Jennifer Jason Leigh Quotes

I'm terribly afraid of failure. When your identity is wrapped up in writing and you've written something that doesn't work, it's a tough pill to swallow.

I still believe that at any time the no-talent police will come and arrest me.

It's good for actors to confront those things we have to act: panic, pain and death.

Acting touches nerves you have absolutely no control over.

I think everyone shares a fear of failure - that you're only as good as your most recent collection. That's definitely a fear, but it's a fear that fuels me, that makes me want to work harder, that makes me take on more challenges.

As a young performer, I didn't know that you can have a great time playing someone in terrible crisis. The more you know it's not real, the deeper you can go into it. And the easier it is to let it go when it's done.

The main thing as a director, you always want to have a bit of a worry about the material you're going to get yourself into. You want to be a bit scared of it so that you have that excitement of having to climb the mountain.

A lot of young directors, they're not confident; they're not open to the emotional level of the scene.

Each new film is like a trial. Before I step in front of the camera, I do not know whether I am going to fall or whether I am going to fly - and that is exactly the way I want it to stay.

Here's probably a short answer - I never feel in this piece that I'm stepping out and being Andrea Martin. I always feel like I'm Golde, so whatever Golde would do within those realms, that's what I would do.

You always have these moments when projects are over when you wonder if you'll ever work again. In the end, what it comes down to is that it's a fine line between becoming too enamored of your own success and maintaining the confidence to do what you do and do it well. That's the line every actor, if they're lucky, has to walk.

No great art has ever been made without the artist having known danger.

I'm often reading a magazine and hearing about someone's new record, and I think, 'Oh, boy, that's gonna be better than me.' It's a very common thing.

If you don't have a certain amount of stage fright, then it's not going to be that interesting. It's not going to have the inner vibration. I think screen work needs inner vibration.

With drama, you need to be laughing, in between takes, 'cause you're going to those recesses of your soul and those dangerous parts. Normally, if you're not an actor or some crazy artist, you don't feel the need to run around in those areas. You keep them separate because it's painful.

I think all parts come with baggage unless it is a brand new play. If one was daunted by that, you would never do anything.

It's a phobia I have. I never assume I'm going to be able to write another album after I finish one.

You know the actor's nightmare is getting up onstage and not being prepared? I think the writer's nightmare is giving a reading and somebody standing up and saying, 'That's not your story.'

I think, in any profession, what you fear most is not being able to perform, about not being able to meet new challenges. The fear of non-acceptance, particularly if in creative art. What happens if the audiences do not like you anymore!

There's one thing now that I experience every day when I'm making a film. I get up and think to myself, 'Am I going to be able to do it today?' I figure as long as I have that fear, I'll be alright.

Sometimes in an audition, I'll genuinely do something I know they're not going to like.

The honest truth is - and I have felt this way forever - is my largest competitor is myself. Always. I am intimidated by my own hang-ups about acting more so than anything, any part, any director.

There's something so naked about being on stage as a musician. I think about that even with standup comedy or something - like, 'This is it, this is what I got.'

I put out one album one week, and I'm already worried about the next one. I feel a lot of emotion throughout the course of a day. But not to the point where you need to be worried about me.

I'm scared each time I start a movie, believe me. There's always a moment of panic when you're not sure if you're going to be able to meet the deadline.