James May Quotes

I tend to get comfortable with the dialogue and find out who the person is in the script and try to hit that. People are sort of independent of their occupations and their pastimes. You don't play a politician or a fireman or a cowboy - you just play a person.

'Funny People' is my favorite performance of myself to date. Even though it's a comedy and there are serious moments, I really felt like Leo felt like a real person. It didn't feel like I was playing myself. Whether it's a comedy or drama, I just try to make it as realistic as possible.

What attracted me to acting, from the start, was playing different characters. I'm not a massive fan of just playing myself on screen.

In every character you play, as much as you hate to admit it as an actor, but there's an element of you that you bring to it.

I want things to be characters and not me. Why would I want to play me?

You've got to be honest with yourself aesthetically about who could you play. You want to artistically be true to that character.

I was worried for a while that it was some sort of reflection of me that all I seemed to be getting were these characters that were a tad bit loony. But I love it. Those are the most fun characters to play!

Yeah, I think the common denominator - and this is probably going to sound like Acting 101 - but the common denominator is belief in the character in the moment.

One of the things I love about acting is that it reveals a certain something about yourself, but it doesn't reveal your own personal story.

Acting has always been a way for me to express myself, and show all my vulnerabilities and flaws through my characters.

There's something about being any kind of entertainer that is acting. You have to put on a show. Things you wouldn't do in your life, you do on stage. You have to let go. And that's extra hard for rappers. We have a tendency to, quote unquote, keep it real. As an actor, you have to be able to humiliate yourself. Do whatever it takes.

In my acting, I have tried to do this - to present to audiences a living creature in whom they can recognise themselves or someone they know.

However, I don't by any means suggest that I'm always playing myself.

Acting is a matter of giving away secrets.

Usually I like playing other people. I like finding myself through other characters. But when you do cabaret, you are yourself. I think it's the most fun, and I tell you, if somebody had told me that, I would have done it fifteen years earlier than I did.

My job playing Sam Malone was to let the audience in, to love my bar full of people. And that informed my life.

When you act, you're always playing a version of yourself. You can't bring more to the role than what you are.

My act is an exaggeration of a part of me. I'm much more expressive off stage.

Sometimes you can take those dramatic roles and maybe interject a little humor into them, and I think the reverse also works.

I like to play the guy that has no self-awareness.

I love attempting to play real people. I like to try and have dramatic moments as well as comedic moments, and my favorite thing is when those two lines are blurred.

There are elements of myself in every character I do, just because you take from your real life experiences and sprinkle those into your character.

The only two characters I can play convincingly are myself and a dumber and sweeter version of myself.

You have to bring yourself to a character.

Both are two different things. As a VJ, you are yourself. But as an actor, you are playing a character that you want people to fall in love with.