Molly Shannon Quotes

Acting is an imaginative leap, really, isn't it? And imaginations prosper in different circumstances.

That's what comedy is like: You have to force yourself out in the world because you're always one experience away from new material.

Seriously, my music really does help my acting, and, like, getting in and out of a character from a different lifestyle and writing a song about it. Likewise, my acting inspires the music because I can write a theme that I wouldn't necessarily approach at all in life.

I think in many ways, I'm sort of a blank canvas, because in many ways, I'm just observing the world and the people around me and their characters and letting them kind of explode off me and to find out why they're doing what they're doing. But then every once in awhile, I get to take on a whole new character.

I started improvising the Cliff character, based on someone I grew up with.

As actors, you do have to be aware of your audience. You can't act in a vacuum, even if that audience isn't exactly present with you.

I did comedies for 10 years and I learned a great deal.

I use so much of myself in everything I do. I think every actor does because you have no one else to go to but yourself and your own imagination.

You work with stand-up comedians or you work with somebody in theater, you work with somebody from 'Star Search' or 'Survivor' or a kid, it constantly changes how you play with people.

Characters I've played, they used to impact my paintings, like 80 percent of the time, and especially when I was doing an action film.

I was a huge fan of comedy and movies and TV growing up, and I was able to memorize and mimic a lot of things, not realizing that that meant I probably wanted to be an actor. I just really, really amused myself and my friends with memorizing entire George Carlin or Steve Martin albums.

The magic doesn't come from within the director's mind, it comes from within the hearts of the actors.

I think with drama, at least for me, my process, there's a lot of thought. I do a lot of back story. I listen to a lot of music. I'm very committed to a process when it comes to drama, but with comedy, I think it's really about letting loose.

When I was little, I was a voracious reader, and that really led me to acting as well. I loved being transported into someone else's life, and that's what reading provided me. I also really love to entertain people.

I love acting. It's an interesting challenge to make something that doesn't exist appear like it's happening, and to do it in a real way.

I get a lot of inspiration from the audience feedback to our live shows.

With acting, you are a small part of the creative process, and sometimes it is hard to feel like you are making an impact.

Pretty much everything that I pick, when it comes to choosing roles, is just based on things and materials that grabs me. It's pretty much the subject matter that I gravitate towards.

What made me fall in love with acting, which is my life, was watching other people perform. It made me hunger to do that.

You always hear actors say, 'Theater is my first love,' and it is. It's a time when you really get to do what you do, and there's not a lot of waiting around and interruption and not a lot of money involved - sometimes money really clouds the waters of creativity.

One tries to be an observer as an actor and indeed as a director because the small things, the give-away things are what are really interesting to a performer.

Actors may not realize the extent of their own power. Acting is creation. It's them bringing their own stuff, letting it marinate in their soul, in their creative engine.

Actors are observers of human life, of human behavior.

When you're an actor, you get your ideas from everywhere - even from someone on the street. We're total thieves!

Something people say about acting is that acting is listening. But I think that writing is listening, too. That you really have to listen to what are they saying and what they're communicating to you. And so, a lot of it is just getting stuff down.