Lesley Manville Quotes

I think people who are regarded as better actors must have better instincts because, at the end of the day, once they say 'action,' it's you who has to do it right. You can do all the research and preparation or none at all, but it's your instincts that tell you, 'No, I'll do it like this.'

As an actor, you have to have your history.

I love to prepare for my roles.

The girls in 'Downton Abbey' do what they do so well, which is make it so natural despite the fact that you're living within these constraints and taking so much from the research aspect of it.

I'm not the kind of actor who goes into exhaustive research for each role.

I'm the sort of actor who likes to talk about what we're going to do.

One of the joys about acting is researching.

Theater is the most enriching and thrilling thing to do as an actor.

I think that different actors go about their preparation differently, but when it comes to acting, I use my imagination.

I'm an actor's director. I love it when talented actors can bring characters to life.

It's fatal to talk about acting. It sounds faintly ridiculous if you start analysing it.

All the things you can do to prepare for a role that free you, in the moment, are great. You have this muscle memory for things. You don't have to act it as much, once you've done it enough.

If I have an audition, I go to the audition in character. I'm in character when I walk in the room. I mean, I'm still sweet to everyone, but I'm very much the character.

My first love is acting on stage. A sitcom is a hybrid of stage and film.

I think my best teacher and my best study was theater in general. It taught me a lot of patience and a lot of hard work, and I think that theater teaches you that you've got to know your stuff because you only get one chance.

As an actor, my background is in the theater and I feel that my strong suit is period work, but I actually didn't do much of it at all, until the last three or four years. I'm loving it!

It's important to do research. I do that in every play, every actor does.

On some level, acting is the art of pretend, and you have to have a highly cultivated sense of imagination. You have to be able to see things that aren't there, no matter what aspect of acting, whether it's green screen, whether it's on stage, whether it's anything else, whether you're working on the radio.

I think acting is a gift.

It's funny, because I was trained as a dramatic actor at New York's Colonnades Theater Lab in the '70s, along with Jeff Goldblum, Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman. People I worked with there saw a comedian in me. I'm still most at home in comedy.

Anyone who has been given the gift of being opposite an actor who gives and gives, it just makes you better.

If I were to play somebody who ran a fish and chip shop, I would not work in a fish and chip shop for three months. Staring at chips is not going to help me in my performance.

So what's so enticing about doing a play is that you get to do that thing that got you into acting in the first place... There's a real attraction to being able to play, to just play. And that's something that theater affords you.

Making a film or doing a play are completely different experiences and entirely fulfilling, but completely unique. I also think one complements the other. People often say that theater is about flexing your muscles, and is actually real acting, whereas I sort of disagree.

I think one of the mistakes actors make is we're so focused on what we're going to say.