Elizabeth Banks Quotes

I got obsessed with impersonations: impersonating people that I knew - people, not famous people but people like my family. At first, it was just fun; it's always been just fun. But I sort of got to a point in maybe seventh or eighth grade where I started getting heavily involved in drama programs via programs in my high school.

Actors don't hate acting. Most people don't hate acting! Whether you're a child mucking around with your friends or a grown up being paid to be on a set, pretending to be other people is fun.

Some actors try to play parts and do things they can't do. Being funny is one of them. Being funny's hard.

I sort of consider myself a comedic actress, not a comedienne. I think it's different. You know, I'm not a stand-up or anything, but playing into comedic situations is sort of where, I think, my strength lies.

When I was at Upright Citizens Brigade, I would pretend to be a sad, drunk rapper.

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

Sometimes I think of movie acting as advanced pretend.

Acting is like free therapy! Trying to make people laugh or cry can be inspiring.

With any role, you're extending yourself and acting out things that never happened to you.

I always enjoy impersonating my characters in the first-person singular.

When it comes to the acting stuff, I like to show up for a couple days and kind of be outrageous and silly, and go back to my day job.

There's something about being any kind of entertainer that is acting. You have to put on a show. Things you wouldn't do in your life, you do on stage. You have to let go. And that's extra hard for rappers. We have a tendency to, quote unquote, keep it real. As an actor, you have to be able to humiliate yourself. Do whatever it takes.

As a child, acting just seemed like a natural extension of my love of play - and if you've forgotten how to play, you shouldn't be an actor.

For me, acting is play. It's just play and it's playing make believe really, really well.

I love to act because I love trying on other people's skin.

At a young age, acting was so inspiring and exciting, because to me it was play - make-believe, pretend.

My dad lived on Sunset Boulevard for a couple of years as a waiter, and he said he'd do a different character every time somebody sat down, just to get some practice.

To me acting originally became an extension of game playing.

I guess just a lively imagination is the best effort an actor can have.

As an actor, you always want to reach back to being a child and having the spontaneity and the imagination of a child.

If you're playing a character who says whatever he wants, I felt free to say whatever I wanted on set.

That's what's so great, I get to play any character in the world. And I think that's one of the things that makes doing 'Comedy Bang Bang' or other improv podcasts so fun, as well as my own, is that you can really explore a character deeply for a long period of time that is nothing like yourself.

I loved the idea of playing this naughty old bag, offering her own explanation. It's my idea of heaven.

What's great about acting is you can let all your wackiness hang out while you work.

I learned so much from Jane Lynch. She was the funniest and most talented person. She taught me so much about being a performer.