Aaron Stanford Quotes

In every character you play, as much as you hate to admit it as an actor, but there's an element of you that you bring to it. Either the character helps you discover that element of you or the other way around, where that element of you helps you discover the character.

I don't categorize characters into one syllable. These are fully-rounded characters that I don't judge; I just play them.

I think Ada in 'The Piano' is the most interior character I've ever had the chance to play, either on the stage or in anything I've done for film or TV.

None of the characters I've played are really like me. That would be boring. That wouldn't be acting.

In every character you play, as much as you hate to admit it as an actor, but there's an element of you that you bring to it.

Good acting comes from finding the essence of a character.

As an actor, you always want to find a piece of who you are in every role you take on.

I guess every character has a little bit of the actor - I guess for every character you play, the actor has to allow a little bit of their own character to show through.

Actors pull from their own experiences to bring reality to the characters. I wouldn't want to play someone who's a lot like me. There would be no turning it on or off.

I think that you can sort of have your own personal journey and you know, you can just kind of apply that to whatever characters you're playing.

Sometimes when you're playing a very intense character, a disturbed character, you find other layers. That's much more interesting to me, rather than just playing 'intense.' I find it too boring.

There's a wonderful adage in acting that you're stuck with the character, but the character is also stuck with you.

As an actor, you can't just imitate someone. You have to get under her skin.

Any actor would love to just pick up a script and be like, 'I can connect to this person, and I can see myself playing him.'

I don't really get a buzz from playing characters that are similar to me 'cause that's not acting to me.

I never do roles, I play people.

I appreciate actors who work very hard to get at the truth of the character they're playing. That speaks to me, and I try to protect that process because I value the focus and intention behind it.

Well, as an actor, at least from my standpoint, I can't not like who I'm playing.

I think it's necessary to identify with anything - with any character you play, there's got to be something in common, so you can link up to that person, even if it's like one tiny thing. But it's equally fun to play somebody completely different, and trying to find what that thing is to make it.

As an actor, I'm constantly striving to find the darkness in the lighter characters and the lightness in the darker characters.

For me, I'm always looking for the opportunity for a character that challenges me and lets me play two for the price of one.

As long as you have the acting chops and the desire to get inside a character, you can play anything.

As an actor, you're sort of the court-appointed lawyer for the character.

I like to explore characters who are very different to me, or varied parts are very similar to me.

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.