Rei Kawakubo Quotes

At every premiere, I stand in the back, I never sit, worrying. And then maybe I hear them laugh or whatever, and the muscles unclench a little. But always, I feel like it's a fluke, that I'll never be able to do it again.

Well, I think again, the worst part of it was just leading up to it, before we got on set, at least for me... dreading this idea that I was just going to suck and I really had strong feelings about that. I just didn't want to be that weak link.

I know when I am on stage and I'm kind of on the right track - hopefully most of the time. But a lot of time I'm not.

Lack of confidence - every time I start a new piece of work, it seems I have to spend a long while under the duvet thinking I can't do it.

For the first six or eight months at Juilliard I felt paralysed. I didn't know what I was doing.

I get so antsy. When you're working, you're like, 'Oh my God, I'm so tired.' And then a hiatus starts, and you're off for three days, and you don't know what to do with yourself. You're never gonna have another job in your life, and you suck at acting. Your world comes tumbling down pretty quickly.

Sometimes I feel I have no idea what I'm doing as an actor. I just did a tape for the TV remake of 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show,' and I think it could be the worst thing I've ever done.

I'm hugely negative, so if a joke doesn't land it takes me a long time to get over it. If something doesn't go well I go dark in my head. Basically I start thinking it should be illegal for me to be doing comedy.

When I leave a recording session, there is usually a lot of paranoia or superstition on my part, like I'm afraid to hear what we've done.

I wasn't much good. When I went into the line on a fake - I would holler 'I don't have it!'

Every time I do a play, it's as if I've never done one before. I'm always confused. I always am convinced I'm going to be fired. I'm like, 'I don't remember how to act. I don't know how to do this.' And, it's just a very slow process, and then, all of a sudden, it's just there one day. I still don't understand how it happens.

I don't write well when I'm sitting there sweating about every single phrase.

I was wracked with insecurity.

I was kind of scared of failing at acting.

Every single time I start to do a picture, without fail, I feel as if I don't know what I'm doing.

Actors are no strangers to self-doubt, fear, and rejection.

If you feel uncomfortable on stage, you can very easily descend into a sort of abyss, convinced you're the worst actor ever, that you're a disgrace to the profession, that you're a disgrace to yourself. It's an awful feeling.

I get stage fright and gremlins in my head saying: 'You're going to forget your lines'.

You have that moment just before you go on - I've had it in every play - where you just kind of want to run away. There's a whole audience, and they are waiting outside, and you're like, 'Why am I doing this again? Why? Why?'

I'm always so sick of myself after a show.

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

Stage fright is not a thing about 'Am I any good?' It's about 'Am I gonna be good tonight?' It's a right-now thing. It helps me. If I went out there thinkin', 'Eh, we'll go slaughter 'em,' I'm positive something would go seriously wrong.

For years, I was often afraid to speak up when I didn't fully understand a script. I'd tie myself in knots.

I am not comfortable telling people I am trying stand-up because to me that implies confidence. I'm - well, I'm not.

I'm just terrible at auditions. I don't know how anyone does it.