Laura Benanti Quotes

When I was doing 'All in the Family,' half the time, I was looking at where the cameras were, where were the other actors in the scene, what the audience was doing.

It's hard enough to just be a good actor. When you're on set, there's everything going against you. There are walkie talkies going off, the camera is creaking and moving, there are boom mics, and you have to hit your mark and make sure you don't shadow the other person's face. It's a really technical process.

When you act you realise acting is not that difficult - the other technicalities are, like the mark, angle, light, etc. So you just not have to memorise your lines but keep in mind the mark, the angle and light. It is difficult.

You can see all sorts of things in film acting if you know where to look and what to look for. One thing I often notice is that the actor is looking for his mark, the place where he has to stand to be in the right place in the shot.

Soaps are the best. They really are. If you can do a soap, well, you can do anything. You have to learn pages of dialogue very quickly.

I love working with actors. That's what the set really is, for me. It's my time with the actors.

Mostly in movies an actor has to come to a mark, an X, and deliver his line - but that's so artificial, that's not how people really behave.

I tell you, being on a soap is the hardest work, and it gets so old. Get on your mark, get in the light, don't turn too far upstage - that's all it is.

I guess I'm used to TV where we don't really rehearse. You block it out, and then you just start shooting.

My first kiss was onscreen. My character learned to drive before I did, so when they asked me to hit the mark with that giant Lincoln, I hit the camera instead. Being an actor gives an interesting perspective on life. And in my case, an interesting preview.

Soap operas are like TV boot camp. You have to be able to self-direct, learn a ton of dialogue in a short amount of time, and deliver a performance in one or two takes.

It might sound odd, but filming a soap is closer to acting in a play than filming episodic television.

For a movie actor, the biggest challenge on TV is the number of close-up shots.

Having to walk and talk and hit a mark and open a door proved nearly impossible for me. I suppose that's why we're on a reality show and not 'Mad Men.' Because we don't act.

I don't think I had a script on 'King Kong.' But usually you read a script and then you go and audition for it. It's rare when there's no script. I sort of like the latter better, because I'm more successful at it.

I never prepare. I think that's completely overrated. It's a very simple job. All you have to do is hit this bright mark, stand in the right spot and say the line. So I don't really believe in preparation.

Film acting is really the trick of doing moments. You rarely do a take that lasts more than 20 seconds. You really earn your spurs acting onstage. I needed to do that for myself. I would hate to say at the end of everything that I never did a stage play.

You have to like the characters you play.

The thing about being an actor is that you're acting. It's not that big of a deal of to play someone different from yourself.

I really learned how to act on camera through 'Power Rangers' because I hadn't done a lot of film and TV.

By the time I got to the Fox studio for my first major film, I knew how to hit a mark. I knew how to memorize lines. I knew how to pay attention.

When you're working on a film, it's not theater; you don't have a few weeks of rehearsal. A lot of times you are showing up on set, and you've never been to the place; you've never met the other actors you're working with.

When you are an actor every day kind of morphs into one as there is no set structure to my job.

I love doing emotional scenes. As I've had a perfect life, I don't really have much to pull from. But it's really fun and not that challenging. It's almost pretty easy. The hardest thing is to try and make people laugh. That's a really hard thing.

I used to joke I was a point-and-click actor. My whole process has been about trusting your instincts and hitting your mark.