J. Smith-Cameron Quotes

It's my job as a supporting actor - which I usually am - to support the film: to make 1, 2, or 3 on the call sheet look good.

I always say it takes as much preparation and thought to do a small part as a leading part. In some ways, leads are easier because you have the luxury of time to discover the character.

If you're playing a lead, you're shaping the movie. When you're playing a supporting role, you've got only a moment to make it count.

Scene study is isolated. I suppose it's interesting, but I don't think it really teaches you about a throughline. A throughline is something you feel when you do one scene followed by another followed by another.

I've always been one to want to memorize everything and just be confident that I know all of the lines, but that changed. After college, I realized it's not as much about being off-book as it is about completely understanding the character and, more so, getting into the mind of your character.

I don't like this concept of second role, small role. It is a story, at the end of the day. If I am suitable for a character, I am glad to reflect that through my choice of films.

I don't mind playing a supporting character if it has some substance.

It's very unusual for scenes to be added for a character.

Claude Rains was what we call an actor's actor. He was very involved with himself and his performance.

When you're acting in a scene, you're focused on doing the scene. You can't break character and go, 'Oh my God, I love what you're doing!'

I only have an awareness of what I'm trying to achieve as an actor and what my job as the character is to service.

In choosing any role, I ask the same questions: what kind of part is it? is the role challenging? does the director have a vision? is the story moving? etc.

No actor ever forgets a role, so I should have realized something was wrong.

If you know exactly what your character knows, it's a drama.

I don't really prepare for each role the same way.

There are always practical decisions to be made about any character you're playing.

I think if you're an actor, then you can work on stage - but if you've never done it before, you're going to have picked up a few things that you're going to need to change when you're working on stage.

My school of thought with going into a character is that you have to understand where they come from, and you have to empathize with them.

There are a lot of actors who will sit here and talk to you about characters - 'He does this, and she's a really interesting character because she does this.' I'm not like that at all. I'm not an actory actor.

Unless it's a specific accent, or something about physicality you have to change, I am generally not such a conscious actor.

The least amount of info actors get, the better. Actors are always like, 'What is my motivation for this?' You didn't write it. Just say the lines.

With any actor, if you know your character well enough, you'll know pretty much what he would say under any circumstance, or whatever situation might rear its head.

Everything I've ever learned about acting - and I went to theater school - was about playing what the character wants and throwing yourself fully into going after what the character wants.

The trick to acting is not to show off, it's to think the thoughts of the character.

There's a certain way you stand to give yourself authority, which gives you the texture for the part. I chose that my character hadn't been married, he'd worked his way up the chain of command. For a small cameo role, I gave it a lot of thought.