Ellen Page Quotes

There are times when I consciously give the character something physical - a walk, the way he sits, how he talks, or his lack of physicality, which is like a physicality.

I'm a very physical actor; everything I do is pretty much body-oriented. I sometimes am able to deliver information just with a look; my face does two or three different things, and it says it all.

Body language is essential for an actress, even if you don't use your body in an athletic way. Just to be free, to use it like your voice. A body can be small and have incredible violence. A body talks.

Some of the best actors in the world are very exterior actors, Anthony Hopkins being one of them. He knows exactly how to turn his face to get a certain expression. He knows exactly what to do with eyes, and with his voice. It's very exterior.

Breathing is always key in any character. When you have a character with no voice, that makes it even more important.

I think there's something to be said for being physical in acting.

I use my hands a lot while acting.

I'm pretty much of a physical actor.

As an actor, you have many tools - your body, your voice, your emotions, mentally. In film, you have your eyes because they communicate your thought process. In fact, generally in film, what you don't say is more important than what you say. That's not so much the case for stage.

You have an awareness of your body and how to use it and I think that if you can embody a character physically it's another really useful tool.

Before you get into the mind, you have to inhabit the physicality. Body language is a great way of speaking.

Good actors, you always know what they're thinking. That's why they're good actors.

There is this miraculous thing I heard Hugh Grant talking about - the thing about screen acting is that you can read people's thoughts. You are trying to register something inside and usually the eyes in cinema are where you will register that.

I found out was, by the rhythm of my chewing, how I chewed fast, slow or what have you, I could tell the audience what my character was thinking and feeling.

I like to use my hands. When I was in theatre in college, that was one of my biggest notes: 'You use your hands too much.'

Modeling is really silent acting.

I really think that effective acting has to do literally with the movement of molecules.

Michael C. Hall is an incredibly detailed actor who can convey so much with just an eyebrow.

When you act, your whole body is the instrument.

If you're working in close-ups, then an actor is only able to act with his head. I like an actor to act with their entire body.

Really good acting is not about dialogue. It's really just about small moments that really make the whole entire scene and the intention completely different than even maybe what the characters are saying. Two characters could be saying, "I hate you, and I don't want to be with you anymore!" But yet somehow, their toes are just inching more, you know, closer to each other. So a really big thing about acting is really just with your body.

You have to learn to express differently. Whenever I do TV or film, I ask if I can see the shot to see, to see if it's full body or a close-up. That helps me understand how to communicate.

When articulation is impossible, gesticulation comes to the rescue.

Acting coaches in Hollywood were always telling me to use my hands and body more. But that was never me. I just breathe and sometimes it doesn't look as if I'm doing that.

There's always so much more that can be conveyed on screen visually in the expressions of people's faces, in their bodies, in their body language. And also with sound design, with music.