Albert Brooks Quotes

First of all, the actor needs to get out of the character's way. You follow the character without judgment or prejudice or preconceived ideas.

Here's probably a short answer - I never feel in this piece that I'm stepping out and being Andrea Martin. I always feel like I'm Golde, so whatever Golde would do within those realms, that's what I would do.

I try to allow the spirit of the character to live through me. That's the only way I know how to approach acting. I have to live it.

People think memorizing lines is hard, when that's the last thing you worry about. You get that done, and then you've got to worry about the internal stuff, which is the challenging part.

I want to be in a more natural state while doing acting.

I am neither a method actor nor a trained one. So, I don't generally prepare for any role. Becoming the character and being in that moment are most important.

Part of being an actor is being susceptible to imaginary circumstances, so as soon as I'm on the set I feel like I'm actually there.

I've always had a process that I do before I even get to set or go to the location. I work privately, and it almost feels like therapy between me and who I'm playing. So I have this inner life that's there and it gives me a confidence, too, that when I'm playing the role I know every question.

Because I was able to submerge myself into the character, I didn't have to go back and forth. You don't have to work hard to bring emotions. It all just comes naturally, you're there living it.

I guess I'm probably a Method actor; I don't know... I just think of it as staying in the zone.

Good acting comes from finding the essence of a character.

I do whatever I need to do to get into character. Sometimes it's being incredibly quiet, and sometimes it's being loose and goofy.

I love to take actors to a place where they open a vein. That's the job. The key is that I make it safe for them to open the vein.

I'm an emotional actor. When I'm doing a scene, I really believe it. I live the part as long as I'm in the scene.

The first time I thought I should be an actor was in school. I thought, 'At least this is something for which I won't have to study.' But I've realised that an actor needs to be constantly unsure about what he's doing and about what's going on around him. The moment you think you've nailed it, you're dead.

Actors usually respond to minor aspects of their own character or things that even feel disparate from themselves.

I think actors get too comfortable. I like being uncomfortable as an actor because it keeps you alive. I don't know, I think it's important.

You hear stories of intense actors who can't shed their character and who don't know who they are for a week or two after. I'm not that guy, man.

When there's no technical problems, if you did the right casting, and the scene is well written, the actor will give you a strong performance with his intuition right from the start.

Your work isn't just to learn and say the lines. Your work is to figure out what the chatter in your brain is, that's going on under the lines. It doesn't matter whether you're speaking or not speaking because your mind is working the way your character's mind would work.

I think it's a style of acting that you trust. You trust the instincts.

You jot down ideas, memories, whatever, concerning your real life that somehow parallels the character you're playing, and you incorporate that in your scene work.

I would go into a place that was quiet and isolated and think about how my character would feel in the situation, considering who he was and what he had been through. I would think about that even up to 30 minutes. And when I felt the character was in my body and I had left, I could walk onto set or into rehearsal.

I live in the energy and rhythm of the character. To some degree, that's true of every actor I've worked with.

I wouldn't say I'm a Method actor, but I do try to focus very deeply on what character I'm playing, and everything else goes out the window. I forget about everything. I try to get everything else out of my head.