Marianne Elliott Quotes

I'm my own most merciless critic onstage.

I had such high expectations of myself. I was going to be the best mother, the best housewife, the best entertainer, the best nurse, you know - what it was, I was going to be the best. And I could never live up to my expectations.

Right through to the end of the last World Cup game, I still couldn't bear the thought of not being perfect or letting people down.

Writing on assignment, with lots of money handed to you before you even began, got very scary for me. My dread of not being perfect, something I got from a childhood surrounded by powerful, successful people, began to infect everything I wrote.

Perfectionism attaches to what is valued in the culture.

Dance is such a stressful environment.

I want to be perfect. I don't want to fail. And you always fail.

It's often out of my own insecurity. If I'm picky, it's for that reason. I want to be able to bring my best to the table. So if I'm not connecting to something, then I'm not gonna hold up my end of the bargain, and that's really embarrassing.

During those years with the Iron Maidens, I felt I had to be great and really prove myself at every single show.

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

Unless I can do myself justice and play well, I'm not going to play.

Being the headliner is only more pressure if you're not very good.

I've always been really hard on myself. If I didn't book a job, I would cry.

I was shying away from acting for the longest time - because of having such big shoes to fill.

Even though I don't feel I need approval, it's still important to me to give a good performance. I'm hard on myself.

My parents were amazing and wonderful, but there was a lot of pressure to do my best and in every way possible.

The relentless pursuit of perfection has been my problem over the years. It's maybe held me back.

When I was a teenager, my dad used to put a lot of pressure on me to be successful, and I'd really beat myself up about things like losing martial arts competitions.

I think I failed miserably on NewsRadio. I was very nervous because of the caliber of the cast - especially Dave Foley - so I think I did a terrible job.

In the old days, variety turns like me learned how to cope with failure - we all had nights when we 'died' on stage - but today's youngsters simply don't have that experience. For them, it really is instant make or break time - hence, all the tears and, hence, all the potential emotional damage.

Everyone's set the bar really high and expects me to be brilliant.

I'm so hard on myself. I play these sketches in my computer for friends and they say 'Gee whiz, the vocal's beautiful.' I hear, 'It needs to be better.'

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

As far as I can tell, most actors' main motivation is self-doubt and neuroses.

A lot of times, in the beginning of my career, I put pressure on myself just because I wanted to perform so well. I just wanted to be perfect.