Top 1200 Character Actor Quotes & Sayings - Page 5

The "magic if" is a tool invented by Stanislavski, the father of acting craft, is to help an actor make appropriate choices. Essentially, the "magic if" refers to the answer to the question, "What would I do if I were this character in this situation?" Note that the question is not "What would I do if I were in this situation?" What you would do may be very different from what the character would do. Your job, based on your analysis of the script, the scene, and the given circumstances regarding the who of your character, is to decide what he or she would do.

Once I know an actor suits a character, it seals the deal.

Any character that you come up with or create is a piece of you. You're putting yourself into that character, but there's the guise of the character. So there's a certain amount of safety in the character, where you feel more safe being the character than you do being just you

Any decent actor knows you can't judge the character you're playing.

For an actor, that is the biggest achievement, to be known by your character name.

As an actor, you have to perform the character in the way that people relate to.

I've made the transition from star to character actor and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

But I've always felt that the less you know about an actor's personal life, the more you can get involved in the story in which he's playing a character. And I don't like to see movies where you know about everything that happens behind the scenes. I can't engage in the story if I know what's going on in the actor's head.

That is exciting to reinvent myself, to invent a new character. As an actor that is revitalizing.

As long as the character is interesting and I have something to do as an actor, there is no reason to turn it down.

I feel whatever an actor does on screen is something the actor 'does,' and what the director can do is to tell, talk or instruct. So, all the credit for an actor's performance goes to the actor alone.

Every actor turns everything round to their character.

I was born a character actor. I was never really a leading man type.

I don't have to be a leading man. I can be a character actor. That's really what interests me anyway.

Once you are in the character, you should let your inner actor take over you.

As a character actor, you go out for all different kinds of things.

I think I may have become an actor to hide from myself. You can escape into a character.

Strength of character is already written. What we bring, as an actor, is an almost 3D-ness to it.

I really admire actors who have time, because time is really the greatest luxury for an actor to live with a character, to develop a walk and a talk, or to listen to tape if you're playing a real character. But without time you're really just forced to make quick choices and move on and hope that the spaghetti sticks against the wall.

I'm not a writer; I'm an actor. My job is to take whatever character I'm given and - especially because I have the responsibility of being a black actress, and I know young black girls are looking up, and everyone's looking to what's on television - to just try to give whatever character I'm playing as three-dimensional a portrayal as I can.

I went to a masterclass with Jonathan Pryce who said that a successful actor is not a famous actor, it's an actor who acts. And I have been incredibly fortunate to have worked constantly from the moment I left drama school, so I achieved what I set out to do. I am an actor.

I write from this tight third-person viewpoint, where each chapter is seen through the eyes of one individual character. When I'm writing that character, I become that character and identify with that character.

As an actor, you use the things from yourself that you can apply to the character.

As an actor, you're sort of the court-appointed lawyer for the character.

It's every actor's dream to be called the character's name.

I'm an actor who plays an intriguing character, not a political pundit.

Some actors come to casting and ask me, "Didn't you see my previous roles?" We do not work with actors like this. Their previous roles do not matter; I need the actual work with an actor in this particular character that has been written in our script. What matters is flexibility, believability and efficiency of an actor.

The chance to play a character with a split personality is an actor's dream.

The number one job of an actor is to be a character and never let the acting show.

I'm a physical actor in that I start with a physical sketch of the character. I find it easier to find inspiration from the outside in. If I find the character's tensions and the way he carries himself or looks, that's going to affect how I talk. So that's how I start to create that person.

It's just really so important for an actor to be in the right costume for their character.

I was only a leading man for a minute; now I'm a character actor.

I think theater has given me the opportunity to show what a character actor I can be.

I would rather be called a character actor than a star.

Like an actor who transforms into the character that they're playing, you can transform into yourself.

Life as a performance is just a way to look at life choices as character choices. Every morning you choose what to wear, you choose how to wear your hair, you choose your friends, you more or less choose your profession, and how hard you will work at it. Those are all things that an actor decides about his character when he is performing, and they are things that we decide in life. We create our "character."

I think that the most important thing for me is, how is the character that I would be reading for? Is it interesting? Is there stuff to do? Are there things that you can do with the character? How can you play it out? Just those kinds of things that are very important for an actor. Also, a good director and good dialogue.

TV is longer form, and that's sometimes a positive, and sometimes a more challenging thing. As an actor, you want to be able to have your character develop or transform in some way. When you're acting on a show over the course of multiple seasons, you get to watch a character really grow and change, and go from one place to an entirely other place.

I've always considered myself a character actor. That's the way I was trained, really.

I've always remembered something Sanford Meisner, my acting teacher, told us. When you create a character, it's like making a chair, except instead of making someting out of wood, you make it out of yourself. That's the actor's craft - using yourself to create a character.

With movies, you come and go as an actor, especially if you are not the lead, from week to week. You don't really have a lot of time to get to know anyone, and then on to the next thing. I know a lot of actors who find fulfillment in playing an entirely new character. I like to stick with one character and create a family with the people around me.

I think you should identify with your character, but plenty of people like themselves and hate themselves. You just have to find out what's truthful for the person you're playing. When people talk about that, I think what they're saying is that as an actor, as Peter, you don't want to make a judgment that comes from your worldview about the character. Your judgments should be coming from the place of the character, and within that space, sure, you could love or hate yourself or whatever you think is most appropriate.

TV and films are same for me. I took a decision to be an actor, and I am an actor. I never decided to be TV actor or film actor.

One of the first things I was taught as an actor was, 'Don't judge the character.'

The role of an actor is to make every character believable.

As an actor, it's your job to switch on and off from the character.

If you're a 'character actor,' you get hired to play baddies a lot.

I like to think of myself as a character actor, though there's some redundancy in that...

As an actor, the biggest compliment you can get, in my book is for someone to believe that you're the character.

I always see myself as a character actor, but Remington Steele was me. I gave up on trying to be any character. I just put myself as me in this world of Remington Steele and the grand pretender.

I only have an awareness of what I'm trying to achieve as an actor and what my job as the character is to service.

I believe I am a character actor who likes to hide behind my characters.

I'm no Method actor. I've tried staying in character, and it's just exhausting.

After a while, the person who knows the character best is you, the actor.

Any great character is the combination of a brilliant actor and the right writing.

As an actor, anything that you have to help get you into character is helpful.

I'm so excited about 'Shattered;' it's something I've really enjoyed working in, and it's very different from anything I've done before. I've always been a character actor and done a lot of support work. I've never really been the lead actor, so I'll try and use what I've learned along the way from the other projects.

I would compare it to an actor. I drive myself into the character that later on is in the ring.

Every character actor, in their own little sphere, is the lead.

I like to think of myself as a character actor, though there's some redundancy in that.