Josh Charles Quotes

'Longmire' is more of a show about the characters, and you couldn't pay a bigger compliment than to want to know more about my character, or the characters on the show.

When I get a role, I try to delve as deeply as possible into the character.

But I'm attracted to roles where I get to really go in and explore a character.

When you get into a film, it is one story and one set development of a character, and you are able to delve into one character for a short period of time and discover everything about them.

As an actor, you want to be able to move your character forward into new ground, but also it's really interesting to go backwards and unpeel those layers and the interesting elements of what your character is and what informs the decisions that you make so that you can have as much meat to work with.

When I look at a character, whether he's good or bad, one scene or 10 scenes, I just have to find my way in.

Nobody can ever describe how much you explore a character on a Peter Berg movie until you're doing it.

It's always incredible though when you feel like the writer knows the character intimately and can see their life sprawling away outside of the show.

Every character, for me, is a new discovery.

Detailing and backstories are so important; only they draw you into the life of a character.

From a writer's standpoint, each character and story presents its own unique challenges and delights. I'm deeply curious about all of my characters, and I love peeling away their layers to see what's underneath their skin, or secreted deep within their hearts.

I think it's important that a director be able to know his characters inside and out.

I've often said the reader knows every bit as much about Thorne as I do. When I created him for 'Sleepyhead,' I was determined he should be a character who would develop, book by book, change and grow as we all do, and who - crucially - would be unpredictable.

I locate that special problem in a character and then try to understand it. That's the genesis of all my work.

I don't really ever think about whether or not I like the characters I'm playing. I'm more into the minutiae of their behaviour or what they're doing in a certain scene.

The most I could hope for is to come and try and develop a character who is interesting, who is interesting to me, who is interesting to fans and who could contribute to the storytelling that is 'Law & Order: SVU.'

Also, in my acting, I feel very much like a storyteller, exploring the flaws of the characters that I interpret. I look for the imperfections, and I love a character that is just so flawed.

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.

If you give a character room to breathe, they come alive.

I love series television because it's so much fun to have that much opportunity to paint the character.

The life of a character doesn't just exist between action and cut.

Any time you learn something new about your character, that's really exciting.

I wanted more in depth ideas about the character and it never came.

I am good when there is something central about the character. There is always a human theme I attach myself to. I am really looking for something that is moving or enlightening or something with depth as an actor. I look for these kinds of roles.

I like the idea of the documentary as a portrait. There's not a chronological beginning, middle, and end structure. You build something in the editing room that's shaped by getting to know the person and digging deeper, unpeeling the layers of them as you get to know them.