Lauren Lee Smith Quotes

I'm always looking for a chance to play somebody who's completely opposite of me, just because I find it more interesting.

I always wanted to do dramas. Ever since I was young, I wanted to be in a role where I could play a prostitute or a drug addict, because it's nice to be able to portray someone who is so far from you, which I love.

You have to be brave and not always play likeable people. It's difficult, because there's a demand for the hero or heroine to be very likeable.

I'm not a dark person at all, so those roles are the most challenging. I don't think I'm necessarily drawn to dark things. It just seems to work out that way.

While I'd like to make movies that are uplifting, there's always that part of you that goes, 'I want to play the evil guy because it's not me.' So anything that is not me is a challenge, and if I rise to the challenge, then I've kind of proved myself.

It's really rare to come across a character, a show, or a movie that allows you to completely play four or five different characters within a season, let alone a week.

My job is to take out the negativity from a positive guy and take out the positivity from a negative guy. I don't play positive or negative roles. This is what I find fascinating about acting.

To go from playing a character that was so self-assured, so mature beyond her years, and so kick-ass and ruthless to someone who's quite normal is interesting.

I try to keep things as varied as possible in my career, and after playing something as fun and over the top as Maryann on 'True Blood,' I wanted to find something antithetical to that.

Acting is an art form and you want to take roles that are challenged and it's more of a challenge I think to play dark characters. Not that I want to always play those, but it is a challenge and challenges are rewarding and fun.

I love playing characters who are opposite of who I am.

I would like to, especially in film, play against type and do some heavier stuff. I'm intrigued by projects that deal with problematic people and things.

With 'Richard,' I was excited to make this film with such an amazing role for an actor. Play a wide range of emotion and really invest myself in the character.

I'd love to play a villain in a movie, the kind of bad guy you would never think of me being able to play. Like most people, I have a darker side I'd like to explore onscreen.

As actors, we want to choose somebody who has conflicts. I can't be always playing the girl next door. What's the challenge in that?

The chance to play a character with a split personality is an actor's dream.

I'm only really interested in taking a part if it's nothing like me.

I'd rather play a character that was really, really different to me as to someone who is quite close to my character.

I think that's what I really liked about Narc: My character has a real operatic range in a way that older movies used to have.

I find that comedy is my specialty, but drama is slowly starting to move up in that rank. I've always liked playing a character that has depth and that I'm able to bring my own niche to.

Basically, I only play one character; I just play him at different volumes.

For me, I need to be able to show up on set and fart around and goof around. If I can have that, when I'm not acting, then when I'm acting I can go however deep and dark and bad I need to. I developed that more with 'Breaking Bad' because I've never worked on anything as dark for as long.

I am fine playing 'Law & Order' and even the 'Jurassic' movies to be straight up, as far as the characters being portrayed there, but I never want to stay in straight-up land too long. I always wanted to do something where the character's world gets to be explored.

You do 'New Girl,' you play a character like Schmidt, you crave as an actor afterwards to just do something different.

That straight man character is a short trip between comedy and drama in a project, so I can play the comedic beat on the same page as a dramatic beat. It gives me a lot of freedom as an actor to play scenes in multiple ways because I don't play the clown, nor do I play someone who is particularly maudlin.