Acting Quotes

People often ask me, was it hard to play this person or that person? Well, no, not really. Acting is what I do. It's my job.

I'd like to settle down eventually, but acting is emotionally draining.

I couldn't do an acting job just to be working. It really had to have some soul to it.

My first interest was always music, and somehow that channelled itself into films and acting. I don't know what the natural transition of it was. I mean I acted a little bit when I was young and like any kid would in a community theatre.

I've never been pigeonholed and I've experienced so many different kinds of skin - what man will do and won't do, what you should do and shouldn't do. This is what's exciting about being an actor; where philosophy majors sit in classrooms or write books about human behavior, we're actually acting them out in front of cameras.

Now that I've got some films under my belt, I have the courage of my convictions regarding acting. It gives me a leg to stand on.

I learned much more about acting from philosophy courses, psychology courses, history and anthropology than I ever learned in acting class.

Acting is like roller skating. Once you know how to do it, it is neither stimulating nor exciting.

Acting is such a personal thing, which is weird because at the same time it's not. It's for the consumption of other people. But in terms of creative outlets and expressing yourself, it's just the most extreme version of that that I've ever found. It's like running, it's exertion.

I've had a lazy career. Sometimes one film a year, sometimes none. I'm walking around in the street and doing this other thing, living, that I'm much more interested in. I just do some acting on the side.

One of the things about acting is it allows you to live other people's lives without having to pay the price.

Absolutely not, because in acting I've found a domain that suits me perfectly. And that is so utterly rare.

When I get to my deathbed, I don't want to take my last breath and say, Well, how glorious. I've left the world my acting credits. I won't even think that.

Television and film acting is really fun because you are working with other people and you are not completely responsible for the outcome of the project.

On some level in acting, what you're trying to find is truth, because when it's true is when it's also funny.

If I didn't have children I'd be a much better actress. I wouldn't be so distracted. I could pour 100 percent of my energies into it, to promote the investigation which acting is.

Sincerity and the correct use of the voice are the greatest things in the art of acting.

I never imagined being able to make money from acting - and now I can.

Acting must be scaled down for the screen. A drawing room is a lot smaller than a theatre auditorium.

I think my parents were happy that I'd gone to university and gotten a degree in history so they thought, 'Well if acting doesn't work for him, he can always become a history teacher or something.' Fortunately, the acting worked out.

I was always drawn to performing. I took improv and acting classes during the summers and was involved in middle and high school plays. But when I discovered indie and punk music in high school, those things sort of took over.

If one thing that bothers me about acting, it's that there's no clear-cut number one. The closest you can get is winning an Academy Award, and I'm going to work on that if it takes me the next 50 years. To my peers, it will mean that I'm the best!

That first year at Universal was a big blur and, naturally, I thought they were wasting me. I didn't realize at the time that I was learning my craft and acting more easily in front of the camera.

I really don't have a career plan. I like being challenged and thrown around. But it's only acting.

I don't hate myself anymore. I used to hate my work, hated that sexy image, hated those pictures of me onstage, hated that big raunchy person. Onstage, I'm acting the whole time I'm there. As soon as I get out of those songs, I'm Tina again.

I really take acting seriously.

I've never worked on a lawyer show for a long time, but I imagine the actors all start acting like lawyers.

I had an acting coach while I was doing the show and every week I could see my work improving. I really liked working on the show because I was learning new things every day.

For me personally, I'm mostly focused on writing and acting right now.

The ultimate acting is to destroy yourself.