Martin Freeman Quotes

I don't think I'm portrayed in the media the way I really am - but then who is?

I'd like to get my public image nearer to my reality. People have a lot of misconceptions.

Who I am gets in the way of people looking innocently at the parts I play.

My public persona is badly warped and bears little resemblance to the person those closest to me know.

When people come up to me and say, 'Oh my God - you're that character,' I feel like replying, 'No, I'm just like you; it's just a job.'

I don't like the idea of having a public image. In the end, you have an image of someone, which becomes true whether it is or not.

I'm a New York person. I've never gone out of the way to speak to the press to change my persona - I probably should have. It's too late now. But when I first started I was like, "I'm gonna stay this way. I'm gonna be this way," and I continued to. I probably should have sugarcoated it like, "This is not really the way I am - I'm an actor."

I feel I disappoint people when I am not 'Samantha.' They seem surprised when I don't have the same voice and the same mannerisms. They were booking 'Samantha,' and I would show up.

I don't consider myself enigmatic, but I don't spend a lot of time thinking about my public persona.

I know a lot of people think, 'She's so glamorous.' But that's really not me at all.

I am not afraid if people think Matt LeBlanc in 'Episodes' is who I am - my friends and family know who I am.

I never wanted to be Marilyn - it just happened. Marilyn's like a veil I wear over Norma Jeane.

Well, I think most people understand that there's a big difference between who you are and who, you know, you play.

There's a discrepancy between what you think you are and what other people think you are.

It's funny: people who meet me say, 'I thought you'd be different.' But I'm still the same guy.

My public image is absolutely not a fair reflection of who I am.

I know very well the difference between my image and who I am.

My image is a media-built image. I'm not what my image is.

Whenever I see a mirror, I just look at myself, or when I see my own reflection, I quickly take a look; I won't lie about that. But when I am in front of the camera, it's just the character, not me.

The image that is on screen is very different from who I am in real life.

People like to define you through what they've seen you do. There are aspects of my personality, I guess, that come through on-screen, but I don't sit around thinking, 'I've been a bumbling suitor all my life.'

I think I do become someone else. In real life, I’m very shy, but people think I’m this angry, sexy kind of... god knows what they think! And there I am in front of them, nervous and blushing and stuttering and whatnot. So I’m definitely not the person you see in pictures. I mean, in pictures, you look like something you’re not.

You'd think with all the magazines and the covers and all the sexy stuff I've done, that that's hugely a part of me. But even though I've played those roles and I've dressed up and been on the covers of these things and done this and that, it is all such pretense. So I just thought, "I can't be one of those girls. I wear bib jeans. I don't wear underwear like that. I don't move in the world like that." You know, I'm more bare-footed Rastafarian, crazy.

Generally speaking, people who know me will tell you that my public persona is not that different from my private persona.

It doesn't surprise me that people can't see beyond my image. It's amazing, but I can understand it. That's what image is for. But it's never a problem for me. It's only a problem for them. I don't really care. I do what I want regardless.