Melissa Leo Quotes

The characters I've played as an actress have been really challenging and emotionally rewarding, but there was just something missing. I was finding over and over again that directors were looking to me to help with troubles on set as far as characters' relationships, special effects and story points were concerned.

I've been planted here to be a vessel for acting... That's why I'm really taking any part, regardless of how complicated it's going to be.

At this point, I'm happy to be part of something special. As an actor I liked to choose scripts that I'm passionate about.

Once I found acting and found that I could get away with it and make a living out of it, I was thrilled.

'Swimming Pool' was a very important moment for me because the character was written for me.

I am an actor through and through.

Acting is something I appreciate, and I think it's been an amazing experience. But I'm not passionate about acting the way you probably should be to call yourself an actor.

I love the process of acting, and to turn your passion into a career is the biggest gift.

While I find my job as an actor challenging, I also think that there's fun in that challenge.

I get to meet fantastic people, and I get to go through so many emotions. For me, I have a craving for that. When I'm acting, I feel great. It's not to be famous.

Acting means living, it's all I do and all I'm good at. If I weren't getting paid well, I would still be acting in a small troupe somewhere.

I love acting. When I'm acting I feel like I'm on vacation. I'm just having a wonderful time. The nightmare is just getting the work to happen.

I love acting because you don't have to do the same thing over and over again, every day, and that's what attracted me to wanting to do this for a living. So to be given an opportunity to create something completely different and live that out is the dream. It's incredibly rewarding.

I think that there's not much point to being an actor if you're not enjoying it, so I try to be picky about roles I do like to go out for.

Playing Juliet in 'Heavenly Creatures' changed my life, and the role of Clementine in' Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' opened many new doors creatively.

The amount of effort and energy that goes into being an actor is something that I can't compare to anything else.

I speak for myself... I am here to tell stories. I'm here to be an actor and not a superstar. If, in the process, that ends up happening, great. But that's not my endgoal.

It's a great experience as an actor to just work loads all the time. Constantly getting through material.

I love acting as a passion. It's something that is really fulfilling to me. But the core of it, which is one of its most difficult aspects, is that it's commission-based.

I spent a lot of time doing really unimportant work as an actor. It was important when I started writing that I obviously make it entertaining, or no one is going to go see it - but to really make you think, that is my goal.

That's the great thing about being an actor: getting the opportunity to do something that really speaks to you.

I've spent a lot of my career playing heroes, like Jared in 'The Pretender,' but playing part of a dysfunctional family is more interesting.

That's my job as an actor - to go on and try to do the work so subtle and so fine and specific that the memories will linger for a long time.

I was born to be an actor and I haven't exhausted myself in this particular field.

The biggest reason for me to take up Naagin 4' was that I have never attempted something like this.