Edie Falco Quotes

It is not whether you really cry. It's whether the audience thinks you are crying.

People would read all kinds of reaction into it, but Tracy told me himself that half the time he was just standing very still, trying to look sober and composed. That takes nothing away from him. The fact he got away with it was a tribute to his talent.

That's precisely what we do as actors: try to convince the audience we are somebody else. And if you can do that, you are really doing something.

Your imagination is your most important tool as an actor, as cheesy as that sounds.

Good acting is good acting, however you learn it. Some people who haven't studied are amazing. Some people like Leonardo DiCaprio are naturally gifted - he's learned technique by working with people early on.

It's a challenge, writing about actors, especially a good actor, because you can't always tell when they're being honest and when they're pretending - that is, when they're acting. The really good ones don't always seem to know themselves.

I think younger fans can't quite grasp that's what you do as an actor. They're like, 'It doesn't make sense. How can he talk like this when he talks like that on the show!' It's really cute, actually.

A magician pulls a rabbit from a hat, and actors pull truth from fiction.

As an actor, I feel one should use his look to trick people.

Sometimes perception is almost more important than the skill level of an actor. And if you give too much away, you have nothing to take for yourself and put onscreen. If people feel like they know you too well, they won't be able to indentify with the character you're trying to portray. Or they'll feel that you're just playing yourself, and then you just become a personality actor. And that's the death of any actor.

The first job I ever did in the theatre, I was supposed to be a genius piano player. I couldn't play the piano, but you just sit there at a piano like you're playing, and suddenly all this amazing music comes out and the audience believes you can do it. It's the same with computers. I love scenes where there are people yanking at monitors, "yes I'll put you through now," and you know they're just doing that. But you can look brilliant at all this technology. I love it.

I hate giving away tricks, you have to create an impression and not an image. You want audiences to look at certain places and not look at other places. And when you've got the help of modern-day abilities with technology, it's a much more natural look.

When you see my performances, even people that you might have known, like Nicky Barnes in 'American Gangster,' you have to get over the fact that I look like Cuba Gooding, Jr. But once you find truth in the performance, if I'm doing my job right, you believe everything.

Your artistry is a muscle that needs to be exercised, so if all you are doing is auditioning, you'll never get the satisfaction of fulfilling the need to play the part.

I have to say that one person I learned from the most as an actor in my life is Emmy Rossum. She is so insanely talented in the sense that when watching her work, it just turns into watching her speak - it's no longer acting; that's how good she is! She just becomes the person.

Acting, according to me, gets better with time and age. The more experiences you have in life, the more you have seen, the better equipped you are to deal with complexity and bring out the depth in characters.

It's not just about looking shocked if the scene demands it. It's about feeling that emotion. You can't lie to the camera, because it captures everything. This is what I have learnt over the years.

I think Nat's an amazing actor... He understands things about acting that most people don't.

Life is all in the setup. A lot of people think I got the world handed to me, and I let them think exactly that whilst they handed me the world.

For me, Domhnall is an acting teacher as much as anything. If I turn out to be half the actor he is, I'll be happy.

Things are not always as they seem.

Actors are bloody marvelous at hiding.

I took acting classes, and I'm always trying to improve myself. Everyone can improve, and the more you work in the industry, the better you are going to feel about it.

I think finding a way to relate material to yourself can be useful to some people but acting for me is just being really good at make-pretend and lying. I've always been a great liar.

Sometimes what we see, what's going on in front of us, isn't really what's happening.