Richard Pryor Quotes

I take my time to get into the mindset of the character and say my lines. I really have to be the person that I am playing.

Acting is not acting. It isn't putting on a face and dancing around in a mask. It's believing that you are that character and playing him as if it were a normal day in the life of that character.

Even when you are playing someone who is real, you get their mannerisms and you get their little quirks, but, it still has to be something inside of you that connects with the role, or else you will not be any good.

But today I felt different, today I forgot how long it takes to get into the skin of a character and I remembered it, because today I actually got into that skin and it felt so different.

A performer needs to feel the part to be the part!

I love a mask. It's why I've got a thing about good writing. When you're acting, you're going into someone else's work. You're behind his words; it's not you.

Pain is pain, joy is joy - you can't avoid bringing pieces of yourself into a role.

When I do a character, I try to base it on someone I have met or an experience I've had.

I'm the kind of person who if I was playing the role of someone who got shot, I'd probably want to get shot so I knew what it felt like.

Yeah, I think the common denominator - and this is probably going to sound like Acting 101 - but the common denominator is belief in the character in the moment.

I like to try to make the characters I play be as human as possible.

The best advice my dad ever gave me is that acting is believing. Acting is not acting. It isn't putting on a face and dancing around in a mask. It's believing that you are that character and playing him as if it were a normal day in the life of that character.

I don't have any training as an actor, but I guess I'm an intense pretender. When you read something over and over, it gets into you a little bit. You can't help but begin to feel it, even if you're a healthy person as I think I am.

When you take on a role, even if the character is somebody that you are dissimilar to, you have to identify with the role and look for an emotional connection even if there is not a biographical one.

You don't really ever think you're that crazy person you're playing.

You have to believe that you are the character or the thing or whatever the hell you're playing.

I think that you have to find a piece of yourself in every role you play. If you don't believe what you're doing, you cannot expect anyone else to believe it.

When you are portraying somebody that has a very specific emotional weight, you feel like you're really starting to abandon your own body and go to someplace else.

I really believe in the characters I play.

You can't judge a character that you're playing, because then you're fighting against doing what the character's doing.

You've got to internalize the character. You've got to learn the words. These are separate things, but they work together.

You don't want to play a character you can't inhabit or commit to fully.

The closer a part is to you, the harder it is to play. Anything else is just imitation. If I'm playing a Russian countess, I get the hat, the accent, the outrageousness. Easy. Playing a murderess? Perfect.

There's a lot to be said for getting really comfortable in a character.

Getting in and out of a character takes its own time for me.