Ben Kingsley Quotes

Improv classes were too expensive, so I just started going to open mics. And the day I did it, I did, like, three because I just loved it so much. It was so much fun. And it wasn't good, it was just fun to do. It felt like a release.

When I started out as an actor I knew very little, which was probably a good thing. I was totally open. You don't judge yourself, you do it.

I used to get nervous, you know if my parents would come watch. And then I would get nervous if my friends came and watched. Today it's not a problem anymore actually, because now I enjoy it. I see that they, you know, respect me immensely, and I try to put on a good show and show that I can still play very good tennis.

A lot of children, like I did, move away from words because of the fear - which is something you have to take out of education: the fear of worrying about what marks you'll get, detention, worrying about letting people down, your parents, teachers.

Singing gives me a lot of energy.

I don't enjoy doing stand-up. I see it as being like exercise: I feel good about it after I've done it.

I could never do stand-up because it's that thing of having to get up on stage. And out of every 10 jokes you tell, nine of them have to get a really good response.

It's one of those things where if I do a movie, I don't even know if I'm any good. So, I may do one and it sucks and I'm a horrible actor, and I'll never do another one.

For many years, I didn't even like the idea of doing a one-person play. Public speaking got me past that. I've always been good at public speaking, but I never really enjoyed it. Then I started to really enjoy it, and that's made all the difference.

The truth is, I had always wanted to be a comedian, but I really didn't have that kind of personality, and it's a terrifying thing to say.

If the gig's going really well, I'm incredibly happy on stage and really feel good about my life and things.

God bless Dad, he came to every one of my shows. I was bad, and I had horrible stage fright. My dad was so relieved - he'd say, 'You were terrible; this kid is not going to be an actor.' Finally, I did a play and he said, 'Son - you were really good.'

If I could go back to my first year of acting school, I'd probably say: 'Relax. Stop taking yourself so seriously.'

I get nervous when I don't get nervous. If I'm nervous I know I'm going to have a good show.

I like when I have to act and direct; then, when you have to dub, you're by yourself in front of the wall, and I'm always scared that you're not good like when you are in real when you act.

I can't do all that riddly diddly stuff. I'm not good enough. It's all about not playing.

That's something I go through every day - you know - Am I good enough to act?

I know my music is going well when I don't have insomnia.

I was so intimidated by the thought of improvising back in the '80s when I was in Chicago. I think the opportunity only even came up once that I can recall, and I turned down the offer. It was to go improvise in some club in the suburbs or something. Good God, I couldn't think of anything more frightening than to get up there without a plan.

It's weird that I've ended up playing so many real live people, because I was never any good at impersonations at school.

I never feel comfortable! I'm always anxious. I'm always all over the board. That said, I like doing comedy because it's easy to tell when you're getting it right because people laugh, and you can hear it, and they're smiling, and you can see it.

I was asked to act when I couldn't act. I was asked to sing 'Funny Face' when I couldn't sing, and dance with Fred Astaire when I couldn't dance - and do all kinds of things I wasn't prepared for. Then I tried like mad to cope with it.

I know what I'm good at, and if I'm asked to do something I'm not - like hip-hop dancing - I get self-conscious.

You always believed that as good as you knew you were, there was always somebody who could take your place. I tried to work as hard as I could to make sure that didn't happen.

I still don't think I'm a good actor. The only reason I'm doing it is because I've got a lot of support behind me.