Cathy Moriarty Quotes

For any role, I pretty much always go to the script, first and foremost.

It's sort of the most important thing for acting, is to listen to the person you're dealing with.

When you see bad acting, that's usually what it is - they're not listening to the other characters. It's always hard with first-time actors to get them in that moment where they are really listening to the other characters and reacting to the other characters.

I like to prepare for my roles well, so you can call me a method actor to an extent.

I am neither a method actor nor a trained one. So, I don't generally prepare for any role. Becoming the character and being in that moment are most important.

In acting class, teachers talk about how the 'givens' of a situation help define a character.

When you drop your guard in films, the acting process compensates. You get lazy and you start acting.

First of all, the actor needs to get out of the character's way. You follow the character without judgment or prejudice or preconceived ideas.

When there's no technical problems, if you did the right casting, and the scene is well written, the actor will give you a strong performance with his intuition right from the start.

With any actor, if you know your character well enough, you'll know pretty much what he would say under any circumstance, or whatever situation might rear its head.

A solid theatrical education can only improve a screen performance. It gives you a fuller capacity to read a script and understand a character, for one thing. It's important to alternate between the two activities.

You have to examine a scene on the page first. Then you get into the basics of acting: Who are you? Who are you talking to? How do you feel about that person?

As an actor, you're listening to the other person and always trying to be present and take everything they're giving you, but when they're not there, you have to produce that yourself.

You really have to take your time; you have to know your character and your scene. The line you are about to say comes from the moment right before. It's not what's said, it's what is in between the spaces, it's what's in between the lines; that is the most important to play.

I walk into a scene, and I do the scene. That's my job. I don't have an objective. I have the words, and I have whoever I'm playing with.

I'm a Method actor. I spent years training for the drinking and carousing I had to do in this film.

Your job as an actor is to piece together whatever you've learned in your training, or whatever you have experienced in your life, to piece together a person.

I think I take away a naturalistic approach to acting from doing 'The Larry Sanders Show,' a way to put aside acting and just exist in the world of what's being handed to me.

Ultimately, as an actor, it comes down to committing to the text in the script.

I personally take cues directly from the script, then I like to surprise the other actors. But you must maintain control on a level and see how far you can go up, down or out emotionally. You have to balance the craft with spontaneity.

My preparation is mainly just knowing the lines and getting in and knowing where your character is, knowing what it's about and having ideas that you can put in on the day.

It's always a mystery when you're going into a role - 'Here's your wife of 40 years and... action!' How do you create ease or chemistry or whatever is supposed to exist?

I think back story can help guide your choices, but when you're playing a scene, you're not making choices; you're just intuitive.

I guess I'm probably a Method actor; I don't know... I just think of it as staying in the zone.

Part of the fun of acting is the research, finding out about other people.