Ellen Burstyn Quotes

Theater is a way to keep challenging myself.

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

Acting is something I love to do. I love to perform and I love the art, the craft of it.

So what's so enticing about doing a play is that you get to do that thing that got you into acting in the first place... There's a real attraction to being able to play, to just play. And that's something that theater affords you.

I want to do more theater, which allows you to take bigger risks and experiment.

You always hear actors say, 'Theater is my first love,' and it is. It's a time when you really get to do what you do, and there's not a lot of waiting around and interruption and not a lot of money involved - sometimes money really clouds the waters of creativity.

I think having a character piece is great. It will challenge you and be different.

I ask all my actors to do two things: I ask them to fail for me, and I ask them to surprise me.

Acting is something I've always loved and enjoyed.

As rewarding as a good film role can be, there is just nothing like getting up on a stage and taking an audience for a ride.

Acting is the ability to dream on cue.

I've done a lot of theater, and I know that it's a different audience each time who doesn't know the story, and we have to tell it.

The wonderful thing about theater as an art form is it's a purely empirical art form. It's all about what works. And every show, every production, is created anew right from the moment you go into the rehearsal hall.

I'd also like to do a play. I've never done theater, and constantly changing and refining a performance is something I'd like to do, even though it may sound like work to some people - and it probably is work.

What you learn from studying acting is that you have to have the courage to just make strong choices.

Acting is the most communicative thing I can imagine doing.

I want to do primarily film and theater; I always want to do a play because it feeds my soul. It's like an exercise on stage.

In a drama, you don't make a fool of yourself.

To be in theater you have to be a kind of psychologist, for you're always trying to understand character and motives.

The theater, for me, has always been a place where I'm free to be more creative, a place to sharpen my tools.

Acting is an imaginative leap, really, isn't it? And imaginations prosper in different circumstances.

I think my best teacher and my best study was theater in general. It taught me a lot of patience and a lot of hard work, and I think that theater teaches you that you've got to know your stuff because you only get one chance.

I don't like going for more than a year without doing theatre. I don't mind falling flat on my face so long as I feel I'm open to the possibility of something extraordinary happening.

Acting is a mysterious process.

Acting is really scary, but it's also challenging, fun, hard work. There's always an element of improvisation with every actor, even when something is really scripted.