Charles Keating Quotes

People assume that acting is an easy job. When you actually do it, you know how hard that is.

There are two main jobs in acting - the first one is to be a good actor, and the second one is to convince everyone that you're a good actor.

In order to be an actor you really have to be one of those types of people who are risk-takers and have what is considered an actor's arrogance, which is not to say an arrogance in your personal life. But you have to be the type of person who wants the ball with seconds left in the game.

It's very hard to be a good actor, you know. It's easy to be cute.

In the end, only a good actor stands out; if I am not a good actor, I won't stand out.

I talked to friends who are actors and who do Shakespeare loads, and they all said 'learn it so that your family wants to clobber you, they're so bored.' You can never relax, that's the problem, because when you do, a bit of Shakespeare comes up to bite your cheeky behind. It just does, if you're not really focused on it.

Acting isn't that hard, really. I mean, I think that people make a big deal about it, but you just kind of try to say your lines naturally.

As an actor, I'm familiar with having bursts of energy, where you're giving things a try, and then you have down time.

This acting was very hard work.

Good acting is about being as natural and calm as possible. These days producers have such definite ideas that you have to be prepared to do whatever they ask.

I've never found acting that difficult.

As an actor, you don't know what is going to come next.

Acting is very much an all-or-nothing job.

I know people who prepare their roles in such a way that they technically look ahead and memorize their gestures, and then they stick to it. Those that are technically proficient enough can make it seem natural, but they do that and don't really take in what other people are doing.

An actor's most important responsibility is to know lines well.

There's no mystique to acting. It's only common sense - and a bit of courage.

The best actors do not let the wheels show.

As an actor, you know there are things you get asked to do that you do quite well, with less effort.

Being an actor is the loneliest thing in the world. You are all alone with your concentration and imagination, and that's all you have.

In theater, you're allowed to take your time and sit in a role for a month before you have to share it with anybody. In film and TV, you have to just kind of show up and be ready to do that, which, to me, is very strange and crazy.

As an actor, you have to have your history.

Actors don't really sit around discussing the parts they've played - just in case someone says, 'That was crap!'

Being an actor is pretty much like being in the circus.

Acting can be very solitary, even if you're in a scene with someone else, because you worry about your own performance and if you look good.

From the time I was five years old, theater was all I knew. I did community theater; I went to theater school. It's like going to the gym as an actor: every single night, you have to recreate the illusion of the first time, so you really have to listen and connect and stay in the moment for an hour and a half - with no breaks.