Lorraine Toussaint Quotes

As an actor, you use the things from yourself that you can apply to the character.

If you never fall in love with your character, you'll never be able to do that character justice. No matter who it is, no matter what the character does, you have to find the reason for it. Everyone's got a reason for what they do, even if it's a reason that they're not proud of.

I had the prosthetics on, and I went to my trailer, I looked in the mirror, and I smiled. And I was, like, "This is the character - everything she does is with a smile and a bit of glee and joy." And that's how I created Darla [from Buffy The Vampire Slayer]. Prior to that, I was, like, "I have no idea how to play this 400-year-old vampire from hell!".

Once I decide to take on a role it's because I find that guy to be really interesting to watch and very compelling to play. And from that point on I can no longer judge him. I can only take on his point of view in order to play him effectively. And his point of view is often not mine.

I really connect with every character that I've played, just because I kinda have to; as an actor, you want to take them in and get to know them and like them; because they're evil, you kinda have to like them so that you can understand them and play them and play them with some kind of empathy.

The more I love the character, the harder it is to get it wrong. I have to get to a point that I can speak for them.

I find that I kind of have to sink into the character.

When I prepare for a role, I try to get inside the character's head and understand him.

Any actor would love to just pick up a script and be like, 'I can connect to this person, and I can see myself playing him.'

After a while, the person who knows the character best is you, the actor.

There are so many ways to approach a character. You have to figure out the similarities between you and the character, build on them, and at the same time, blur the dissimilarities. Since you do it day in and day out, it becomes a process and a part of you.

For me, the key is always trying to find the connection between the audience and the character I'm playing. That's important to me, in any work I do.

The first thing, the main thing, about how I work is I need to understand the character.

As an actor you bring some of your own experiences which can make things easier. You build off of it, but your imagination is always the best thing you have as far as creating things I think specifically for what that character is going through. But you're definitely drawing obviously upon things that you can connect to, and then you kind of mold the change that you're making into something that's right for the character.

It kind of varies. I don’t have a method yet. It depends on the script and the character I think I need. I’ve worked with acting coaches, researched roles, and channeled different parts of myself. It’s on a case-by-case for me, right now.

I love to work this way - I love the time of preparation. If you feed yourself with all the information and you get to understand who the character is then you can really be her.

I think you're bound to get a sense of any character that you play. It's not something you often do in comedy.

I try to put myself into whatever character I play.

You definitely put a bit of yourself in every character, and you always have to have an understanding and empathy for the person that you play.

I think it's necessary to identify with anything - with any character you play, there's got to be something in common, so you can link up to that person, even if it's like one tiny thing. But it's equally fun to play somebody completely different, and trying to find what that thing is to make it.

In every character you play, as much as you hate to admit it as an actor, but there's an element of you that you bring to it.

I make a playlist for every character I portray. Music plays a huge part in helping me understand a character. Every time I get a new role, I will take a chunk of time to just sit and listen to a bunch of songs and select the ones that make sense in my mind for that character. I can't even explain how much it helps me.

The first thing I do when I read a part is see if I can identify emotionally with a character. If I make that connection, everything else is just working on knowing their life circumstances and manifesting those through practice and research.

As an actor, you always want to find a piece of who you are in every role you take on.

I always find that I have to be emotionally on my character's side for it to be convincing.