Cicely Tyson Quotes

I really do literally put myself into a character's shoes.

When I act, a part of me goes into the character I am playing.

The only way I can be there and really get into the character is if I'm her.

I got into acting for the chance to be many different people and many different characters. I love hiding in a role and doing the research. If there is an opportunity to change my body, I will change my body. I'll slip in and disguise myself in a role. That is a really big treat for me.

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 love acting and really taking on another person, another life.

I never act my characters - I am them.

If you think about what acting is supposed to be, my job is to disappear.

I think substitution is a huge part of acting, but I don't personalise my work that much.

But today I felt different, today I forgot how long it takes to get into the skin of a character and I remembered it, because today I actually got into that skin and it felt so different.

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.

Sometimes you can just step into the character, and you get all your feelings and emotions just from sympathizing with her and being her. But then, other times, you just have to resort back to anything that you've been through in your own life and try to play that.

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

Costume is a huge part of getting into character. Your body soaks in what you're wearing, and you turn into someone else.

It's more enjoyable when I'm disguised in some way; stepping into someone else's shoes is part of the reason why I became an actor.

There's something magical about theater. You can live the character every single day to the point where you become that person.

I'm always happier and a better actor when I can really lose myself in a character and become somebody else.

I'm always practicing lines, researching, trying to be fresh, and fully trying to become the characters I play. That's how I roll.

The thing about being an actor is that you turn into other people. You have to hide yourself a bit in order to let that other person come out.

A lot of acting, as I grew up wanting to do, is kind of like magic... I'm not comparing myself to him in the least bit, but if you knew what Daniel Day-Lewis was doing every step of the way and what he was eating, I don't think when he popped up as Lincoln we would quite believe it.

Getting in and out of a character takes its own time for me.

I empty myself out and fill myself with the character. I would play a devil worshipper, and I would fill myself up with whatever devil worshippers believe. Then, as myself, I empty that out and become Nelsan.

As actors, we have to take characters, and we have to feel for them and ultimately become them, and share that on screen so that audience feels that.

When you put your costume on and you get your hair and your makeup done [for a role] and you stare in the mirror you feel like a different person.

As an actor, you're used to putting on characters, taking them off, becoming someone else, doing your research, and working on that.