Samuel West Quotes

Once the curtain is raised, the actor is ceases to belong to himself. He belongs to his character, to his author, to his public. He must do the impossible to identify himself with the first, not to betray the second, and not to disappoint the third.

I've always felt kind of safe on stage, protected. I've talked to other performers about this and they feel the same things, particularly in the live arena. I never get nervous going on stage to do a play. Doing film or television I'll have more butterflies.

If you're an actor, a real actor, you've got to be on the stage. But you mustn't go on the stage unless it's absolutely the only thing you can do.

Once a song and dance man, always a song and dance man. Those few words tell as much about me professionally as there is to tell.

I just had a throwaway part, really, if you think about it. I'm not a natural actor, you know? I'm a comedian, through and through. And I really love my lines. Those are the lines I want to do.

I realized that I was a really, really terrible actor. I was like, "I'd better be myself."

When it comes to acting, it's about creating a character and bringing forth a director's vision. It's a weird feeling, because with acting, it's just not about me. I love being in that position, because with the music, it's always about me.

I never will believe there is such a thing as a great actor.

This is a movie version of the play [All the Way]and when Bryan [Cranston] was on stage the bigness of the man was played to the back of the house. When we turned the cameras on that, it changed a bit with close-ups, but we got just as much power in that beautiful intimacy.

Anyone who hears enough laughter and applause at a young age will become an actor, whether they intend to or not.

Acting is not a science. Anybody who believes that their success exists in relation to their goals is deluding themselves; unless you think of a career in terms of financial goals. I have nothing against Tom Cruise, but he must have a large capacity to deal with the business side of movies.

Acting has been described as farting about in disguise.

I grew up in music theater playing to the audience - singing and dancing and showing off. That's really my background. But the camera's different. I think I'm more at home on stage.

The basic essential of a great actor is that he loves himself in acting.

I might like to be an actor, but there are loads of other things I'm interested in as well, like music and writing and sports. I want to keep my options open.

I think I find it easier to live on the stage than in life.

Actors are easy to like. They are generally sociable, thoughtful people.

I LOVE THE COMEDY CLUBS AND THE CLOSENESS OF THE CROWD. HOWEVER THE MORE YA DO THE BIG ROOMS THEY START TO BECOME YOUR HOME AS WELL AND YOU ADJUST TO THE SURROUNDINGS. I LOVE THEM BOTH. I MISS THE CLUBS BUT THATS WHAT YA WORK FOR TO DO THE BIG ROOMS!

I've always been an actress, entertaining my family was the start. I'm a goof ball among many of my cousins and siblings.

At first I thought I would have to put on an English accent and try a sort of affected Shakespeare thing.

Movie acting is harder than doing a play. You have to be entertaining but completely natural, like Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant. They weren't doing anything. Do you have any idea how hard that is? That's how good they were. It's crazy hard to be convincing and real. It's the most subtle, hardest thing there is.

I started out as a very traditional actor. The first thing I ever did in terms of performance was singing.

They are, as it were, train-bearers in the pageant of life, and hold a glass up to humanity, frailer than itself. We see ourselves at second-hand in them: they show us all that we are, all that we wish to be, and all that we dread to be. What brings the resemblance nearer is, that, as they imitate us, we, in our turn, imitate them. There is no class of society whom so many persons regard with affection as actors.

It's fun to be amazing, to be the star of the show, to have everyone watching you-even if you have to act like a pig.

I think the legacy that I'll leave is just a great entertainer, and that's what I want to be remembered as, a great entertainer.