Naseeruddin Shah Quotes

Film acting is one of the only industries where you're criticized for working hard. In any other industry, it's considered a quality and something to behold.

I think people are always trying to demystify whatever acting is, so they want to know what your method is.

I used to ask Sean questions about acting. He's a brilliant actor, but I could never digest his information. I work primarily on an intuitive level.

Any acting job that I ever got, I always treated it like I was a neophyte; I didn't know what I was doing, and I was going to work just as hard as I do on my stand-up.

I've always approached acting from a very workmanlike perspective.

I had the benefit of watching good people show me what it really is to be an actor - the day in and day out of it.

I am not into method acting.

Every actor has a method.

Some people say, 'Do you have any theories on acting?' And I say, well maybe: I think you can start with zero and end with zero. You don't have to go anywhere, you don't have to go for the result.

As a filmmaker I find it much more rewarding to work with actors who are classically trained. It's about the work and only the work.

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

As an actor, acting is like playing a sport. You do this thing that's intangible, and while it's happening, it's great. But then when it's done, there's really no tangible product. Someone else is capturing it and turning it into something tangible.

I started to see acting as a real science. That really helped me grow as an actor.

I truly love the rehearsal process, those eight hours a day! I really love actors.

And at NYU, I went to the Atlantic Theater Company, and they have two main points. One of them is to always be active in something instead of just feeling it. And the other is figuring out your character.

I think that various styles and methods and approaches are an invention of people who don't understand the process of acting and who try very hard to label things.

I started going to acting school when I was 14, and I would always have my own take on things.

Well every moment, every project is different. I took a very slow approach to acting, trying to really work with people I could learn from. And I got something different out of each experience.

I've had probably way too many acting classes, and you try to sort of shed - I think over a period of time, you'll shed what doesn't stick with you, and you'll hang onto those things that do.

I don't have any theories about acting, and I don't think about how to do it, except that an actor shouldn't take himself too seriously, and shouldn't try to make acting something it isn't.

I consider myself an actor that tries to have as many tools as possible in the bag. And I think that includes the method, then of course it includes some improv techniques, and includes all kinds of different things, because you never know when you're going to have to work on something and in what way.

It's not like every actor needs to train, but an actor will either develop their process through training or through working.

I love acting classes. I think they're great. It's like working out in the gym. It's a great place to figure out everything that's working and what isn't working.

My favorite acting books are Stella Adler's 'The Art of Acting' and 'Sanford Meisner on Acting.'

Good acting is really excellent carpentry.