Misty Copeland Quotes

Why do you act? You act for an audience. In the theatre, you're in their presence. Film stars don't know what it is to have an audience.

The first time I acted was in high school in Florida, and when I heard that applause I felt so alive and felt that electricity go up my spine.

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.

If you're not doing something right, you can feel it on stage, and if it isn't going well, the audience will tell you. A teacher can teach you sense memory and this and that, but until you get in front of an audience, you don't really feel it.

I'm not trying to take anything away from film acting, because it's also really hard, and I worship the people who are great at it. But to actually have to go out on stage night after night and do it with your audience right there is so wild and scary and exciting and fun and all the things that I remember loving about it.

For me, there's nothing more valuable as an actor, or better way to learn, than getting to perform in front of a live audience, no matter where you are. Whether it's on Broadway, in Florida, or doing a tour.

Theater is such its own living, breathing animal. You do a show every night, but it's different every night. Being on stage, you're experiencing a journey.

Actors are very demanding because they have nowhere to hide. If I write a scene, it doesn't turn out very well, I don't ever have to show it to anyone; when you turn the camera on, or when you walk on stage, they have to feel like what's happening is real.

In theatre there is a certain discipline that you have to follow, and you have to be experienced to be performing in front of a live audience. It is satisfying to me.

I just was never into performing. It's just hard work. It's hard work.

No live performance can ever be perfect, and that's what keeps you on your toes - it pushes you to practice harder, show up for that 8 A.M. ballet class, and walk through the stage door every night just to have the chance to do it all again.

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.

A live audience with live reactions feeds a different sort of acting that will then inform your film work, and vice versa.

I wouldn't say that I was a born performer, because I work very hard at it.

I need to do more on stage. I've got to get my fix!

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

A stage actor has to be 10% aware of the audience as he's performing.

As much as I can act, I don't have anything in me that yearns to be an actor - that sense of needing to be onstage, in costume, in character; that is utterly not interesting to me.

There's no second chance on stage, and I was trained to make the most of my first chance.

If you're in a room and can be seen by actors, you need to understand that you can be felt by them.

People prefer doing films. That is not the case with me. I don't do theatre because I have to but because it makes me feel alive. I enjoy the whole process of rehearsing, though repetition can make it tedious.

I've had plenty of crappy jobs, but the only job I've ever really dedicated myself to has been acting. It's my life.

I become a better actor after I step on a stage in front of, like, 500 people when it's just me, a microphone and my guitar. You don't get as nervous walking into a room in front of 3 or 4 people and to do a scene or to walk on a set. You gain confidence.

I love acting, and it was really important to me to give it a real shot.

I think the wonderful thing about doing theater is that it's more of an actor's medium. I think that film is more of a director's medium. You can't edit something out on stage. It's there.