Sylvester McCoy Quotes

It was both comforting and terrifying to go in to audition for 'The Girl in the Cafe,' as I'd worked with everyone in the room on 'State Of Play.'

I never really considered myself an actor because I never pursued it.

I'm an actor, so I am always scared. You never know if you are on vacation or that you have been retired and they just didn't tell you.

For everybody, the tide comes in, the tide goes out - if you're an actor, particularly.

In order to be an actor you really have to be one of those types of people who are risk-takers and have what is considered an actor's arrogance, which is not to say an arrogance in your personal life. But you have to be the type of person who wants the ball with seconds left in the game.

I used to do theater in L.A., but it got to the point where everything was really showcase-y.

What was I qualified to do to make a living? Nothing. You don't need qualifications as an actor or a politician. And I didn't want to be a politician.

As an actor you have one great fear: pimples!

Acting scares me.

I was never any good in the school theatrical productions. I always got a role like the March Hare. A Latin teacher told me I might make a good actress, and that stuck in my memory.

I remember going to acting class, so certain that no one's ever going to know my name.

When I tested for Billy Budd, I had that kind of confidence that comes with the certainty that you're not going to get something. I was very rough around the edges.

As a jobbing actor, I never get a script and go 'I can't be bothered with this.' Life doesn't work like that. For a movie star, maybe, but for a jobbing actor, that doesn't happen.

I'm not really an actress.

As an actress, I learned a long time ago that there is a lot of this business that is just out of my hands. All I can really focus on is going to work every day and doing my best.

If you're an actor, even a successful one, you're still waiting for the phone to ring.

My mother became a casting director, and she cast me in a soap opera called 'One Life to Live.' I was, like, 8 years old, playing a kid who had hurt himself on a skateboard. I had, like, three lines. I did the lines, and everybody in the studio applauded - I was immediately hooked after that. I was like, 'This is the life for me.'

I think that no number of rehearsals can guarantee the outcome of a live show.

When you're an actor, there are so many opportunities that are not in your control.

Like every actor, I am always on the lookout for interesting characters.

Being an actor is hard. It's so true... auditioning is literally our full-time job, and then, if we are so lucky to book the project were auditioning for, then that project is our play.

While I'm acting, I'm a professional, and then I don't break into cold sweat for whatsoever reason.

To be honest, I am scared of acting, and moreover, I want to be perfect on the musical stage first.

The acting life can be quite scary, really.

I talked to friends who are actors and who do Shakespeare loads, and they all said 'learn it so that your family wants to clobber you, they're so bored.' You can never relax, that's the problem, because when you do, a bit of Shakespeare comes up to bite your cheeky behind. It just does, if you're not really focused on it.