Octavia Spencer Quotes

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

Basically, the way you get into any role is just doing research on the type of character you're playing.

In theater, you go in-depth with your character, so coming to the States, it was inevitable to dig into the pilots I liked. I knew what characters I was going to be reading for, so I would dissect them and really get involved with them.

Part of an actor's job is to find correlations between your own life and the life of the person you are playing.

One of my favorite parts of being an actress is being a detective.

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

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

It's fashionable for modern actors to talk about getting 'inside' a character. But you can't get to the inside without getting the outside right first.

I'm not an actor who approaches films doing a lot of research. I do zero research, unless it's a film where I'm playing a mock version of someone who already existed. Then, you've got to do a lot of research.

I think that different actors go about their preparation differently, but when it comes to acting, I use my imagination.

Once I'm committed to a role, I will go very deep into it, even when I'm not at work. I'll keep on studying the script, maybe 40 or 50 times. I might call a scriptwriter at three in the morning to say I've thought of something new.

When I research a role it does get a little crazy and maybe even a little stupid.

I take my time to get into the mindset of the character and say my lines. I really have to be the person that I am playing.

In many ways, acting is really like a science to me to figure out the human behavior of any character that I'm playing.

I think people are always trying to demystify whatever acting is, so they want to know what your method is.

Any sort of role requires a certain amount of research and embodiment of the character and psychological investigation.

Talking to actors is the same as talking to any other artists; it's getting into the moment for them, and making sure they can lose themselves in the performance!

I don't think I'm an actor who takes their characters home with him. But I certainly do take the preparation home.

I took Meisner for a long time. I use a lot of sense memory and, well, I wouldn't say Method, but I can't really avoid getting into character.

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

I am trained in theatre, and so I take time to study and get into the skin of a character.

Actors are always looking for ways to build a character.

I'm not a very good actor, so I break character all the time.

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.

What I had found after the success of Karate Kid II is that an actor basically needs to - a primary requirement on my part as how I view as actor is you have to create a background, you have to create a history of that character and place her into the script that you're reading and carry on forward because you don't know how the future unfolds. This is what storytelling is you place a certain set of circumstances with a certain set of characters and you see what unfolds after an event happens.