Brandy Norwood Quotes

As an actor, I don't really think you find yourself. I mean, once you find yourself, I think it becomes boring and you become set in your ways. I think, as an actor I think it's not a bad thing but more of a gift. It's something you're always doing as an actor. You're adjusting constantly.

The way I like to work is to attach personal experiences to what I'm doing, so it helps tremendously if I can write my own play under what the writer has written.

With film, it's all about the actor being able to feel the things that the character's feeling. It must do some strange things to your mind. Music I find much easier because you're being honest about where you are as a person.

Acting is an imaginative leap, really, isn't it? And imaginations prosper in different circumstances.

Creating a role is an interesting thing - each show or each situation is different.

I became fascinated by the fact that you could translate written material into performance.

The magic doesn't come from within the director's mind, it comes from within the hearts of the actors.

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

I put myself into character for my songs.

One of the things I love about directing is I love actors, because no matter how complex they are, once you get down to working and talking to them and the toughest guy will want you to open them up and he wants to show you stuff he was afraid to show anybody before.

The audience may not have felt it was right, and the author may have felt a little upset, but every part I've played I've twisted around in my mind until I've made it into something of my own. Looking back over it, I didn't deliberately sit down and plan like that, but it does read like it.

With acting, it wouldn't be about money: it would be about taking my life experiences and using them to create art.

The best feeling you can ever have when you're working on a show is that the characters are still inside you, and they have a lot left to do.

It's one thing to be sitting at a drawing board, alone in your home and coming up with a fantasy character, and drawing her whichever way you feel like drawing, then dealing with a real performer. All of a sudden, things change. It's amazing, in working with actors, how much I learn from them and how many new lines will come to mind because of their personality or their strengths.

I love to work. I really enjoy getting up really early and driving downtown. I just really love the process of acting and being on a series.

You know, working as an actor, I'm always working within my own imagination.

What I love about a play is that it's such an investment because only time can create a lot of what happens onstage.

If I'm serious, yes, I'd like to have done what Shakespeare did... to act and write. You learn so much from acting. One of our great writers, Alan Bennett, does both supremely well. When I write a story, I tend to speak it aloud as I'm writing it.

When I was dancing, whether it was the music or the story, the question was 'Why am I doing this piece, and why am I dancing?' It is exactly the same when you are acting. You have a very close relationship with your body movement. You have to find the physicality of your character.

When I'm writing a song, I try to be the character.

The places I visit in any given week are my home, so when I'm somewhere that feels good to me, it's a real game changer. If a place causes me to have a strong reaction, be it positive or negative, it'll often find its way into my music.

I still love finding the soul of the characters I play and defining who they are. This to me is my paint set, and the colors are always exciting to choose.

People say that they like the characters that they believe that I am. But, I don't as much. I like the characters that I believe that I am not. Like my role on 'Law and Order.' That character unnerved people. And I loved every second of it. I want to continue growing as an actress. There are ways that I can reach quicker, or deeper, with acting.

Acting is also working with people who invite you into their dreams and trust you with their innermost being.

But today I felt different, today I forgot how long it takes to get into the skin of a character and I remembered it, because today I actually got into that skin and it felt so different.