Eddie Marsan Quotes

I love to think about and therefore talk about why people do what they do. That's kind of why I like being an actor.

If you go into something saying, 'I'm the bad guy,' you do yourself a disservice as an actor. It's always about trying to find the humanity in a character.

Any decent actor knows you can't judge the character you're playing.

Villains are fun. I think the important thing in playing them is that they don't see themselves as villains. It lets you be a little more expansive.

So you can't judge the character you're playing ever.

By being an actor, one can explore various personalities of a human being, be that person, behave and live that person's life, and then you are back to your normal life.

Well, what is acting but the study of human behavior? And that's so fascinating to me.

What I loved about the acting class was that you got to think all day long about a person that wasn't you, and figure out why they were sad and what they wanted, what they dreamed.

When you're playing a character, as an actor or actress, you can't judge them for what they do. You really have to find what is in them that you have compassion for and fall in love with that character, regardless of what they do or how they behave.

I examine other people's characteristics, so when I'm playing characters, I don't always have to make them me; I can transform into others.

I think any role you need to play not so much transforms but I like to think of it as understanding the psychology of another character.

Whether you need to like a character, I don't think that's necessary in order to portray him.

I certainly don't like to play a bad guy. There are no bad people. It's only shades of grey. Also, I am not a great actor who can transform completely into a totally different character for a movie. I am not a trained actor.

It's great to be able to play the 'bad guy' role, because you always get a lot to do, but I'm always looking at the why - how does a person get to that particular point.

When I act, I try to understand the character, why she's behaving like that.

With any role I play, I find out what the human problem is first.

As an actor, you have to find reasons why your character made her decisions, and you have to empathise with her.

I studied method acting for four years and I'm a big believer in the idea that it's not about the actual experience itself. You don't have to go through exactly what this character has gone through.

As an actor, I'm more interested in characters the longer I have lived with them.

One of the many joys of being an actor is to understand the human psychology.

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.

I really connect with every character that I've played, just because I kinda have to; as an actor, you want to take them in and get to know them and like them; because they're evil, you kinda have to like them so that you can understand them and play them and play them with some kind of empathy.

If you're playing the bad guy, you have to find what you like about them.

I love acting and really taking on another person, another life.

That's why I enjoy acting: getting in the mind of someone else.