Emily Berrington Quotes

I've always approached acting from a very workmanlike perspective.

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

Working with a great actor is really educational.

Meisner technique was different than anything I'd ever experienced. It's a really great way to be accountable to your craft and to yourself, but also it takes that kind of focus and dedication to learn anything.

I actually think acting is a form of self-hypnosis. You have to be hyper, hyper aware of what's going on around you. You have to know where the lens is, what the shot is, and where you're moving. And then you have to trick yourself into an emotional state where you believe this stuff is actually happening.

One of the first lessons you learn as an actor is to listen.

I was raised in New York City and raised in the New York City theater world. My father was a theater director and an acting teacher, and it was not uncommon for me to have long discussions about the method and what the various different processes were to finding a character and exploring character and realizing that character.

I was trained by Method acting teachers and we were taught that aside from whatever gift you may or may not have or the level of that gift, that you were obliged to know how to build a table. It's a craft. It's like being a ballerina or a violinist.

As always, with acting, you can't be too self-conscious. You shouldn't care about what people are thinking about you at the time because they're not caring about you, they're caring about the character.

I think that different actors go about their preparation differently, but when it comes to acting, I use my imagination.

Sometimes, when you're acting, you are so in the moment that you don't even remember what just happened.

If you can walk into a set and feel the reality of it, then immediately you're not having to work to bring yourself into the character.

Sometimes I think of movie acting as advanced pretend.

It's hard to get lost in a scene, to get into a character when everyone's standing around you on the set.

The secret of being a great actor is a love of food.

My mentor Jon Simmons introduced me to the Stanislavski system, which is so heavy on back-story. So you write and write and write these back stories about a character and then you throw it away. So then on set, if it doesn't come, then you didn't do your work.

I don't really ever think about whether or not I like the characters I'm playing. I'm more into the minutiae of their behaviour or what they're doing in a certain scene.

I've always been interested in character-driven pieces, and my approach to directing is through acting.

When I get a role, I try to delve as deeply as possible into the character.

It's what I learn from the great actors that I work with. Stillness. That's all and that's the hardest thing.

I was only interested in my scene, and I had to go through thousands and thousands of other scenes. I got my scene and I read it many, many, many, many, many times. That was my research.

A lot of what acting is paying attention.

When I'm working, I don't wake up and say, 'OK, time to go be intense.' I just look at whatever scenes we're working on that day and break them down - just real intense everyday work.

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

Whenever I am acting, it's everything, you know. If I'm researching a role, I'm completely consumed in that and, between action and cut, I live in this suspended time.