Robert Redford Quotes

I've thought about doing other dramatic roles besides westerns, but I grew up in the West and I know the West.

I felt more comfortable playing other people than being myself, when I was a kid. And then, the tables turned. Through my performances, I've become more comfortable with who I am, and then I just bring more of myself into the people that I play.

I think there are parts of myself in every character I play.

You can spend a bit of yourself when you give yourself to a character. At the end of a job, you have to remind yourself who and what you are.

Like, that was weird in 'Hamlet 2,' because I played myself there, fully myself, but then I realized, 'Oh, I'm not playing myself. I'm some weird version of myself.' So as an actress, you're always playing something, I don't even know who I am, how could I become me? I don't know what that is.

I couldn't be 'Johnny' in front of a camera in acting jobs and behind the camera I like to be 'Michael.' With directing, you can't do it by halves. There's a lot of reflection, and I have found that I, as 'Michael,' thrive on it. It's lovely coming home and feeling that stuff from a day's work as myself.

One of the things I love about acting is that it reveals a certain something about yourself, but it doesn't reveal your own personal story.

I felt I knew Lugosi. Like him, I had worked for good directors and terrible directors.

Acting is what I do with who I am.

Acting, I get to explore other people and other characters; with music, I get to express and explore myself.

Going to drama school was the start of my journey of discovery and getting to know myself.

I don't think that when I'm acting I feel like I lose myself to it, but that sense of losing, that sense of discomfort, well, I guess maybe that comes a bit! It's about redefining what 'uncomfortable' means for you.

It's so funny, you go to acting school thinking you're going to learn how to be other people, but really it taught me how to be myself. Because it's in understanding yourself deeply that you can lend yourself to another person's circumstances and another person's experience.

I have to make my bones with Hollywood to get in. And when I do maybe I'll metamorphose from Mr. Muscles or whatever it is I am now and become an irascible tosser.

Playing characters allows me to do things I may not always do, while singing in concerts allows me to really find my own voice and grow.

I do this acting thing mostly for myself. I like to make a connection and communicate with the audience to make myself feel less lonely. I also do it to develop my own character, so sometimes I do it to just be away in a certain area that I've never been to. But mostly, the story has to do something for me.

I have learned that acting is not about beauty.

I admire Meryl Streep and Dustin Hoffman for their sheer dedication to their craft.

I had done my first picture and I didn't have anything to do for awhile. I was asked to come back to New York and do Bus Stop in the role of the cowboy opposite Kim Stanley.

When I was 15, I was asked to do 'Cyrano de Bergerac' at school, and it fundamentally changed my life. It's obviously an extraordinarily diverse and potentially electrifying part. It's a big leading part, and I hadn't really played anything like that before; I was the one doing the comedy side bit.

I cannot be a character in a bad movie. I can't be.

Acting is the greatest answer to my loneliness that I have found.

That's what I love about acting, you get to find little pieces of yourself in every character you play.

I've had some marvelous parts, but I'm also asked to play characters who are kind of superficial people.

For a writer, they say write what you know. As a performer, you find it in yourself, in your heart. You relate to the character. You try to live it, try to have it be real for you.