Paula Malcomson Quotes

As an actress, it appeals to me because I love the idea of playing those in-between moments, the sort of behavioral stuff that one might not normally see.

As an actor, you work to the script: that's our main priority. But you have to be aware and look around for things that help you bring that little bit extra, that touch of realism that rams the point home.

For a time, I really thought acting was just impersonating. But impersonation is just big brush strokes, really. What makes acting different is empathy.

I feel my job as an actor is to explore all sides of humanity.

I think you can really tell a good actor if you can put a camera on them and they can just talk and emote and react and you don't have to keep cutting away from them, because they are the language and the behavior. It's all a tour-de-force performance.

I try to steal from the best. Suck it all in. 'Taxi Driver' is really a bible for film actors, a master class. A lot of emotional power, a lot of emotional depth but it's contained and you just see the tip of the iceberg.

As an actor, you are in a unique position because you're not only memorizing dialogue but really embodying it. You naturally feel the rhythm of good writing.

In acting, you have to pull from real-life situations, from people, to help develop a character.

Acting is usually regarded as a wholly narcissistic pursuit but there really is a hunger in me to unravel the human condition.

A lot of actors and actresses pull from past experiences.

Acting is different from stand-up. It gives you this ability to enter into another character, to create another person.

I think the best dramatic actors know how to tap into their character's humor.

I get a lot of people saying to me, 'Oh, you're the actor who plays the nutters,' and I'm not. I'm the guy who plays human beings. I understand why the characters are doing what they're doing. When you play a villain, you don't play a villain: you play a human being doing what he thinks he needs to do to get what he wants.

My first two or three films, all I was trying to do was look cool. That's all I knew acting was.

Trying to be a good actor has to be involved with placing yourself imaginatively in different people's circumstances.

My job as an actor is to live the role that I do.

Everybody has parts of themselves that they're not 100% happy with - that's what makes you human. And being an actor, your job is to play human beings. Your job is to play real people.

As an actor, I'm constantly striving to find the darkness in the lighter characters and the lightness in the darker characters.

It's your job as an actor to fill out the blanks. I love doing that. To fill in the bones.

I'm always looking, as an actor, for activities. I think it's far more interesting to watch what people do than what they say. You always want to watch behavior, because the dialogue as written by our illustrious leaders is great. Eminently playable.

I do my independent stuff where it's real acting if you like. Intense, drama stuff. I love me actions.

I think the buzz of acting is playing people different to you, and for me, that means traversing all genres.

Most good actors have a huge intelligence about the human condition and a real open heart to different kinds of people and behavior.

I've probably had my best time acting - or not acting, or trying to not act - on things like 'The Low Down' or 'Treacle Jr.' I'm happiest doing things like that. Not just because they're lead roles, but because there's more freedom in them.

Acting is something different to everybody. I just know that if you watch an actor or actress getting better and better, I think that's them just understanding themselves better and better.