Tamara Tunie Quotes

I was on a series for a number of years, and I got very used to only doing a mini-play per week. When I first came back to the theater, and I was suddenly doing eight shows a week again for three or four months, I had to find a new reason to do it.

I get to the theatre in plenty of time; I prepare my shoes in advance; I eat and drink the right things at the right time. The rest you have to leave to luck!

I love opening night, and I love doing plays. But one of my favorite parts about doing a play or working on a new play is rehearsal.

Nothing is real until you walk out on stage.

I'm someone who started in the theater and really couldn't stand repeating the show. My favorite part of acting is the five or six weeks of rehearsal that you get. I like doing previews; I like the opening week because my friends and family come, and then after that, I don't want to do it anymore.

When I was doing 'A Raisin in the Sun' with Sean Combs, we began in bed, and he would give me 10 kisses and an 11th for luck before the play began.

I toured. I played, I was in that world so intensely, and then I had to bow out.

Theatre worked as a big boost and improved my film career.

The beauty of theater is that you get to live the character from beginning to end without stopping. The natural momentum of the story propels you through in such a way that feels organic.

The stage is bigger than life. There you are projecting to an audience. In television, you're drawing the camera in to you. And with TV, there isn't that immediate feedback from an audience. You do hours and hours of taping and never get that response.

One of the most difficult things I find as an actor is to laugh on cue. It is way harder than crying or other emotions. It's sometimes harder than yawning on cue.

Theatre is a living organism. You only know if your show is working when you see it with an audience. You can also tell when it isn't working - it's horrible, and you desperately try to figure out how to make it connect.

I really enjoy playing a challenging role.

But with 'Newsrevue' I started doing some characters, and I just loved how you were in control. You could write something that day and go and do it that night, rather than waiting for a job that involves other people. So I did character stand-up, and then proper stand-up, and I loved it; I got addicted.

When you go onstage, the process of getting you from the dressing room to the stage is all about ego.

The regular season, it's kind of like a rehearsal. That's the way I look at it.

I want to be a great performer.

Studio work is very methodical, while live concerts must be very spontaneous.

In theater acting, you leave that night and what it was is what it was.

We all do role-play. Sometimes behind the camera, and sometimes in front of it. I am the few lucky ones who have been able to wear both hats and especially have been able to romance the camera in a believable way, and I hope that this romance between us never ends.

For me, as an actor, going from TV to film was interesting because TV and film are two very different things.

That's the main lesson I've learned from working in the theater: respect the dramaturgy. I don't want to overwhelm everything with music.

The work of acting, in and of itself, is something that is infinitely enjoyable.

I think, like most actors, it's really exciting to be challenged.

On the sets, I am just an actress, and I am okay with whoever I am working with.