Retta Quotes

In my stand up, I think I try to be less energetic because I feel embarrassed about how much enthusiasm I have. There's something about acting like I don't care, or if I act like I haven't spent enough time on it, it seems to go better. If I act like I'm really trying to sell it, it doesn't go as well.

The body cannot lie. You cannot be somebody else onstage, no matter how good of an actor or dancer or singer you are. When you open your arms, move your finger, the audience knows who you are, you know.

I kind of keep my personality in my pocket a lot. When I start to do stand-up, that's not my true personality either. It's the personality of a guy who hasn't been able to say what he wanted to say.

Even now, I have traces of the good little girl. When I am not performing, for instance, I am really very quiet and ordinary.

A good actor is somebody who can be truthful and fascinating and interesting and enlightening.

When I go on stage and perform, I'm an extreme version of myself.

I did one or two plays at school. Once I played a tree, so I never thought I would be a good actor.

And once you cease to be a real person, you stop being a good actor.

You need to become a good listener. As you're working, you hear someone else's lines and how you absorb them becomes your acting.

In the end, it's your job to own the role, and in the end, you are playing certain aspects of your own self, even.

We're actors. We're the opposite of people.

The trick is not to become somebody else. You become somebody else when you're in front of a camera or when you're on stage. There are some people who carry it all the time. That, to me, is not acting.

Acting is all about honesty. If you can fake that, you've got it made.

I tend to be more arrogant on stage. Far more ignorant. I sometimes say what I think and sometimes say the opposite of what I think and the lines get blurred, but I can only hope that some kind of absolute power transcends.

The best advice my dad ever gave me is that acting is believing. Acting is not acting. It isn't putting on a face and dancing around in a mask. It's believing that you are that character and playing him as if it were a normal day in the life of that character.

What I try to do often when I'm acting and what I like when I'm seeing good acting is how authentic it is. How true is this to what I know of the world that's been created for me? The ultimate test for me is, like, if I heard a clip of it on the radio, I'd like the audience not to know if I'm acting.

I don't wear a wig. I'd feel terrible onstage with a wig. I hate to be so 'Actors Studio'-ish, but I like to feel it's me out there.

I feel like I'm kind of faking something if I'm talking as myself and putting on an accent.

I realized that I needed to be anonymous on the street and somebody else on the stage. I had tried to put my street self on the stage, but what they want is an actor on stage.

When you're on stage, unless you surrender to the moment, you're not telling the truth. I look for people that tell me the truth.

This is what I believe about performing: There is no reason to be on stage - there is no reason to be there - if you're not going to put all your baggage somewhere else and just be honest. Whatever you're doing - screw it up, do great - just be there, and be honest. That's the most important thing.

For some reason, comedy just comes easily to me, and I feel like I can do it. I don't have any doubt. When I work on drama, there's always a sense of 'Did I find this person's truth at the bottom of this?' And it's hard to tell sometimes.

An actor is someone who pretends to be somebody else. A movie star is somebody who pretends that somebody else is them.

I love a mask. It's why I've got a thing about good writing. When you're acting, you're going into someone else's work. You're behind his words; it's not you.

I don't consider myself a good actor.