Genevieve Bujold Quotes

Sometimes I'll read a script and think, "That's not how humans behave," or "I don't understand how to do that and make it seem like I'm not some kind of strange alien or on a sitcom." I don't get it, and when I feel that way, I have to listen to my instinct.

I've been given lots of great advice, in my life. As an actor, just being as honest and as present as you can be.

When somebody is talking to you about something terrible on set with lines, and you believe what he says, sometimes it gives a strange vibe, because you wonder when that person is talking if he's talking about something that really happened to him and he's using the character.

In the moment of acting you don't feel like anything, you feel like the person, as much as you can.

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.

If I have no connection with the character, then it's all fake - it's just blah, blah, blah.

When you play a real person, you feel a sense of responsibility that obviously you don't feel when you're playing a fictional character.

The best way of successfully acting a part is to be it.

No matter what character your play. I feel like whenever anyone is honest and whole and well-written, you're going to be able to connect to that person because we're all kinda made up of the same stuff and I think that's always one of the really powerful things about approaching each individual character and role and film.

I used to need the character but as I've gotten older I need it less and less - I prefer to play some version of myself. To approach any acting job as me just being me.

There's a kind of acting that goes on in my head when I'm writing a character where I put myself in their place.

I believe acting truly is harnessing the power of belief.

I don't think there's a certain part of a character I take with me. There's a certain part of me I leave with each character, though.

As an actor, I function from a place of compassion and empathy - you have to believe 100 percent what your character is doing, because otherwise it will look like it's not real.

As an actor, I look at first what I can borrow from what I really feel.

If you're a good actor, then you channel enough of yourself into the character so that you do get that other thing.

I'm sure there's pieces of me in all the characters I play.

I surprised myself, that I was in the tissue of the character enough, that I could actually come up with something that I didn't actually feel or didn't believe.

I try to put myself into whatever character I play.

With any character, the main objective is to bring authenticity to the role.

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

I'm not saying that I am all of my characters, but for me to bring a character to life, you've got to be able to find your own truth.

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.

That's what acting is. You're pretending to be someone else.

You write who you are somehow. Even if you try to not to. You can't help but write who you are. I'm just not a very cynical person. I believe in the humanity of people, whether it is just the guys in 'The Full Monty' or Aron Ralston.