David Hyde Pierce Quotes

Acting is about being in the moment and audiences are smart to know what is authentic and what is not.

When I do comedy, it's not like I'm trying to be funny for folks; I look for the honesty in it. With James Early in 'Dreamgirls,' it was the honesty of it: it was the reality of the moment. You know, I don't know what makes me play sometimes. I really don't. I just do what I do. And that's what I did for 'Sliders,' and that's how I got the job.

That's the thing about acting - you can't fake it.

Acting is the art of being and existing, and not being fake.

Acting means nothing unless it's truth. And honesty.

Acting is all about truth and honesty, and the sensitivity that's capable of transporting you.

This is going to sound cheesy, but with acting there are so many tools. When you're on camera, you're using all of it. You're using the voice, you're using your body, you're using wardrobe, all of it, but it's funny, once you take all of those things away, you realize how much you rely on the physicality.

I approach a comedy the same way I do a drama. I try to make it as real as possible.

Acting is all about honesty. If you can fake that, you've got it made.

A lot of people think theatre must be much harder work than film, but anything histrionic or superfluous gets seen on camera so you have to work to distil it into a complete sense of what's true.

If it seems like you're doing work when you're acting, then you're doing something wrong.

Good acting is thinking in front of the camera. I just do that and apply a sense of humor to it. You have to trust the audience to get it.

A good actor is someone who knows how to take the part and make it real and make it honest and be effective in it. If it's in a funny movie and, as long as they are cast in an appropriate way, humor will come from it.

I've always been taught to just play the truth of the situation. If comedy comes out of that, or drama, whatever comes out of it, at least I'm playing the truth of the moment-to-moment reality.

As an actor, when you're winning the moment over, there's a truth to your intention. You might laugh at it or you might cry at it, but I think your visceral reaction to it is a reaction to the truth of the moment.

Every character I've played is goofy, but it has to have some type of reality.

Being on 'The Office' prepared me for drama. Comedy got me ready, but once you get down to it, they're two sides of the same thing. I mean, the delivery has to be different - in drama, there's more time to breathe, and comedy's all about hitting the joke.

Acting is about finding truth and finding the way to convey the truth.

You know, I've just always been sort of goofy and kind of gone with it. I actually usually work more in drama, but I have been floating back and forth with comedy, and somehow they keep giving me jobs in comedy, so I guess there's something funny about me.

I'm not a comedian. I'm an actor who just happens to be funny on occasion.

It's an acting job - acting natural.

It's fun to do something funny and have the director laughing. It makes you feel good.

Acting is real important to me. I love it, and it's something I care about.

Acting has to do with saying it as if you meant it, so for me the words are always very important. It's very important for me to know my lines, know them so well that I don't have to think about them.

I'm always looking, as an actor, for activities. I think it's far more interesting to watch what people do than what they say. You always want to watch behavior, because the dialogue as written by our illustrious leaders is great. Eminently playable.