A Quote by Ann Dowd

It took a very long time to really enjoy an audition, and to get in the room and do the best that I can. I've just been deeply grateful for my career, and that the love for the work and the characters is alive still. I try to let go of the armor as much as possible and not be afraid.
Try to learn to breathe deeply, really to taste food when you eat, and when you sleep, really to sleep. Try as much as possible to be wholly alive with all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell. And when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough.
Back in the day I wanted to be a James Bond girl and I got really close to it too, but I didn't. But now it's just really about enjoying who I work with, the kind of atmosphere that I'm working in, and the character. That's why I think nowadays I tend to really try to be somewhat picky any more to what I do, not just going out to get a job. And sometimes you have to do that, you have to work just to work. But I'm very fortunate to say that I'm actually working at a job that I absolutely love and enjoy and everybody there I enjoy so much and I feel very blessed.
Some people work very closely with a director or a producer on something, and from the get go, they're collaborating. But typically, it's just go in for an audition, do the best you can, and if the phone rings a couple of days after the audition and you get the part, that's great.
I try to balance work and play. I'm really grateful that I can kind of have that philosophy, so I can try to get out of the city as much as possible, even though I love the city and I'm not ready to leave it.
For me, the best characters are the ones that feel fully formed inside and out, so I try to have a very clear vision of exactly what they would wear, top to bottom, who they are, what their backstory is, what their family situation is, who are their friends, just creating as much of a three-dimensional character [as possible]. Because I think you could do a very broad character, but as long as there's some emotional truth to them you can get away with really crazy things.
It's been a long and wonderful journey for me but feels like it was just the other day when I started my career in films. I am very grateful to this wonderful Telugu cinema industry and the audience for all the love and unflinching support without which it would not have been possible.
I've now been doing this for ten years, and I actually got to skip a stage of going to casting directors, and now I meet with the directors, either for lunch or an audition room, and I still read sides; you're never going to get around that, but I'm not the best person to go on an audition.
If I have an audition, I go to the audition in character. I'm in character when I walk in the room. I mean, I'm still sweet to everyone, but I'm very much the character.
I feel like every time I walk into the audition room, they can tell if you're faking it and if your heart's really not with it. So I try to keep it as real as possible.
I'll tell you what I really enjoy. We all go to the movies, we all watch television, we know what they're about, how they work. When the main character is a cop or a spy, it's very exciting, but I also very much enjoy when the main characters are nobodies - a trucker.
I've been lonely for so long. And I've been hurt so deeply. If only I could have met you again a long time ago, then I wouldn't have had to take all these detours to get here.' Tengo shook his head. 'I don't think so. This way is just fine. This is exactly the right time. For both of us. [...] We needed that much time.... to understand how lonely we really were.
I think just having a gift and being able to do something creative and having people like it and enjoy it... I'm in a really, really cool place here. A lot of people try to do this and might get a little bit of success, but we've been lucky. We're going to take that and try and go as far as we can with it and just do the best that we can.
Coming at the acting business as a technician, I really enjoy the process of working. I really enjoy being in a rehearsal room, starting a theatre piece for the first time. I really enjoy shooting in front of the crew, and I really love going on location. I think all that is just so exciting. So I've never really been drawn into the fame of being an actor, which in L.A., is part and parcel of the deal. I think for a lot of people, especially kids, it's hard to not get wrapped up in the world of the perks that the job brings.
You go into an audition, you're either the one or you're not, and if you're not, you go home. And I kind of like that. If you're really good, and you're the best guy in the room that day, you get the job.
I have a son and a wife, and I really enjoy my family life as much as I enjoy my career, but there are times where my career just kind of overpowers, and they have to be really very understanding of it. I appreciate them for that. That's probably the hardest part about everything.
Certain roles, I just won't invest in. I'll go in and audition, but I might not spend five hours trying to figure out what the character is really about or go so deep into it. I might just learn the lines and go in and try my best because I know it's not safe for me to love the character or to fall in love with the idea of the role.
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