Leslie Odom Jr. Quotes

I'm not an amazingly trained soul singer, so with me it's about feeling and energy and spontaneity - that's a really big part of who I am.

You have to transmit to them what it's like being in the theater. And it has to come from somewhere inside you and not by being like what somebody did last year.

When I'm onstage, I'm not thinking about ideas. I'm not in my head at all. It's a more physical experience.

I love to act and put on a show, but you're playing a character all the time. For music, it's really just me being myself.

Acting is in your soul.

You have to learn to draw the same emotion you had when you wrote a song every time you perform it. Acting is the same way: You have to find those emotions and bring them to the surface, and then put them back when you're done.

I don't know if you can articulate an instinct.

Sometimes you just do things and let your natural self become a part of what you're doing.

I don't have a process; I just feel it. My book on acting would be very short.

I think of myself as a theater animal instead of an intellectual animal.

I have always felt that doing too much of homework makes the performance look plastic. I don't even watch the monitor after I finish my scene because I can't reprise it. I just go with the flow.

Watching somebody sing reveals a lot about character.

As an actor, I feel like I'm somebody who, when somebody gives me a mark, I don't want to hit it. I don't like that. But then, without even knowing it, I just hit it.

Acting is the only time when I truly maintain the spontaneity that I want to be present at all times.

Theatre gives you wings as an actor.

Ideals are not something I can control. It's not logic that convinces me of something, it's what my heart says. My heart has a way of involving me in things, which can only be good for the music.

I guess if you can't sing, you better have a style!

I started doing improv when I was 8 years old, so it's always been in my life. I would feel naked without it.

The minute I start to talk about acting, I realize that I can't. You know, it's an abstract thing, a little bit mysterious even if you do it for a living.

I've always believed acting is an improvisational art form, even when not a single line is changed. I mean, the behavior should always be improvised. My favorite moments in any performance are when I'm just along for the ride; when I'm surprising myself. I know when I'm done and I think to myself, 'Gee, I didn't see that coming,' I've done well.

I never decided to start singing, to be a singer.

I don't know why I paint what I paint. I think it comes out - it's kind of my subconscious or something.

For me, acting is doing.

I've always felt a spiritual connection with acting. And I felt whole when I was onstage.

For me, 'Rent' was all about coming out of myself, finding out who I was, learning the power I could have as a performer.