“My education was a huge influence. I trained at the Lee Strasberg Institute at Tisch, which is a huge foundation for young actors. They teach you their methods, and give you the sense that acting is much more tangible than most people think. I think there's a mysticism of what acting is, in the fact that it's this ungraspable, spur-of-the-moment thing that nobody can understand.” PeopleThinkingGivingMomentsFactsYoungActorsActingTeachInfluenceHugeMethodFoundationMysticismTangibleInstituteSpursYoung ActorsSpur Of The Moment Author:Roberto Aguire
“Reciting poetry isn't acting, it's memory work. Actor's are deceivers. People who pretend to be something else for a living aren't right in the head.” PeopleActorsMemoriesActingPoetry IsDeceiverReciting Author:Hetty King
“In our interactions with people, a benevolent hypocrisy is frequently required--acting as though we do not see through the motivesof their actions.” PeopleActionActingKindnessHypocrisyInteractionBenevolent Author:Friedrich Nietzsche
“Works of art should be stimulating. They should wake people up rather than acting like a sedative.” PeopleShouldArtActingWorks Of Art Author:Tod Machover
“I am impressed and distressed at how passive hierarchical organizations make people. There's often a lot of overt activity, but it's not going anywhere, it's game-playing. It's play-acting at work.” PeoplePlayGamesActingActivityOrganizationPassiveImpressed Author:Judith M Bardwick
“We must be unafraid to be utterly honest, to honor our gut feelings, and to say and do the unpopular when necessary. We have to give up our addiction to other people's opinions and surrender to the freedom of acting with strength and courage.” PeopleGivingFeelingsActingOpinionHonestHonorGiving UpAddictionSurrenderGutsUnafraidGut Feelings Author:Suzanne Falter-Barns
“Culture is an abstraction; it cannot actually be seen or touched.... We see people acting in agreed-upon ways in the face of similar situations...we notice people moving their bodies in certain ways - making choices in their lives about where to live, what to eat, how to learn, how to work and love - in response to similar events and experiences, and say: "oh, these people belong to the same culture".” PeopleWayBodyFacesMovingCertainChoicesCultureActingSituationEventsAnd LoveResponseTouchedAbstractionMaking ChoicesWork And Love Author:H. Ned Seelye
“We don't want bores in the theatre. We don't want standardised acting, standard actors with standard-shaped legs. Acting needs everybody, cripples, dwarfs and people with noses so long. Give us something that is different.” PeopleWantNeedsGivingLongDifferentActorsActingStandardsTheaterLegsTheatreNosesBoresDwarfsCripples Author:Sybil Thorndike
“It is always necessary to overstate a cast startlingly to make people sit up and listen to it, and to frighten them into acting on it.” PeopleActingCasts Author:George Bernard Shaw
“I started acting when I was 13 years old and I feel like I really admire actors who are these kind of amazing shape-changing people, that they almost can turn themselves into other people.” PeopleFeelsYearsKindTurnsActorsActingShapesAdmire Author:Ethan Hawke
“Sometimes you do have to scare people a little bit: if someone is not acting in the best interest of the show, then maybe you need to scream and yell a little bit, or let them know you're in charge.” PeopleIfsKnowsNeedsLittlesSometimesShowsBitsInterestActingLittle BitScareScream Author:Steven Levitan
“I went door-to-door selling cable television subscriptions when I was in college. I found it incredibly difficult, doing that kind of sales work. I would have thought I'd be good at it, but I wasn't. It's so easy in acting. Everything falls into place when they write that you're a salesman. People just say yes, and then it's great.” PeopleWritingKindFallFoundEasyDifficultActingDoorsTelevisionCollegeBe GoodSellingCablesSalesmanFall Into PlaceSubscriptionEverything Falls Into Place Author:Greg Kinnear
“I think there are all sorts of ways of turning into an actor, and there are a vast variety of different actors. You know, you interview plenty of actors and you know they come at it from a different direction and acting means different things to a lot of people.” PeopleThinkingKnowsWayMeanDifferentActorsActingPlentyVarietyInterviewsDifferent ThingsDifferent Directions Author:John Lithgow
“If you choose to do both [acting and directing] on a set, than you're admitting that you understand that everyone is in it for the same goal and it's a collaborative experience. You can't really jump into being an actor, and than direct yourself. At some point, you have to be willing to accept other people's opinions. I think that's helpful. If you try to micro-manage and control all of it, than you're probably heading for disaster.” PeopleIfsThinkingTryingActorsGoalActingAcceptingOpinionWillingDirectDisasterManageHelpfulYou ChooseHeadingsAdmitting Author:Rebecca Hall
“Sometimes acting and politics make a very bad combination. I think that sometimes people take me less seriously in my work for the UN because I am an actor.” PeopleThinkingSometimesActorsActingCombinationTake Me Author:Angelina Jolie
“I've been acting for many years now, and I find there's nothing I enjoy more than making films with my friends and people I like, who also are the funniest people around.” PeopleYearsFilmEnjoyActingMy Friends Author:James Franco
“It wasn't until after I received my education that I seriously looked at sports entertainment as a way to make a career for myself. And they've got to take it in stride. It's very much like acting or playing professional sports: One percent of one percent of the people who try out for it can actually say they make their living off of doing it.” PeopleWayTryingSportsActingCareersPercentEntertainmentStrideProfessional SportsSports Entertainment Author:John Cena
“Acting keeps me alert to people, and life. I don't know, there's something about going to work early in the morning, and having to stay alert and concentrated. Maybe that keeps your mind alive.” PeopleKnowsMindActingMorningAliveGoing To Work Author:Steve Martin
“I always wanted to be one of those people who were good at many, many things, but from a very early age, I fell in love with acting.” PeopleAgeWantedActing Author:Carla Gugino
“The interesting thing with acting, actually, is that you get to be so many different people that you get to do so much research on so many different things that I've learned so much about brain surgery and about astrophysicist-type of things and traveling to amazing parts of the world.” PeopleWorldDifferentInterestingActingBrainTypeResearchI've LearnedDifferent ThingsSurgeryDifferent PeoplesInteresting ThingsBrain Surgery Author:Carla Gugino
“I need to work with great directors and actors, people who are better than me, so that I am challenged. It is like playing sports - surfing, basketball, it doesn't matter what it is, if you play with people who are better than you, then you get better too. It is the same thing with acting.” PeopleIfsNeedsMatterPlayActorsSportsActingDirectorsBasketballGet BetterSurfingBetter Than YouPlaying Sports Author:Paul Walker
“I think loads of people see acting, when they're kids, as these magical stories that just happen within the context of the film or the play or the cartoon or whatever they're seeing. They don't imagine that there are actually people that go and do that for a living.” PeopleThinkingPlayStoriesHappensKidsFilmActingImagineSeeingImagine ThatLoadCartoon Author:Rebecca Hall
“My experience of singing, as an actor, was that there's a different creative feeling of freedom. The acting thing is a bit more defined and cerebral. I can see why people would want to cross over. If you have so much freedom on stage then perhaps you want to be confined a bit, and vice versa.” PeopleIfsWantI CanDifferentFeelingsActorsBitsActingCreativeStageSingingCrossesVicesDefinedConfinedVice VersaCerebral Author:Orlando Bloom
“I think the greatest gift actually acting is that I have a true fascination and love for people, and the way they are, and all the choices they made in life and all the different paths they took. I feel like acting gives me an opportunity to dig a little bit into that. That's great because it's eye-opening and it makes you an open person.” PeopleThinkingWayGivingFeelsLittlesPersonsMadeDifferentEyeChoicesOpportunityBitsActingPathLittle BitAnd LoveGive MeOpeningFascinationGreatest GiftsEye OpeningDifferent Paths Author:Wes Bentley
“The music industry is so fickle, there's so many politics. I think a lot of people don't pay attention to the credits or the artistry no more. I think there's so much concern about what's going on right now instead of the actual artistry. But that's how the record business is, but for acting, I got that covered.” PeopleThinkingPayActingAttentionRecordsIndustryRight NowConcernCreditPay AttentionCoveredMusic IndustryArtistryFickle Author:Bow Wow
“When I began doing theatre in high school I saw that I could get laughs from people but I didn't really connect that to going on and becoming a comedian. I was interested in acting and while I was at Boston College I was part of an improv group, Mother's Fleabag, which had a long history and has been known as one of the best college improvisation groups in the U.S.” PeopleLongHas BeensSchoolMotherActingKnownLaughingSawsGroupsCollegeBecomingHigh SchoolTheatreComedianBostonImprovisationBest College Author:Amy Poehler
“I deal in a very artistic way of what interests me and marks my passion, and I try to - whether its good or not - am in love with acting and the stage and characters and the ability to reach and to touch people, so that's where, I guess, that's where my heart will reside, by and large.” PeopleWayTryingHeartCharacterPassionInterestAbilityDealsActingStageMy HeartMarkArtisticMy Passion Author:Angela Bassett
“The great thing about acting is, because you're constantly playing other characters and exploring yourself because you have to find those other characters in yourself, you sort of broaden as a person over your life because you've been other people. So you can empathize with many different sorts of people. It's great in that way and I hope, therefore, as you get older as an actor, you not only get more interesting because you lived more, but you get a bit wiser as a person.” PeopleWayPersonsDifferentCharacterActorsBitsInterestingActingGreat ThingsOver YouWiserExploring Author:Jeremy Irons
“In wrestling there are so many people inside and outside the ring, and it's so live, and it's this whole adrenaline thing. Whereas you move it into this more intimate thing, everything gets all quiet, someone says action, and you have to say the lines and make the words your own. It couldn't be any more different and it's weird sometimes trying to explain that to people. When I tell people that acting is much more terrifying to me than going out in front of ten thousand people, they don't quite believe it because for some reason that intimacy is just terrifying to me.” PeopleTryingBelieveDifferentSometimesReasonWholeActionMovingLinesActingFrontsThousandQuietTenRingsIntimacyIntimateWrestlingGoing OutAdrenalineInside And Outside Author:Dave Bautista
“My acting coach breaks down what happens to people's bodies when they do drugs. She breaks down what happens physiologically to you.” PeopleBodyHappensActingBreakDrugCoachesBreaking Down Author:Eva Mendes
“We are seeing entertainment become politics and we're seeing people acting out in ways that are extremely violent and destabilizing. No rules apply. We're in an era of no rules now, it seems.” PeopleWaySeemsActingSeeingEntertainmentViolentErasActing Out Author:Oliver Stone
“The level of acting that I bring to films in three dimensions. I hope they make people sign some kind of waiver because if their mind explodes from my acting in 3D, it's not my fault.” PeopleIfsMindKindFilmThreeLevelsActingFaultsDimensionsThree DimensionsWaiver Author:Thomas Lennon
“I've always been business-minded. I worked in corporate America before becoming an actress and knew that acting wasn't the end but a means to an end. It gave me the platform and the exposure I needed to do my philanthropic work. It also gave me the financial security to focus on my other businesses, start new businesses, and even help other people start businesses.” PeopleMeanEndsHelpingAmericaActingFocusSecurityBecomingNeededFinancialActressesHelping OthersCorporateWorking ItPlatformsExposurePhilanthropicNew BusinessMeans To An EndCorporate AmericaFinancial SecurityBusiness Minded Author:Eva Longoria
“Growing up, I was the weird, theatrical kid who always tried to make people be in my plays. I've always loved comedy, but when it came time to figure out what I was going to go to school for, my parents were like, "Acting?! I don't think so. No." It took me a while to get the courage to pursue it. I had to do it in secret for a little bit, and then when I got married and was out on my own, I went for it.” PeopleThinkingLittlesPlayKidsSchoolBitsParentMy OwnActingSecretGrowing UpComedyGrowingFiguresMarriedLittle BitPursueTheatrical Author:Wendi McLendon-Covey
“I think acting is really fully adapting - to your surroundings, to your emotions, to the people that you're working with, to being tired, to want to go home, to being lonely, to being happy. It's adapting for me, and trusting. Adapting and trusting, that's my format right there.” PeopleThinkingMeanHomeActingEmotionLonelyTiredSurroundingsFormatAdaptingBeing Lonely Author:Charlize Theron
“I do the best I can - I know my way around [Russian method acting pioneer] Stanislavski, but I can't take myself seriously like that. I respect people who do it, of course. I just think I'm lucky to still be working at 73. You reach a point in life where you just think, "Show up, do your job, make sure the cheque's on the way," and that's it. I'm not hungry to do anything more, really.” PeopleThinkingKnowsWayStillsI CanShowsJobsCoursesActingLuckyMethodHungryMy WayDo The BestPioneersRespect PeopleChequesMethod ActingPoints In LifeStanislavski Author:Anthony Hopkins
“Acting is a creative process, and directing and music. I think creative people - and I take myself as a creative person and it doesn't mean you have to be an actor, a musician, or a painter - but I think if you are in a creative profession or a creative business you do have a heightened awareness.” PeopleIfsThinkingMeanPersonsActorsProcessActingCreativeAwarenessMusicianProfessionPainterCreative ProcessCreative PeopleCreative PersonCreative Business Author:Anthony Hopkins
“I used to be a bit obsessed by acting but not anymore. I do enjoy acting but I probably enjoy it more now because it's easier. I can't work in the theater because to me it's too serious. It's like being in prison for me. I admire people that can do that but I can't do it. I'd rather live my life and do a bit of acting in between.” PeopleI CanUsedBitsEnjoyCan DoActingSeriousEasierTheaterPrisonAdmireUsed To BeObsessedLiving My Life Author:Anthony Hopkins
“Acting has helped me understand people, not only because you are acting as a character, but also because you are watching other actors work. That really helps you identify in life when someone is acting, not being true.” PeopleCharacterHelpingActorsActingBeing True Author:Steve Martin
“I was the youngest child and really spoiled. I loved to play make-believe. I loved pretending to be all kinds of different people and it just seemed natural that I would go into acting.” PeopleBelieveKindChildrenDifferentPlayNaturalActingAll KindsPretendingDifferent PeoplesSpoiledMake BelieveYoungest ChildPlaying Make Believe Author:Katherine Heigl
“Before doing stand-up, I thought acting was easy - it's not easy. It's a hard life. It's easy in its own way, you just stand there and talk. But there is a difference between people who can do it well and people who can't.” PeopleWayWellsHardEasyCan DoDifferencesActingHard Life Author:Jim Jefferies
“White people are very good at acting like they're not racist. They deserve an Academy Award for that.” PeopleWhiteActingDeserveVery GoodRacistAwardsAcademyAcademy Awards Author:Paul Mooney
“A lot of people will say, "Oh, I got into acting because I wanted to explore my craft." They're a bunch of liars, unless they're Sean Penn, DeNiro or my dad. For the rest of us it was all about chicks and money.” PeopleWantedActingDadMy DadBunchCraftsLiarsChicksSean Author:Charlie Sheen
“I'm not a big Hollywood star. I'm an actor. I'm called a star. That's not what I am. First of all I'm a human being; my profession is acting. People give you titles. They say you're an up and coming star, then they say you're a star, then they say you're a washed-up star. So I don't get caught up in what I'm called. My job, my profession, is acting.” PeopleGivingFirstsHumansBigsJobsActorsStarsHuman BeingsActingHollywoodCaughtProfessionTitlesCaught UpHollywood Stars Author:Denzel Washington
“The upsides of acting in things is mostly getting your hair done and having people give you clothes. So as long as you can have a little bit of that in your life, then it's just as delightful to be behind camera.” PeopleGivingLittlesLongDoneBitsActingBehindsHairLittle BitClothesCamerasDelightful Author:Tina Fey
“Racing's very much like the world of acting. You have your front runners and you have guys that are there for the long race, and you have other guys that block for other people, that are called supporting and character actors. It's all the same kind of situation.” PeopleWorldKindLongCharacterGuyActorsActingRaceSituationFrontsBlockRacingRunnersOther GuysCharacter Actors Author:Sylvester Stallone
“Movies are hard to make, and you have to work toward a common ethic and do your best. You don't want to work with people who don't care or who are acting out some neurotic, crazy thesis on the set.” PeopleWantHardCareCommonActingCrazyEthicsDon't CareNeuroticThesisActing Out Author:Robert De Niro
“Scientists and religious leaders, activists and first nation leaders, CEOs of corporations and actors, all of us need to come together right now, because the planet is in a lot of pain. My job doesn’t always feel like an integral part of the change that needs to occur. If I can offer, in my profession, to do things that are going to allow more people to connect with certain issues, then I hope it’s useful.” PeopleIfsNeedsFeelsFirstsI CanPainTogetherJobsCertainActorsNationsReligiousActingLeaderIssuesPlanetsOffersScientistProfessionCorporationsActivistCeoReligious Leaders Author:Ellen Page
“I'm not ambitious when it comes to my acting career. I'm not breaking down my agency's doors or sending out headshots. Even when I'm offered work, I always want small parts. When it comes to things that other people have written, I just don't know what I'm doing. I'm terrible at memorizing a script and reading lines. I get confused and I don't understand and it just looks fake to me. It's more difficult for me to be creative that way.” PeopleKnowsWayWantLooksReadingDifficultLinesActingCareersCreativeWrittenDoorsTerribleScriptsFakeAgencyConfusedAmbitiousBe CreativeBreaking DownSmall PartsMemorizingHeadshots Author:Amy Sedaris
“Acting is interesting because you get to be involved in different stories and get to work with different people. Also, acting allows one to be a part of different stories, travel to different parts of the country and all the experiences put together make life interesting.” PeopleDifferentCountryStoriesTogetherInterestingActingInvolvedDifferent Peoples Author:Nandita Das