Joanna Kerns Quotes

In every film, whether it's a fictional character or not, you create an idea of the character and for me I always do a bad impersonation to start with.

It's down to the actors to show the writers the potential of the character.

I find it easier to play someone who is so far from me because you create someone - you build this person based on the story and the script, with the director.

That's what I love about acting, is playing different roles. I want to work for the character, and not make it work for me.

Well, with each character that I play in my life as an actor, I try to figure out how to find the challenge.

As an actor, I have always felt, everything is available in the script. If there is anything you feel the script lacks, you can have a discussion with the director and point out those.

I love acting, and ultimately all my characters are very different, and each character I love in a different way.

When you start out on a project as an actor, you know, you approach the character from the standpoint of maybe writing a list - even if it's a mental list that you make - of the adjectives that the character has or that character possesses.

Creating a character and living truthfully through her is a whole different ball game. It's all part of the same person but it's a much newer medium for me.

I do not use any set methods, not even The Method. The character after all is in the lines.

I just love to be able to actually build a character.

I had to focus and create a character in Bagger Vance, not just do my 'Will Smith' thing and get paid.

I always tend to see, right after reading the script, the character and how I want to play it. I guess that's sort of most of the work, preparing for the role, but almost the creation of the character seems to go on as I read through the script.

I have just gained a deeper and deeper respect for acting and the whole art of it because you're really trying to live a life and to do the best justification for it.

I am a professional actor, and I don't go about moralizing about what the character does. Otherwise, seriously, why be an actor? You're not making some kind of social statement. That's not what actors do.

I think the buzz of acting is playing people different to you, and for me, that means traversing all genres.

I love to be a working actor, and I love to read scripts as they come in. If I find the script or character that is interesting, I want to transform myself into that character.

There are always practical decisions to be made about any character you're playing.

When you have a book as material as it is, it's a lot easier to create a character because you have so many resources to draw upon when acting.

As actors, you play people who are not yourselves!

Good actors, especially when they know their character, will come in and either tell you in advance that they have an idea, or in the middle of the rehearsal or the scene they'll let it loose and you go, 'Ah that's great.'

I believe that as a writer and a director, you're only providing the skeleton of a character, and you're hiring actors to fill it out.

How do I act so well? What I do is I pretend to be the person I'm portraying in the film or play.

My background is really being a writer's actor - that seems to be the way I work best, bringing out the best of writing. There's a whole range of acting skills, and some people can be astonishing with very poor material. That's not me; my skill is essentially unlocking the writing.

I read the script and try not to bring anything personal into it. I make notes, talk to the director and we decide what kinds of shades should be in the character.