Stellan Skarsgard Quotes

When I'm creating a character, I don't see it so much as playing someone else as just playing a specific part of myself under certain circumstances.

I'm not one of those actors who wants to live in some kind of dark character and wants to live in the darkness so much that no one around me has any fun.

To me, the psychology behind the character is critical. So I work very hard to get into the mind of the man that I'm going to be playing, because number one, I want to understand why he's doing what he's doing. It's essential, it's absolutely essential.

A human being has so many skins inside, covering the depths of the heart. We know so many things, but we don't know ourselves! Why, thirty or forty skins or hides, as thick and hard as an ox's or bear's, cover the soul. Go into your own ground and learn to know yourself there.

I think that all of us either lose touch with the child inside us or try and hold onto it because it so precious to us and it's such an extraordinary part of our lives.

You know one of the things about going from modeling to acting is it's so much more fulfilling. With modeling, you get your picture taken, which is great, good for you, you know? But in acting, you're able to reach in and show a little bit more of yourself.

I try to look at every role the same way, regardless of whether the character is real or the character is a fantasy. I always start from myself, because you have to know yourself first.

One of the most important things for an actor is to know who you are.

You've got to bring yourself to any character you do.

I think that I come off as, 'Nothing bothers me, I don't care! I'm funny and sassy.' But I'm deeply sensitive. Not only about myself but to others. Not to pat myself on the back, empathy is a quality I've cultivated over my life. It came naturally to me as a child.

When I prepare for a role, I try to get inside the character's head and understand him.

I definitely have a lot of different layers inside of me.

For me, I start at the place that my characters are human. I start at the place that they are onions that are layered and meant to be peeled, just as we as human beings are.

I really think I tried to capture the essence of the comics: what I thought would be the essence of Elektra. And then, as any character that I play, I really tried to dig inside me and try to reach real emotions and transpose that in her world, in who she is.

A really fun part of getting to be an actor is exploring those parts of yourself that you wouldn't otherwise explore.

What I use when I'm acting comes from what I learn about myself.

I feel like within each of us is a million different people that we could reveal and that we can be sometimes... And for me, the process of acting isn't so much about finding the person outside of myself and mimicking them but, rather, releasing parts of myself and adding them to the character.

‎Reading good literature is an experience of pleasure...but it is also an experience of learning what and how we are, in our human integrity and our human imperfection, with our actions, our dreams, and our ghosts, alone and in relationships that link us to others, in our public image and in the secret recesses of our consciousness.

The psych up comes from knowing what I can both give and get from each role. I get a lot personally from each character I play that I am able to carry over into my everyday life.

I think there are two sides of the coin. On one hand, it can be challenging to access different parts of yourself, and you kind of have to put yourself back into reality when you're done with the job. But I think it's also really cool to have the ability to try on being different people and to explore some parts of yourself because you get to know yourself better. You get to know parts of yourself that you haven't met before. I think that's something that I've been learning more recently.

As an actor you bring some of your own experiences which can make things easier. You build off of it, but your imagination is always the best thing you have as far as creating things I think specifically for what that character is going through. But you're definitely drawing obviously upon things that you can connect to, and then you kind of mold the change that you're making into something that's right for the character.

I never base a character on someone I know. You can get ideas from real life, but every character you write is some aspect of yourself.

All my roles are character roles. On the other hand, there are those people who have an inner...I think we all do the same thing. You can't get by on aura alone. That I know. Everyone has to dig in. Everyone has to do the same set of, "What is this about? What is this character doing?" Everybody from Spencer Tracy to Brad Pitt to Jeffrey Tambor.

A spiritual person tries less to be godly than to be deeply human.

I'm a better person when I'm preparing for a role, when I'm studying a role.