Ann Dowd Quotes

I don't believe actors who say they don't bleed into their characters. It's absolutely impossible not to.

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.'

What I mostly do is take the script, analyse the hell out of it, see what's in there, see what kind of person I'm dealing with, and then forget I'm playing a father and just play a person who exemplifies all those things.

If I'm doing my job as an actor, the audience knows everything I know about the character.

As an actor, I've always found that my job is not to judge the content in which I've agreed to perform in. What I try to do is just find the truth in every moment that they've written.

I have to believe in the character to perform it.

I never really absorbed myself in a role like some actors do.

Good acting comes from finding the essence of a character.

I don't act in the way other actresses act, in terms of building or creating a character. I don't transform myself into the role, I invest myself in the role.

I always find that I have to be emotionally on my character's side for it to be convincing.

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

When I act, a part of me goes into the character I am playing.

In the work that I normally do, you have a whole script, a whole arc, that you play. And I do believe a good actor will play every bit of information they're given.

As an actor, you wouldn't be able to play a character if you were worried about the reaction to what you're doing.

As an actor, I have to be fulfilled in the roles that I play; it has to be a journey for me to learn something or involve myself.

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

It's absolutely true that it's almost impossible to play a character without having any affection for him.

Some actors can distance themselves from the parts they play, but I fall into the category who use bits of themselves.

How do I act so well? What I do is I pretend to be the person I'm portraying in the film or play.

The trick to acting is not to show off, it's to think the thoughts of the character.

I read the script and try not to bring anything personal into it. I make notes, talk to the director and we decide what kinds of shades should be in the character.

When I start thinking about a role, I read the script a few times and then let it sink in - and then take some time to develop how that character is going to play out and what he's going to do.

I immerse myself right into my character whether or not I'm relating to people live as an actor on stage or whatever.

It's a hard thing to do, to be given a script, and know that you've got to turn up on the first day of the shoot - generally without having had any rehearsal - and present a character. It's really baffling; it's incredibly hard to know how to begin, to approach it, other than just thinking about it.