John Cassavetes Quotes

You give, actually, what you have in your inner world through your emotion and feeling. That's what you can give; it's not so much about "acting" in a sense of playing something that's very different to you.

There's times when I'm really shy, so these roles that I get to play, they're how I would love to really be. And that's why I love doing stand-up, because it gives me the freedom to say what I really want to say. I think that's why it's my favorite thing to do.

Weirdly enough, I don't like to pretend. I try to use things in me, and translate them into the situation and the characters, so it always needs to run through my own veins.

Even if the role is very far away from me, to try and make it as nakedly me as possible is an intriguing notion.

I feel what I sing, and I sing what I feel. Really, that's all I can do.

The secret to acting is don't act. Be you, with add-ons.

I don't really like 'acting' - I like things to feel as natural as possible.

I've never been about just trying to do what works. I've been about trying to authentically express how I feel.

As an actor, I draw from myself.

I think, a lot of times, the mistake in music - even rappers that are trying to be big time - if you're broke, rap about being broke. If you're sensitive, rap about being sensitive, 'cause there are other sensitive people. If you're sensitive, but you talk about being a tough person that doesn't care about anything, people will call your bluff.

I think there's a little bit of idiot in everybody and I think some people cover it better than others but I think I am very much a guy who wears his heart on his sleeve.

When you are just you, without thinking or trying to say something special, just saying what is on your mind and how you feel, then there is naturally self-respect.

The thing about any character is that you want to be sincere.

A lot of us are too busy focusing on what we think people want to hear, as opposed to just saying what's in our hearts.

I think a lot of people don't wear their hearts on their sleeves. I think people should, but a lot of people don't. People may be a bit taken back sometimes about how honest I am and how open I am. But I'm happier this way - it's a good thing for me.

The most significant piece of advice my father gave me early on about acting was, don't get caught acting. Really believe in what you're doing and then commit to it. Even if it feels uncomfortable, even if you feel that you're gonna look like an ass. It's all acting, but find the truth in a moment as opposed to just pretending you have and rather than trying to act your way out of it.

Ah just act the way ah feel.

I love showing up and giving a performance without the benefit of a lot of rehearsal or dissection. It's fun to me to act on a kind of instinctual level and go straight for the performance.

Sort of what you do in drama school when asked to play something way out of your reach. Anyway, we used to laugh a lot about that. I used to say I'm not going to act old, Penelope. I'll just be myself.

The more room you give yourself to express your true thoughts and feelings, the more room there is for your wisdom to emerge.

Not that my life has been so crazy and exciting but, it just seems like if I can bring more of myself to the role. It's going to help keep it spontaneous and exciting, instead of thinking in terms of this box of a human that I have to slip myself into every week, which I tend to do more when I'm shooting a movie. On a television show, this is all kind of still new to me, doing many episodes of something, so I want to try to keep it as fresh and close to home as possible, so it doesn't get stale and I still like it every day.

I don't think I'm singing. I feel like I'm playing a horn...What comes out is what I feel.

I think talent, especially in acting, is being wholly yourself within the context of yourself.

Vulnerability is a loaded word, and it can off-putting and terrifying to people. The best moment of my life (and by the way, this actually wasn’t a single moment) was when I realized that I no longer give a damn about what anybody thinks. What you'd talk about as vulnerability, I'd talk about as simply being true to yourself.

My ultimate goal is to try to be real. It just so happens that I'm usually more happy than sad when I'm writing. And in general I think that life is pretty great, and it's cool to be here, so that comes through in my music. I don't have a dismal outlook, but I don't aim to make positive music. It's just what I am.