Shaun Evans Quotes

If acting has any meaning, it is so that we can have greater empathy for other people.

When I step into a character's shoes, I don't judge them. I make a conscious effort not to look from the outside in but look from the inside out, and when you do that it allows you to feel and sense things more, and act and react from a core, you know?

You have to have sympathy for and an empathy with a character in order to play them.

You've got to empathize with every character you play.

Personally, I think humility is a prerequisite to being a truly empathic person.

To act, no matter how the character is, you have to love and have compassion for the character you're playing.

When I was young I used to listen to other people and to try and understand what they thought and where they were coming from. I listened and didn't speak.

I don't want to discredit people's individuality, but I think people are pretty much the same. People are very similar. If you have a good enough imagination then you can feel things that you personally have never done before. That's acting.

I think when you're empathetic, you're putting yourself in somebody else's shoes, right? It's not about you.

Ninety-five percent of the time, I put myself in somebody else's position - that's how I live.

For most of your career, what you're trying to do is to step into other people's shoes.

When you see yourself as the center of things, it deprives you of a certain level of empathy.

I'm interested in roles that are human, that have some sort of empathic quality.

I just try to put myself in the minds of all the characters.

You definitely put a bit of yourself in every character, and you always have to have an understanding and empathy for the person that you play.

The man who can put himself in the place of other men, who can understand the workings of their minds, need never worry about what the future has in store for him.

I would say I'm humanly engaged.

It's good to have to put yourself in someone else's skin. It's all-consuming.

Anytime you take on a character... you just have to find the parts of the character that you can understand.

I hope it's enabling me to deal with another human being who's more important to me than I am.

The story is a machine for empathy. In contrast to logic or reason, a story is about emotion that gets staged over a sequence of dramatic moments, so you empathize with the characters without really thinking about it too much. It is a really powerful tool for imagining yourself in other people's situations.

I like all my characters in one way or another, or at least I understand them.

Most good actors have a huge intelligence about the human condition and a real open heart to different kinds of people and behavior.

But I'm trying to play into this role as much as possible and be a nicer person in real life.

Change begins with understanding and understanding begins by identifying oneself with another person: in a word, empathy. The arts enable us to put ourselves in the minds, eyes, ears and hearts of other human beings.