Sam Levinson Quotes

I'm an actor. I'll take a lead if it's offered. The really good actors can fill a character, no matter what the role is. A good leading man is a character actor; a good character actor can be a leading man.

People know my background and for people who need an improviser, I'm one of the people they think to use if I'm appropriate for the part.

Once you don't smile on film, they say, 'Let's have that bloke who doesn't smile.'

I do always feel very proud and flattered by being asked to be a part of American productions playing American characters.

I never look at the size of the film when I'm looking for a part.

I think filmmakers are always interested in getting the best actor that they can find, the person who's the most right for it.

As an actor, you can play different age ranges and different ethnicities.

It must be hard interviewing actors.

I enjoy working with actors so much and having the chance to be surprised by them.

As an actress, my best tools are my emotions and expressions.

Not until somebody turns round and says, 'Art, how do you fancy playing Charles Dickens? How do you fancy playing Prince Charles in this biopic?' Until those movements come, then no, we haven't got past anything.

When I auditioned for Tim Robbins for 'Cradle Will Rock,' the young girl who read with me was very young, and I said to Tim, 'I'm sorry, but I don't have enough imagination to pretend this girl is my husband!' And he said, 'Well, I'll read it with you.' Which was very nice; he was the director. And I ended up getting the part.

Good looks may be enough for a heroine, but to become an artiste, you need at least a working knowledge of the language.

I have to say that as an actor, I really look for the role. I'm not really looking to see if it's for television or film, because there are highly talented people in both mediums.

As an actress, emotions are my business, my stock-in-trade. As such, I've dealt with them nearly all my life.

I'm an actor. I'm hired to play whatever it is they want me to play - if I'm lucky enough to be cast for the part - which seems to take a lot of luck these days.

It's an acting job - acting natural.

Everybody reads for me. I was never weird about that. I never minded coming in and reading. They should know if I'm the right person, and I should know if I want to do a movie.

Just to have the opportunity to play an American in America is a dream come true for me.

Acting takes so much energy.

I'm not interested in going after a part. I think if someone wants me for a part and approaches me then I'll take it on a case-by-case basis and see what that part is.

I didn't want to be stuck in Dickens period dramas because then I would never know if I was any good.

I'm an actress. It's my passion.

The best situation is where they cast you and then they trust you.

If I were to be cast as Cyrano or a Connecticut prep-school teacher or a gay boutique owner, it would only happen if some director I had worked with in the past said, 'Why don't we give Rispoli a shot at it?'