's a reason why I do anxious characters - it comes from a lot of personal anxiety. The great thing is, having that history, it's really fun to bring that into the characters... and play with it.