Irrfan Khan Quotes

As an actor, I'm constantly striving to find the darkness in the lighter characters and the lightness in the darker characters.

Part of my strength as an actor comes from what I've learned all these years: when you play a villain, you try to get the light touches; when you play a hero, you try to get in some of the warts.

I think Ada in 'The Piano' is the most interior character I've ever had the chance to play, either on the stage or in anything I've done for film or TV.

When a character has so many secrets and so much inner life, it's a joy to play those characters because you can use your craft.

Good acting comes from finding the essence of a character.

I try to steal from the best. Suck it all in. 'Taxi Driver' is really a bible for film actors, a master class. A lot of emotional power, a lot of emotional depth but it's contained and you just see the tip of the iceberg.

When you are developing a character you have to bring so much of yourself to the role.

When I get a role, I try to delve as deeply as possible into the character.

People say that they like the characters that they believe that I am. But, I don't as much. I like the characters that I believe that I am not. Like my role on 'Law and Order.' That character unnerved people. And I loved every second of it. I want to continue growing as an actress. There are ways that I can reach quicker, or deeper, with acting.

A while ago, I did a television adaptation of 'Bleak House,' and the character I played, as far as I was concerned, had no redeeming features whatsoever. I wasn't about to try to find any; I didn't need to.

All the characters I've ever played have really had nothing to do with looks. There's a lot of things that are a lot more interesting to me to play than that.

I try to pick characters that I find interesting and complex and that I feel I can bring something of myself to.

I don't categorize characters into one syllable. These are fully-rounded characters that I don't judge; I just play them.

You take what you know, and you put it through your own prism. If I play characters that break down or cry, it's Gary Oldman crying; it's not the character crying.

I just play him as myself, I don't ease myself into any role really. I stick a beard on and play me.

When watching movies, I was always inspired by the performances of the cast. Of course, the story and the direction and all that intrigued me. But what actors would propel themselves to do, and be, was awesome. It was like, how could these people give so much?

All of the actors that have served to me as inspiration over the years have been those more associated with dramatic work who have, in turn, been able to embody their characters and lose themselves in those characters that they create.

What happens with every role, you have to trick yourself, you have to creatively find ways to explore the mental state of your character.

I've always done method acting. I'm a method actor, and I've done that for years. I never did acting and decided to take it seriously because all the parts people want me to do were playing the pretty role. If I want to play someone pretty, I'll play myself.

When I look at a character, whether he's good or bad, one scene or 10 scenes, I just have to find my way in.

Acting is different from stand-up. It gives you this ability to enter into another character, to create another person.

The actor is there to translate what's on the page onto the stage or the screen. So I find it important that an actor manages to actually get out of the way, vanish as a person behind the character, never to be seen or talked about again. That's my philosophy.

I am a method actor, but I'm also a film actor as well as a method actor. Characters that don't have humility, whether they are heroes or villains, are hard to relate to. All characters in every aspect of what we do should have humility. If they don't, then they're a cartoon character.

As an actor, you can't just imitate someone. You have to get under her skin.

Sometimes you read things that people don't even notice in a performance, that you just are moved by or understand that this actor is really living his or her life on the screen. The first time I realized that was when I watched Brando in 'On the Waterfront.'