Richard Madden Quotes

I'm pretty much of a physical actor.

There are times when I consciously give the character something physical - a walk, the way he sits, how he talks, or his lack of physicality, which is like a physicality.

Sometimes I say I feel more like a dancer than an actor, because there are things implied about being an actor that I don't really like. I feel more comfortable with the word 'performer'. I like being the thing. I like being the doer. There's a factualness to it. And then certain resonances happen out of how you apply yourself physically.

I've always enjoyed the physical side of acting.

Body language is essential for an actress, even if you don't use your body in an athletic way. Just to be free, to use it like your voice. A body can be small and have incredible violence. A body talks.

I tell you, I've always been quite physical about acting. I've always felt about for the shape of someone or the deportment, for better or worse. Sometimes I think I've done it disastrously, and other times, when I'm not thinking about it so much, less disastrously, but I can't seem to control it much.

You have an awareness of your body and how to use it and I think that if you can embody a character physically it's another really useful tool.

There are some roles that are more still and internal and emotional, and others that are more physical, which get you out of your mind for a while.

I use my hands a lot while acting.

When eventually I started to act a bit more, I realised that circus school had taught me something that a lot of actors my age didn't have: physicality. They didn't know how to move. Acting is not all about talking. There is something animalistic about it.

The body cannot lie. You cannot be somebody else onstage, no matter how good of an actor or dancer or singer you are. When you open your arms, move your finger, the audience knows who you are, you know.

I am dancing all the time. Every gesture, the body line of every pose, the way I get from place to place, the movement in the acting - none of it would be the way it is if I weren't a dancer.

When it comes to acting, you really have to create movement which in some ways is dancing. And dancing, I feel is very important to act as well. I wouldn't put one over the other.

A lot can be said with just a look, or the way the body moves. Each song is a different character. So each song takes on a different movement of the body. And the body has to go with the subject and the attitude that you have toward that subject.

One of the things I'm always reminded of when I'm back on stage is how much you have to be aware of and in control of. There is no tight shot. There is no 'we're only shoulders-up this time.' No, from the top of your head to your pinky toe, you're telegraphing part of the story the entire time you're up there.

I just play the little guy, except I play him through dance.

For the theatre one needs long arms... an artiste with short arms can never make a fine gesture.

In a costume, you need very exaggerated body language - as you say, sort of mime-type skills.

What sculptors do is represent the essence of gesture. What is important in mime is attitude.

When the music is physically demanding, I want to make sure that the effort involved is put across to the audience through physical gesture.

Acting is very physical, even when it doesn't appear to be. It's about the arc of your body's language through a film.

When you act, your whole body is the instrument.

I'm a very physical actor.

To be a good actor, you need to be able to emote with your body.

When we did 'Endgame,' we were all hunched over and making the craziest sounds. Then I graduated and went right into auditioning for 'Gossip Girl' and things like that, where, as an actress, you're required to act from the neck up and, from the neck down. It's a presentation of your birthday-suit self.