Judi Dench Quotes

I think singing and acting go hand in hand. Take an R&B singer: one song says, 'I love you,' the next is, 'Baby, don't leave me', the next is, 'If you leave me I don't care.' You have to drop in and out of different perspectives.

Acting is a lot easier than people think it is.

In some ways, I've always approached singing as acting, and the voice is just like a way of carrying the song.

I know I'm an opera singer, but we're actors, too.

When an actor sings a song, he will be able to bring forth the emotion in it much better than a playback singer.

Acting keeps me alert to people, and life. I don't know, there's something about going to work early in the morning, and having to stay alert and concentrated. Maybe that keeps your mind alive.

I've been in front of the camera a million times as a musician, and even directed a few music videos. So, I know a lot about spacing, focus, blocking, etcetera. So, acting isn't totally new for me. Still, I find it fascinating, because you actually get to be another person.

Theatrical times are different from concert times, to put it simply. Taking a figure like [Mahatma] Gandhi and setting him on a stage requires thinking about what theater is about and what the whole experience is about and what we're trying to communicate in that way, so you get into certain less abstract considerations.

I think acting is a mixture of instinct, imagination and inventiveness. All you can learn as an actor is basic technique.

Everything that you do is a challenge. And acting is just building up your concentration and being able to listen and to do the ridiculous.

In stand up, you get an awareness of how you come across, but in acting there is almost a hyper-awareness on how you might be physically perceived.

I guess at a certain point you think, well, singing is singing and acting is acting.

The more you're able to understand how to do a good dramatic performance, that can inform your comedy. It all informs one another. And it keeps everything interesting.

The actor must know that since he, himself, is the instrument, he must play on it to serve the character with the same effortless dexterity with which the violinist makes music on his. Just because he doesn't look like a violin is no reason to assume his techniques should be thought of as less difficult.

I'm definitely not a dancer. I can move well, but it's more about the acting and the singing for me. Acting and singing are completely different, so I can't say which one I love better because I love them both. I love acting because I get to play different characters. But I also love my music because I get to portray me.

The basic laws of good acting are the same, but everything about the experience is different-your job responsibility, the time you spend on it.

I think when you have to train an accent, it just takes you absolutely into another spectrum of the character.

Sometimes I think of movie acting as advanced pretend.

An actor is somebody who communicates someone else's words and emotions to an audience. It's not me. It's what writers want me to be.

As actors, you do have to be aware of your audience. You can't act in a vacuum, even if that audience isn't exactly present with you.

That's what I love about acting, is playing different roles. I want to work for the character, and not make it work for me.

In theater, you're playing characters. You believe you're somebody else, and you're acting.

Musical theater is great; you get painted up, you get to play princesses and witches, and you sing. The joy alone of that can really carry a lot.

In film, you're always using your tools, your body, your voice, your emotions, but onstage, you use them in a different way.

I'm an actor and my job is to interpret.