John Burnham Schwartz Quotes

To be a great actor, you really don't need to go to acting school or learn dance classes or work on your body. You have to be intelligent. You have to draw on a lot of emotions that you go through in life that you can tap into once you work on a set.

I think to be a good actor you need either a good experience of life or education, or both.

An amateur can be great in front of the camera, but you need an education to get on stage where you have full control as an actor.

In order to be a good actor, I'm a firm believer that you need to bring something to the table.

My acting chops are awful.

If you got a good imagination, a lot of confidence and you kind of know what you are saying, then you might be able to do it. I know a lot of colorful characters at home that would make great actors.

I've seen people with a tremendous amount of educational background in the field not turn out to be terribly good actors, and I've seen people with no education in the field turn out to be people that I admire quite a bit.

I like to do theater and hopefully be effective. Most actors, at least contemporary actors of my generation, can't do it. They don't have the chops.

Just because I could model didn't automatically mean I could act.

Actors are not necessarily smart people.

I think that acting could be a talent.

When I was a kid, I thought good acting was fascinating, and I could tell the difference. I could see that at like 9 years old.

I think there are a lot of actors who are excellent at cold reads, and they go to an audition, and they read the part and nail it, but then when it comes to the performance, they don't have something.

In theater, there's a lot of work to do to build the characters. It's a great experience.

Two, I actually learned a lot of things that served me very well when it came to repeating performances on stage, because it is a craft and you do need a technique for it.

Onstage, there's no hiding; you either can or can't act. There's no second take.

Acting is one of those things that anybody can do because no one can learn it, but only a few people can really do because it's nothing you can learn.

You learn an incredible amount doing theatre, not just about to behave.

I've worked with some actors who can't act.

Any of Bette Midler's concerts should be required viewing for every actor/performer. She has the audience in the palm of her hands at all times and can switch emotions on a dime: Great singer, great actress, great comedian - fearless.

I really believe great actors, even with disease and age, can be great.

I've always been fairly confident in my acting.

Beyond any role that I ever had, really early on as a stand-up, I would see actors decide to try it and they would bomb miserably. What I realized was that stand-up, acting and writing are all their own disciplines.

I knew absolutely nothing about acting, and had to be taught everything. Some people are born naturals and know how to walk, talk and hold themselves. I didn't and had to learn everything.

The armoury of having any academic education does not necessarily set you up for being a good or better actor.