Joaquin Phoenix Quotes

Before I go on stage I pretend that everyone loves me.

I can never remember being afraid of an audience. If the audience could do better, they'd be up here on stage and I'd be out there watching them.

I can sing in front of people. I can go on a TV show, live, and not feel like I'm going to throw up.

I'm hideously shy as myself, but on stage I can run around naked and bite the heads off fish.

I think maybe even one of the reasons I became an actor was actually to hide. I mean, it sounds paradoxical because, of course, people are standing up in a public place and encouraging other people to look at them. So that's not the conventional definition of hiding.

Performing in front of a live audience can be pretty intimidating, so having a full head of hair was important to me.

My first-night jitters are so bad, I can't even hold a tea cup, but once I am over that, I get really into it.

I finally felt that I came into my own when I went on the stage.

Nobody was listening when I learned how to play music. But there's something about being on stage, talking to the audience, looking at them and smiling, that's always been difficult for me. I'm a lot more comfortable now, but there are still moments of awkwardness.

It took me a long time to be alright with smiling onstage.

In a strange way, I'm way more comfortable onstage than anywhere else.

I'm very shy, and I shy away from people. But the moment I hit the stage, it's a different feeling I get nerve from somewhere; maybe it's because it's something I love to do.

Confronting a stadium audience, you can't see the whites of their eyes. It's just an amorphous mass of noise and, of course, you can't see the alleged billions watching at home either, so the degree to which you are intimidated is quite low.

Strangely enough I'm better on a stage. I love that I feel like I blossom in front of a whole bunch of people.

Every three days on average, I am alone on stage, facing the public.

At school, people would say I should go on 'Britain's Got Talent,' but I would never have done that because it doesn't seem genuine; it doesn't feel natural.

If I walk out onstage and I get a warm, excited response, it makes me feel so confident and happy, and then it's so easy for me up there.

When I was doing 'Britain's Got Talent,' I really enjoyed it, but I found it very difficult to be in the audience. I like to be on stage; I feel safer on stage because I'm in control.

I don't think one should be comfortable standing on a stage with people applauding and laughing at every stupid thing you say.

I found at an early age the times when I learned the most about myself was when I got thrown out there on a stage in front of a microphone when you didn't really want to be out there, where you're kind of afraid.

The first night was awful because I was so afraid, and I was never more afraid because it was going out of my character to be outgoing and to be vulnerable and to be out there and onstage. My hands were sweaty and I couldn't swallow, and I drank a bottle of wine to calm my nerves.

In social situations, when I'm surrounded by people, I become very shy. But if there's a camera in front of me, I feel free.

I'm nervous performing because it's such a weird thing to do, standing on stage demanding people's attention.

Being on 'America's Got Talent' has really helped me expand my self-confidence on the stage and anywhere - I'm more comfortable, and it's just really helped, and I'm glad about that.

I want to say things on stage that I wouldn't have the guts to say in conversation.