Brian J. Smith Quotes

Anytime you get to work with an actor who is beyond you in experience and talent, I feel like they make you a better actor. You really bring up your game.

Emerging actors know there's a whole lot to learn each time they are spending with someone who's done a lot.

It was a dream come true working with Johnny Depp. He's always been my acting idol. Working with him and watching him work taught me a lot as an actor. He's very down to earth and a lot of fun to hang out with.

I always tell younger actors that if they want to learn the ropes, there's no better place to do it than right here in the U.K.

I believe that you become a better actor only when you work with people far better than you are.

I am more than glad to take tips from experienced actors.

I'm the type of actor that, if I'm not filming something, I'm in class.

I don't think I can call myself an actress yet. I just don't think my skill level is that high. I hope that with every job it gets better. But until I'm good, I can say I'm trying to be an actor, but I don't think I've completely made it.

There are definitely roles within this industry that are industry-related, but to be a good actor, you really have to want to act first. At the same time, my goal was never to go to Hollywood to make movies. I think if you come here with that attitude, then you've missed a few steps.

I just want to keep acting and better my craft and see how far it goes.

Every actor you learn from, take something from everyone - big actor or not. Whether they're big movie stars or not doesn't really matter.

One of the reasons why I went to the Yale School of Drama is because I felt that I was acting off of instinct, but sometimes that is not reliable. When you're not feeling it, what do you do? So, going to grad school was about getting the tools to just use my instrument to the best of my ability.

I want to keep on progressing. I definitely think acting is a long process to be one of the greats like Morgan Freeman or Jack Nicholson.

I went to acting school, but only for nine months. If you're an actor, you know, don't really need to learn how to do it.

Good acting is good acting, however you learn it. Some people who haven't studied are amazing. Some people like Leonardo DiCaprio are naturally gifted - he's learned technique by working with people early on.

When you're starting out as an actor, you keep raising the stakes. First, you just want to be a character who comes on stage and gets a laugh or two and exits. Just five minutes on a stage, not even Broadway. But every time you say your little prayer at night, you place more demands.

But it is a hard, it's a hard profession teaching acting.

'Evening Shade' was such an eye-opening experience. I was 19 when I went on that show. I had barely had an acting class. So as Burt Reynolds continued to bring me back for the next three years, I learned so much from him and all the other legends that were on the show.

Of course, in later years, I'd studied acting more than ever before - mostly with the late Stella Adler, who was marvelous! - but in my earlier years, I couldn't afford to do this.

I like the acting. It's how I started, and I sort of feel that if I don't give it a little shot now, and I go back, then I'm pretty much done with it. I mean, at what age am I going to do it at? Although, when you see Christopher Plummer and Max von Sydow doing it, I guess the answer is 80.

I did some acting in high school and then a little more in college, and it just was the thing that I felt that I wanted to do more than anything else. And then I was fortunate enough to audition for and get into Yale Drama School right after college, and I spent three years there.

I'm a terrible actor. I'm still learning. When I first started, I wish I knew then to trust myself more, really. I was in a terrible panic in the early part of my career.

Before acting offers came by, I dabbled in theatre under the aegis of the late thespian Dinesh Thakur. He was instrumental in honing my acting skills.

Everyone's amazed by the question that how did I succeed as an actor in the industry, which has Kamal Haasan? It's because I grew as an actor watching Kamal's acting.

I grew as an actor just by watching Kamal Haasan acting. I had the good fortune of being able to observe Kamal Haasan from close quarters.