Tom Skerritt Quotes

The fact is, as actors, everything we do, bad or good, is a contribution. To me, it is a positive thing to give people as wide a range of human behavior with some sense of understanding of that behavior or some clue to it.

Acting is not rocket science, but it is an art form. What you are doing is illuminating humanity. Or not.

Whatever I do, no matter it's for television, web or the big screen - it should satisfy me as an actor.

When I was doing 'Ordinary People' and 'Taps,' I never wondered if it would have a lasting impression. I was just wanting to make the best film we could and do my part in that and be true to what my responsibilities were.

I put a lot of time and energy and thought behind what I do and the characters that I create, and I don't want to do anything peripheral that is going to make an audience see me up there on the screen rather than who I'm playing.

I had an acting teacher tell me once that if you're playing a car salesman, you don't want to be an OK car salesman, you want to play the best car salesman.

I try to give each performance my own soul, to bring a truth to my character. Hopefully, when I bring that much truth to a character, it resonates with somebody, and it sparks some kind of emotion in them.

I'm not going to get better as an actor working on bad stuff.

I know the responsibility that entails from telling a story. The one thing I despise the most is when I go to a movie and I see a whole bunch of lazy actors making me waste my time and money.

Just recently I worked with Van Morrison and I came to realize that money can't make a decent human being out of you.

There are some times when I think acting can be a noble profession. And when those rare roles come along, like 'Down to the Bone,' you have the opportunity to be of service.

Let me say I was trained at Juilliard. I have a very high standard. I expect everybody around me to work equally as hard because people pay a lot of money for tickets. They demand the best that we have.

It's always been my hope, as an actor, to reveal only what is relevant about myself to the work.

I don't look at scripts in terms of commerciality. I just look at the part, the people involved.

I think a lot of actors take on fun roles and then they're lazy or flippant with them. I just can't do that.

We have fallen into this very mean description of humanity. Naturalism in fiction is too reductive in its definition of human beings.

My background is really being a writer's actor - that seems to be the way I work best, bringing out the best of writing. There's a whole range of acting skills, and some people can be astonishing with very poor material. That's not me; my skill is essentially unlocking the writing.

Directing myself definitely made me a better actor. And, you know, I think actors have the best track record when they turn to directing. Writers, too. I knew how to direct actors because I've been there and I know what I like.

But I feel that I have a responsibility to help the film and I have relations with the studio and with those who put up the money so that I can tell a story that I believe in.

The function of the novel is the exploration of the human condition. Really, that's what it's all about.

We're all just a bunch of sinners, but we do the best we can.

Of course you want to be good and you want to do the best you can, but I am inspired by great writing. If there's something about the script, that's what I go for, although I know that that doesn't always translate because sometimes it's about the vision of the director.

I try to get the best performance an actor can give.

I want to become actor not because I want money and become more famous. No I don't want that. It is not that l want stardom, I want to contribute to good cinema.

Literature at its fullest takes human nature as its theme. That's the kind of writing that interests me.