James Dean Quotes

As an actor, you need to grow and experience things. What you experience in life is what is going to help you and your art.

Sometimes directors come to me when I have to play some horrible thing, scary or hysterical or crying; they ask, 'Did you study somewhere to be an actress?' No, this is life. That's why I think I don't want to say you need a really bad experience to be a good artist, but bad experiences in your life say something.

Anything negative that happens to you in life can be turned into a positive as far as acting is concerned. You can draw on your experiences - it's far better than any research.

Every once in a while, I'll have an acting role that allows me to look at something in my life and work it out.

With acting, it wouldn't be about money: it would be about taking my life experiences and using them to create art.

I think an actor without life experiences is empty.

I've been aware of the work I do as an actor being directorial in feel.

I don't know if it's that the scripts are evolving or just that I'm getting older, but the characters become more interesting as you get older because you've lived more life at different stages. You've loved; you've lost; you have more of that journey.

Of course you can find something exciting and dynamic in any character you want to portray.

People say that they like the characters that they believe that I am. But, I don't as much. I like the characters that I believe that I am not. Like my role on 'Law and Order.' That character unnerved people. And I loved every second of it. I want to continue growing as an actress. There are ways that I can reach quicker, or deeper, with acting.

See, that's the thing: I'm not one of those actors who thinks, 'God, I've got to improvise and make it my own.' No, my first job as an actor is to take what's written and make it work. And then, if they want me to improvise, I'll do that.

I think when you're at your best as an actor, it is cathartic.

I have a constant sort of melancholy approach to acting that fuels me. I want to do everything.

When an actor plays a scene exactly the way a director orders, it isn't acting. It's following instructions. Anyone with the physical qualifications can do that.

Some of the great characters that I've played had to be transformational.

I think singing and acting go hand in hand. Take an R&B singer: one song says, 'I love you,' the next is, 'Baby, don't leave me', the next is, 'If you leave me I don't care.' You have to drop in and out of different perspectives.

I'm an actor and my job is to interpret.

As an actor, you express certain things because they need to be expressed, and then you don't really feel a need to do it again. I want to feel something else, you know?

The interesting thing about acting is using all your own stuff and having some kind of personal catharsis while you're working.

To grasp the full significance of life is the actor's duty; to interpret it his problem; and to express it his dedication.

I look for characters that offer me opportunities to explore some aspect of the human condition. I think a lot of actors would say that and would look for that. I've been lucky enough to find projects that let me do that.

People forget that the more we know about the world - about people, cultures, and about life - the stronger we are as actors because the more we can bring to our characters.

If I played characters who were like me, I'd be super bored.

You know one of the things about going from modeling to acting is it's so much more fulfilling. With modeling, you get your picture taken, which is great, good for you, you know? But in acting, you're able to reach in and show a little bit more of yourself.

I think being in touch with your emotions is very key as an actor, and I think experiencing life is the only way to be in touch with your emotions.