Alex Smith Quotes

I can't deal with actors! I can't deal with myself. We're neurotic and miserable ... I love doing what I'm doing, but while I'm doing it, I'm miserable.

Even when I had a run of successful prime-time shows, I couldn't sit down and enjoy my success. I would beat myself up and scrutinise everything. I'm a natural-born worrier.

I play with a fear of letting people down. That's what motivates me.

I used to feel unsafe right in the moment of an accomplishment - I felt the ground fall from under my feet because this could be the end. And even now, while everyone is celebrating, I'm on to the next thing. I don't want to get lost in this big cushion of success.

'SNL' can be a stressful environment, and I am panicking constantly, but I guess I keep it pretty internal.

I get nervous before every shoot. I'm really jealous of the people that can just rest on their laurels and say, 'I'm good; this is it.'

I feel a bit scared at times as I feel if I am not convinced about the scene, the audiences won't be either, so I have to give my best.

Ever since I can remember, over-expectation and pressure have been my worst enemies.

I struggle with perfection.

If you're great, that means you're freaked out that the next day you're not going to be great. You keep trying.

In middle school and high school, I had straight A's, and I graduated at the top of my year. On the flip side of that, I struggled with very severe performance anxiety.

I had intense anxiety, just with the acting and expectations. Am I good enough for this? This is so big. I'm on the cover of four magazines right now. Am I worthy of this? You question everything about yourself, and I did that. I put a lot of pressure on myself to make sure that I had the body and all of that.

Every single time I step into the studio, I say, 'Can I still do this? Do I still have it? Have I ever had it?' I suppose there's a good amount of self-loathing that goes into any form of artisanship.

Hollywood's built on insecurity. People are trying to prove things. And I probably have that. I probably do. Probably guilty of it, in a way.

My biggest enemy for the longest time was my head. When I first became successful, it made me anxious because I was overthinking everything, and you hear so many 'fail' stories.

I'm always thinking 'Don't mess this up.'

I thought that when you have more success that you'd feel more buoyed or feel more confident. But in fact my brain has the gift of switching it around and saying, 'Now people are expecting something. Now you're really going to let people down.'

Writing on assignment, with lots of money handed to you before you even began, got very scary for me. My dread of not being perfect, something I got from a childhood surrounded by powerful, successful people, began to infect everything I wrote.

I push every day against forces that say you have to go faster, be more effective, be more productive, you have to constantly outdo yourself, you have to constantly outdo your neighbor - all of the stuff that creates an incredibly productive society, but also a very neurotic one.

I've always been a bit of a self-doubter. I think a lot of actors are.

I'm not trying to steal the show. I tend to shy away from - I don't want to say the spotlight - how about responsibility? It's just very daunting. These movies are very intimidating. 'Captain America.' This is the stuff I struggle with.

My performance level has risen - and my anxiety-level has sky-rocketed.

As far as I can tell, most actors' main motivation is self-doubt and neuroses.

A lot of times, in the beginning of my career, I put pressure on myself just because I wanted to perform so well. I just wanted to be perfect.

For Devil's Backbone I loved it but I felt very pressured but so I was neurotic on the shoot.