James Gray Quotes

An actor's job is about putting across the author's intention; I don't think of myself on the same level as a creator.

My job as an actor is to cover and expose in varying allowance that - so that the audience can peek through the window to the people I create.

The beauty of performance for me is finding details with which to betray character.

The fundamental job of the actor is to tell about the human condition, to be a voice for the truest ideas and deepest emotions.

As an actor you become that lighting rod between the person who made the play and the audience.

When you see something that is well-written, the actors can get behind it.

I am a professional actor, and I don't go about moralizing about what the character does. Otherwise, seriously, why be an actor? You're not making some kind of social statement. That's not what actors do.

For me really good acting is about subtext.

There is always going to be a little bit of me in each character.

I treat any scene the same - dialogue, action - you're still creating something in character. It's all acting, fighting.

If I'm doing my job as an actor, the audience knows everything I know about the character.

I feel like my responsibility as an actor is to make characters as compelling and believable as possible.

As an actor, I've always found that my job is not to judge the content in which I've agreed to perform in. What I try to do is just find the truth in every moment that they've written.

In my experience, it's usually up to the actor how a character is portrayed.

How do you play 'righteous'? Do you just kind of stand up straighter? What does that mean as an actor? You don't really play a quality.

As an actor, the thing I want to do to an audience is always be ahead of them and always be surprising in the work without deviating from the writer's intention.

Honestly, as an actor, all I need to know, the way I kind of look at a scene, is like a puzzle. There are certain puzzle pieces that are bigger than others, and all I need to know is if this is going to fit here to make this part of the puzzle work.

The fact is, as actors, everything we do, bad or good, is a contribution. To me, it is a positive thing to give people as wide a range of human behavior with some sense of understanding of that behavior or some clue to it.

The right costume determines the character, helps the actor feel who he is, and serves the story.

When you watch it, you're like, Wow. I look like that. But it doesn't feel like that at all. It was about communicating with Gale Harold and getting across what I wanted to say about the character.

The closer a part is to you, the harder it is to play. Anything else is just imitation. If I'm playing a Russian countess, I get the hat, the accent, the outrageousness. Easy. Playing a murderess? Perfect.

A lot of actors, whatever movie you're working on, you make up a back story just for your own, to work off, even if the audience doesn't have it revealed to them. I think it's important that the audience makes up their own mind.

As an actor, you are always someone else's tool. You can have a connection with them, and you can share their point of view, but ultimately, you are helping them reflect.

You try, as an actor, to wear a mask; you're serving a story.

As an actor, you can have your opinions, but our responsibility is telling the point of view of this one character.