Mercedes Ruehl Quotes

It was amazing that during rehearsals, without any of the costume on, the character was there complete. It just happened. Half the time, I didn't know I was doing it.

I try to create as many circumstances outside of set that help me fall into character when I get onto set.

I don't really think it matters if you go into stage or TV as long as you do a bit of character work, really.

I don't think an actor needs to necessarily go through his things to do his job. I think it's way more important to imagine. And then, when you're imagining, your experiences, your images and your own personal things will show up, but you keep imagining. You don't get stuck in your own personal things, otherwise you are telling your story in every character, and that's not interesting for anybody.

I really am a character actor, in my heart of hearts, because I really do like developing characters and painting a past for them.

Working on camera is a different ballgame in the sense that it's far more intimate work, but the basics and the foundations of being able to create something that isn't necessarily your own instincts - is a character that you have inside your head - whether you're talking about television or film or theater, that still has to be the grounding work.

I'm not the kind of actor who goes into exhaustive research for each role.

I'm not a method actor per se, but if I'm playing a character that, at its core of its persona, has experiences I don't have, I try to search out and get firsthand experiences of similar sorts so I have something to fantasize about.

I always believed in my characters. I lived them.

I never act my characters - I am them.

Great actors try to dismiss all ideas from their conscious mind in order to provide an experience that is real.

Sometimes I get into the movies and into the roles; it's hard for me to move on.

Writing and directing might be a red herring, and really I'm just re-examining what it is to act, to do it well and do it properly.

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

I love acting it's apart of me and I try to put a little bit of myself in each of my roles.

I would go into a place that was quiet and isolated and think about how my character would feel in the situation, considering who he was and what he had been through. I would think about that even up to 30 minutes. And when I felt the character was in my body and I had left, I could walk onto set or into rehearsal.

There's so much to learn about acting and performance in general... I mean, acting is a very complex art, and there are a lot more theories and methods and techniques to it than I think anybody would think.

Talking to actors is the same as talking to any other artists; it's getting into the moment for them, and making sure they can lose themselves in the performance!

A lot of acting techniques are very self-oriented.

I have to believe in the character to perform it.

Actors are such wonderful creatures and such wonderful instruments. It's always different on the page or in my head. I hear it differently. I see it differently. And then, you give it to an actor, and it comes alive in a way that you didn't expect.

I'm not a method actor. I try to stay separate but to imagine what they'd feel, to put myself in their shoes.

When you're an actor, you do get involved with your characters - your emotional life is tied up with theirs, and so is your physical life.

As an actor, you need to use everything at your disposal.

You've heard that old expression from Shakespeare, 'Just speak the speech'? The words themselves will take you to the reality of the character. And so this led me to interview people.