Ben Chaplin Quotes

The more I love the character, the harder it is to get it wrong. I have to get to a point that I can speak for them.

I usually don't find myself reacting to my characters. I just create them ... And let the audience decide whether they're empathetic or scared or compelled to cheer me on.

I get to play characters that kind of shock people and I enjoy doing that. I like characters that have meaning and get people in the heart. I want to be able to get people to cry or make people angry or sad.

Once you're playing someone, you shouldn't be judging them in any way. That's what being an actor is - it's having empathy for people that are different from yourself. Once you've committed to that person, your responsibility is to tell that story.

If I wasn't an actor, I never would have known who Debbie Gallagher was. I never would know how her feelings are or how her emotions are, or her family.

If we get caught up in a story, it's because we've started to care about the characters, and that can only happen if we've moved beneath the surface.

I just try not to look at any role as a comedic role or a dramatic role. I just try to stay in the movie I'm in.

In terms of the character itself, I can't really say that I find anything really difficult. I enjoy the character so much I don't perceive difficulty in trying to be him. It's just a matter of how do we get there.

I get pretty attached to the majority of the characters I play. I can't help myself.

As an actor, that's the best thing you can do, really take people along on a story and tell them something.

In the process of developing a character, you do, in fact, start to take him on as a personality.

I don't care about sympathy. I care about playing a character who's understandable and clear.

I think when you play a role, you always have to be a defense attorney for that character.

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.

As an actor, you can have your opinions, but our responsibility is telling the point of view of this one character.

As an actor, you don't really have a say or a voice in what the conversation of the show is going to be. So, as an actor, I'm just trying to make sense of why the character is making these choices, and somehow, in that way, you can sympathize or root, at least not detest, what this person is doing. That's, at least, my job in telling that story.

I liken every character that I do to a relationship that you're in.

I always find something in all the characters I play. I fall in love with them a little bit.

I try and find a way to love every character I play.

I love acting and really taking on another person, another life.

That's why I enjoy acting: getting in the mind of someone else.

You have to like the characters you play.

I feel like there are things I can relate to in every character. But I feel like when you read a script, you don't get to see the definition behind someone, you just get to read what the person goes through and find a place to come from to make it real.

Being an actor myself I realize that all actors believe they are qualified to play any role. If you showed me a script with a black woman character I would tell you that I could do it. That is what we do. We act as if we are someone else.

I usually can find a way to do a character to make it real and work. But sometimes it's a struggle sustaining that, because there's such a level of personal involvement and personal, physical, and emotional distraughtness.