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Michael Shurtleff

Michael Shurtleff Quotes

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Famous Michael Shurtleff Quotes

“Actors, who should pride themselves on their singularity, are forever trying to be someone else. It isn’t necessary for you, the actor, to like yourself— self-love isn’t easy to come by for most of us— but you must learn to trust who you are. There is no one else like you.”

ShouldTryingSelfActorsEasyForeverLike YouPrideSelf LoveWho You AreSingularityLike Yourself
Book:Audition: Everything an Actor Needs to Know to Get the Part
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“Competition is healthy. Competition is life. Yet most actors refuse to acknowledge this. They don't want to compete. They want to get along. And they are therefore not first-rate actors. The good actor is the one who competes, willingly, who enjoys competing. An actor must compete, or die...Peacefulness and the avoidance of trouble won't help in his acting. It is just the opposite he must seek.”

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Author:Michael Shurtleff
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“Often actors ask me if I think they should go on trying to be an actor. I have the same answer for everyone who asks: If you have a choice and could reasonably be happy doing something else, by all means go at once and do something else. Acting or writing or directing in the theatre or television or screen is only for the irrecoverably diseased, those who are so smitten with the need that there is no choice.”

IfsThinkingNeedsShouldWritingTryingMeanChoicesActorsAsksAnswersActingTelevisionGoes OnTheatreScreensAsk MeDiseasedSmitten
Author:Michael Shurtleff
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“No matter how much we know about the other person, there is always something going on in that other heart and that other head that we don't know but can only ponder. And no matter how we explain ourselves to someone else, no matter how open we are, there is always still something inexplicable, something hidden and unknown in us, too.”

KnowsHeartPersonsStillsMatterPonderingInexplicable
Book:Audition: Everything an Actor Needs to Know to Get the Part
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