Joelle Carter Quotes

My school friends thought I was outgoing and bubbly, but that masked a lot of insecurities, and maybe that's the reason I chose drama - to build a bit of self-confidence. I had a great teacher, and I won a few speech and drama competitions and just fell in love with it.

I was terribly shy and never said anything in class. Then I started getting into school plays. When you've got words to say, you've got a sort of armour.

Acting is always therapeutic.

What's beautiful about the actual acting class environment is that you can use it to push through everything: push your voice, push your inhibitions, push your fears, push your confidence, push your vulnerability, push your silences.

I liked school, but I used to dread those moments when the teacher would call me up to give an oral report. I forced myself to deal with it and not dwell on the class in front of me - to keep a straight face, give the report and concentrate on getting it right. That's normally how I perform. That's how I am.

Being in an acting class, you always feel like, you know, you're insecure, a lot of ways, when the teacher is commenting on your performance.

Ventriloquism kind of helped me find my voice. It's really helped me come out of my shell.

At the Brooklyn Ethical Culture School, we learned to express ourselves, and I've been expressing myself ever since.

I think the more you do this and the more comfortable you become on stage, you start speaking more and becoming more of a character in yourself.

I have been blessed with roles that allow me to express something very personal at a specific time in my life. I seek them out; acting is my therapy.

Acting's not therapy, but it can be therapeutic.

As a kid, I was always very shy growing up - I wasn't very good at articulating my thoughts or my feelings. Now that I'm older, I found acting to do that. So it's been an amazing way to sort of express who I am.

Acting is therapeutic. I say I'm not shy, but... Acting is a very vulnerable experience, and you've got to be really confident to put yourself out there to be judged.

I think acting has helped me come out of my shell because when I play a character, I can't be self-conscious.

Acting allows me the freedom to let go, to be in the moment, to be spontaneous. I no longer have the fear of losing, of failure.

I become a better actor after I step on a stage in front of, like, 500 people when it's just me, a microphone and my guitar. You don't get as nervous walking into a room in front of 3 or 4 people and to do a scene or to walk on a set. You gain confidence.

Take a microphone out of my hands, and I'm just plain folks.

In acting class, I used to hide in the corner and pray the teacher wouldn't call on me.

The first thing you have to get used to in any kind of acting is the ability to make a fool of yourself. If you haven't learnt how to make a fool of yourself, you shouldn't be on the boards. That's absolutely what it's all about.

Even my family laughed at me because they thought this young guy who's always stuttering in front of other people should be in front of 100 musicians and talk to them and leading them.

I take improv classes. Improv is something I can use in any aspect of life.

I found at an early age the times when I learned the most about myself was when I got thrown out there on a stage in front of a microphone when you didn't really want to be out there, where you're kind of afraid.

I was so afraid to even read a paper in front of my classmates. It is very funny because at that point my teachers would never have believed that I could speak in front of an audience of over 2,000 people.

What I learned is that acting is to a large extent about trying to stave off self-doubt long enough to be natural and real onstage.

One good thing about acting in film is that it's good therapy.