Julia Stiles Quotes

For me, a film is a film, and I just want to be part of good stories to grow as an actor.

Whenever I get a good script, I don't care whether it's telly or theatre or big screen - I'm not bothered.

I need to react to a script, to feel strongly about it in some way. And I need it to be a complex character for sure. And also, I think a lot about what kind of audience there is for the film, what they're looking for and ways to connect with them in the playing of a character.

It's your job as an actor to fill out the blanks. I love doing that. To fill in the bones.

I love doing theater so much - being in front of an audience and seeing how a character grows and develops with every performance.

I don't really worry about the size of the part much any more. It's nice to have more time to work on the character, and to have big scenes to play. But if there's something playable there, and if it's interesting to do, then that's nice.

As an actor, one's role is very much to respond and react to the situation within the context of the character and his world.

As for doing more dramatic work over comedy, I do whatever turns me on at the moment.

I usually don't find myself reacting to my characters. I just create them ... And let the audience decide whether they're empathetic or scared or compelled to cheer me on.

I like character-driven stuff. It doesn't matter, the size of the part.

The job of an actor is the same in all of them, really. I mean, you're just creating a character that you hope people will believe, so it doesn't make that much of a difference really.

You try to pick good stories, and that's pretty much all the control you have as an actor.

I get to play characters that kind of shock people and I enjoy doing that. I like characters that have meaning and get people in the heart. I want to be able to get people to cry or make people angry or sad.

I really love the process, with stage, of rehearsal, you get to create a character, and you have a beginning, a middle, and an end of story. And in television, you don't.

The good and wonderful thing about my whole career is that I've always felt that the audience, if I do it well, will track wherever I go, whether it's President or a lawyer or bad guy or good. All I have to do is execute the material enough where they buy into it. I've had the great luxury of the audiences accepting that.

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.

I don't care about sympathy. I care about playing a character who's understandable and clear.

One of my favorite experiences in my career, certainly one of the most interesting characters I've ever played, was Simon Lee on 'The Event.' That was a show I was quite proud of and a character I really enjoyed playing. It was one of the most three-dimensional characters that was ever written for me and that I'd ever gotten to play.

I gravitate to the roles, not necessarily television or film. It's just the fact that, for me, the most interesting roles have been in television.

Your job as an actor is to piece together whatever you've learned in your training, or whatever you have experienced in your life, to piece together a person.

I'm just first of all looking for a part that's well written and speaks to me.

It's a dream to be able to just play a multi-faceted character.

I love exploring the characters that I play, but the reason I sign on for something isn't the details of the story but the universal message.

I love actors, and I love projects that give them space and room, and I aim for these projects where the characters are that important.

Whenever I like a character or a script, I take up the project and leave the rest to the audience.