Melissa Leo Quotes

It seems that different people have an idea of what I am, and what I should be. And then there's me.

At least when you're acting you can be someone. In front of the camera you have to be yourself. And who am I?

When you have a lot of people telling you what you are and perceiving you in a certain way, it's difficult to find your own identity.

There are a lot of people who don't know me and what I am all about.

I wanted to change my name when I first started because I thought, 'No-one is going to believe that it is my name.'

Style comes from knowing who you are and who you want to be in the world; it does not come from wanting to be somebody else, or wanting to be thinner, shorter, taller, prettier.

That ain't me, that ain't my face. It wasn't even me when I was trying to be that face. I wasn't even really me them; I was just being the way I looked, the way people wanted.

Ultimately, it's not your job, as an actress, to satisfy people's expectations or image of who you should be. Even in your life, you are just who you are.

Whether at work, at home or in public, we have been trained to believe that who we are at the core of our being is often unacceptable. As a result, we work diligently to live up to - and sometimes down to - what others have made us out to be, whether or not it is an accurate reflection of who we are.

I have no issues with my identity.

Sometimes when I go out on the road, I feel almost embarrassed or dismayed because I can't be the image of what kids want me to be. So I just try to be myself, and usually that works out OK.

I am a very honest person, and I can only say there are moments in my life where I really did think I was being me in the sense of my morals and beliefs and the way I acted. But when I look back at certain things that I wore and my hair and make-up, I was like, 'Whoa! That wasn't me!' But I didn't know it back then.

It's so much easier to know who you are when there aren't a thousand people telling you who they think you are.

In my job, I am portrayed as a misfit, a grandiose high fashion lady or an unearthly creature. At home, it's important I can look in the mirror, strip away the disguise and be comfortable with who stares back.

I do not think I reinvent myself. Wearing my hair differently or changing my style of dress is playing dress-up. I don't take it too seriously.

We all want to be someone else but without ceasing to be ourselves. I think it's very important to defend this idea in real life too.

At some point, when I finished school in Zurich, I suddenly realised that I was nobody. I couldn't find a shape. Everything I was had been invented. Initially, I took it to be a fundamental conflict. But today I find pleasure in accepting that this thing called 'identity' is the true invention. There's no way that it really exists.

I'm really not sure what people think or expect me to be, but I am surprised when people say, 'You're not supposed to be like that... ' I'm not exactly sure what 'that' is, so I choose to take it as a compliment.

I don't know what else I would be if I wasn't me. I am not looking from the outside, looking back. I am who I am.

Whatever your image is, it's probably not you, but it affords you the freedom to live up to it.

I've never, ever labeled myself.

I want to show people there's more to me than they think.

Adolescence is when girls experience social pressure to put aside their authentic selves and to display only a small portion of their gifts.

If I put on a tie and play what I really think I am, I'm a disaster.

If you start trying to figure out yourself from the image everyone has of you, you run into a dead end.