Donna Lynne Champlin Quotes

I tell you, being on a soap is the hardest work, and it gets so old. Get on your mark, get in the light, don't turn too far upstage - that's all it is.

I was delighted to have lines when they came - learning lines for film isn't a problem, but television is a little different, because we shot those shows the whole way through.

On my first TV job I didn't have a clue. They'd tell me to hit my mark and I had no idea what they meant. You just pick it up. And ultimately, all it's really about is pretending to be someone else.

I like a lot of takes. I just go on until the actors get it right.

In theater, you get to rehearse several weeks, you memorize everything, and by the time you open, you know what the play is. In film, it's almost the opposite. You do your work on your own and maybe have a couple of minutes to rehearse. When the camera rolls, you generally don't know what's going to happen.

Once we got the scene down, we were told to improv.

On film, when you're driving home from the set, you realize what you should have done, but it's too late. When you're taking the subway home from your play, you realize what you did wrong, and you go back the next night and you do it better, or you screw it up again in a different way. It's a different thing altogether.

Kissing scenes are never romantic or sexy. They're actually super technical, like, 'Move your head; you're blocking her light,' or, 'Stop looking like an idiot when you kiss her.'

Obviously, doing TV and doing theater are completely different because they're two totally different mediums. On stage, you worry about your voice and how you move physically. On TV, something like an eye twitch is what they could be looking for from you because it's so contained.

By the time I got to the Fox studio for my first major film, I knew how to hit a mark. I knew how to memorize lines. I knew how to pay attention.

When I was doing 'All in the Family,' half the time, I was looking at where the cameras were, where were the other actors in the scene, what the audience was doing.

Got through it without fluffing, that's the main thing any actor can hope for.

Just say the lines and don't trip over the furniture.

I think most actors jump at the chance to do something where the camera's on them all the time.

I try to create an environment where, when we step onto the set, we're all in character.

My first job ever was on 'Peak Practice.' I just had to walk up the stairs. They kept the take where I slipped slightly, which was annoying.

I'd had the theater background for so long that I know that world inside out; I just didn't know the pace of how a TV set works, like how a show shoots.

It's a fascinating job, to come in and be the most interesting person in an episode. Whoever the guest star is, that's the job - to maintain the interest and the focus for that 42 minutes or whatever, and it should be a huge relief to those people that are the leads in the shows.

I left my mark on 'Dark Shadows.' One day I was doing my lines perfectly from Act 3. Everyone else was doing Act 2.

I used to do theater in L.A., but it got to the point where everything was really showcase-y.

I'm an actor's director.

I'm not used to being asked what I want to talk about. That's why I'm an actress. Get told what to do, stand on the mark, say your words, wear this, look this way, look that way.

You can't act for the editing. You just go in and do the scene the way you think is right.

I don't live that much with the character. I find it hard enough having to spend so many hours with the character during the day.

As soon as you get two actors in a room and they're locking eyes, they're doing a scene.