Mark McGrath Quotes

Acting lessons teach you to really listen to what the other person is saying because in acting it's all about responding to the lines.

It's sort of the most important thing for acting, is to listen to the person you're dealing with.

Acting is mostly about listening. If you just focus in on what the other person is saying, acting takes care of itself to quite a large extent.

When I started out as an actor, I thought, Here's what I have to say; how shall I say it? I began to understand that what I do in the scene is not as important as what happens between me and the other person. And listening is what lets it happen. It's almost always the other person who causes you to say what you say next. You don't have to figure out how you'll say it. You have to listen so simply, so innocently, that the other person brings about a change in you that makes you say it and informs the way you say it.

The big secret in acting is listening to people.

One of the things I love about acting is other actors, looking into their eyes, and working off them, and listening and responding to them.

The thing about improvisation is that it's not about what you say. It's listening to what other people say. It's about what you hear.

The lifelong goal of an improviser is to listen to what the other person is saying, taking it in, and responding.

Acting is about listening and reacting. John Wayne was right: Acting is just reacting. You don't have to do much - as long as you stay out of the way of others. That's why it works.

The art of acting is to pitch good. You do the pitching and hope that the other person catches the ball and does some good pitching back to you.

The best way to persuade people is with your ears - by listening to them.

I think all great actors - and I don't classify myself as one of them, incidentally - but I think all great actors listen well and I've learned that from a lot of the very good actors with whom I've worked - to really listen to what people say.

Improv relies just as much on listening as it does you delivering dialogue. That's the hard for some people. Some people just concentrate on what they're going to say, and they're not listening. You have to listen in order to see where the other person is going to.

Some people think that you have to be the loudest voice in the room to make a difference. That is just not true. Often, the best thing we can do is turn down the volume. When the sound is quieter, you can actually hear what someone else is saying. And that can make a world of difference.

It's my job that if somebody wants to have a discussion about something, I'm certainly sensitive to that, and I'm willing to do it.

Communication is so key.

Sometimes you're working with somebody, and you can tell they're just waiting to say their line.

The key to acting has much more to do with listening than with talking.

When I'm doing a one-on-one with somebody, I have to speak in a language that that person can understand, using a vocabulary that they instantly get, and I always have to feel my way around to figure that out. It's a lot of fun, and it's also really challenging - challenging in a different way from performing.

Just listening and going back and forth and exchanging ideas with people. It's a beautiful thing. This is what's really important.

Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing.

Understanding is a two-way street.

Unfortunately, when you're an actor you have to act. It's not like you can sit in your living room, your bedroom, your study or whatever and act with yourself. It requires having somebody to respond to.

Help is a conversation. If one side talks too much, the other side will get bored. So make sure you help back when you can.

In true dialogue, both sides are willing to change.