Quotes By Philip Seymour Hoffman

There are characters in movies who I call 'film characters.' They don't exist in real life. They exist to play out a scenario. They can be in fantastic films, but they are not real characters; what happens to them is not lifelike.

There's nothing risky in talking about your personal life. People do it all the time.

You can look at anything as a cult. Churches are cults in their own way.

I know I wasn't as handsome as some other guys, but I was OK with that.

I don't have a specific thing I want anyone to get out of anything I do.

I have a fine level of recognition in the business and among the acting community now, so I consider myself one of the lucky ones. If I didn't think that, there would be something wrong with me. I'm grateful and thankful for what I've got.

I have so much empathy for these young actors that are 19 and all of a sudden they're beautiful and famous and rich. I'm like, 'Oh my God, I'd be dead.'

I've grown to really love musicals, you know?

I think you ultimately have to love who you're playing. You have to have that kind of feeling. You have to have passion for the person.

The foibles of my body are pretty much out there in the work I do.

I think I'm less anonymous than I was.

You know the circus performer who spins the plates in the air you know, and he'll spin six or seven plates in the air? Acting sometimes is kind of that guy spinning all those plates in the air but in your head and in your body.

I've worked with a lot of characters that are unhinged. I've played characters that are unhinged. That's, like, my job.

To act well isn't an easy thing.

Vanity is something that will only get in the way of doing your best work, and ultimately if you're truly vain you care more about your work than how you look in your work. I actually consider myself a pretty vain guy when it comes to that.

I think directors should be confident in their leadership capabilities. I think directors should be confident in what they want to do.

My soul is in good shape.

When you become a parent, you look at your parents differently. You look at being a child differently. It's an awakening, a revelation that you have.

Being unemployed is not good for an actor. No, it isn't, no matter how unsuccessful you are. Because you always remember getting fired from all the restaurants. You remember that stuff very, very strongly.

People actually live with their id exposed. They're not good at concealing what's going on inside.

I had a father who was a traveling salesman.

I didn't have any idea that I would be able to have a career in film.

If I don't feel like I'm doing the job well, and I don't know how to get there, or I'm too scared, or whatever, I'm not a happy guy and I'm not pleasant. I'm not pleasant to be around.

My love for the theater has always been a priority. That hasn't changed. I got into acting that way. The film work that came up was really a surprise.

Creating anything is hard.

Film's hard when you don't have any relationship with the director at all and you just show up. Then you really are just a gun for hire.

My girlfriend's a costume designer in the theater.

My ideal weight is 205, actually.

You have to understand that crew members make movies so they're seeing a lot of actors all the time in their career acting.

I know some really great actors who are pretty judgmental people, pretty critical people. But they're great actors. When they're acting, that's the craft.