Tommy Chong Quotes

I just play him as myself, I don't ease myself into any role really. I stick a beard on and play me.

As an actor, I think it's always important to separate yourself from your characters because, when you include yourself in a character, you're taking a liberty that you don't really have unless you're life is that incredibly close to the character.

I do whatever I need to do to get into character. Sometimes it's being incredibly quiet, and sometimes it's being loose and goofy.

I think substitution is a huge part of acting, but I don't personalise my work that much.

When you are developing a character you have to bring so much of yourself to the role.

You draw on whatever's relevant to the part you're playing; it makes it more personal.

I tend to - every time I step onto the set until the time I go back to the hotel, I just try to be in character all the time.

I wouldn't say I'm a Method actor, but there are times where a role will require you to live in their world.

The actor is there to translate what's on the page onto the stage or the screen. So I find it important that an actor manages to actually get out of the way, vanish as a person behind the character, never to be seen or talked about again. That's my philosophy.

I don't think I've ever watched a movie to prepare for a role.

You've got to bring yourself to any character you do.

I believe in method acting. Whenever I'm working on a character, I start behaving like him. I start doing these things which the character would normally do. Maybe that's the way I function as an actor, and I believe in it. And that's how I try and portray a character.

I think, for every actor, the most challenging part of playing a character, specially a real-life character, is to convince yourself that you are the character.

When you watch me on the screen, you should not be able to recognise me. If people say, you're a natural and an organic actor, that's an insult. If you're being yourself all the time on screen, that means you don't know how to act.

I do enter into character on set, but I can step out of it.

I never do roles, I play people.

I never improvise. I create the character and transform into it.

When becoming a character, you have to steal. Steal whatever you see. You can even steal from other actors' characterizations; but if you do, only steal from the best.

I'm certainly not one of those actors who remain in a dark place the entire time in order to be doing the scene. I sort of come in and out of it. It can be to the detriment of my performance sometimes!

For the 'Riddick' character, I try to get as ruthless as possible, and I want to be a machine.

I guess because I pay so much attention to the physical part of the character, I don't look upon it as like Charlize Theron up there. I don't think of them as like Charlize Theron films.

All my characters are me. I'm not a good enough actor to become a character. I hear about actors who become the role and I think 'I wonder what that feels like.' Because for me, they're all me.

I guess I'm probably a Method actor; I don't know... I just think of it as staying in the zone.

I had an acting teacher tell me once that if you're playing a car salesman, you don't want to be an OK car salesman, you want to play the best car salesman.

In acting class, teachers talk about how the 'givens' of a situation help define a character.