Viola Davis Quotes

I don't think there's a certain part of a character I take with me. There's a certain part of me I leave with each character, though.

Even when I do roles that are really profoundly abusive, like, I would say, in 'Deadwood' - there's a guy who's a breeding ground for ignorance and hurtful behavior - the fact that people are so taken aback by that is a good thing because they're looking at themselves, and there's a part of me in there, too.

In every character you play, as much as you hate to admit it as an actor, but there's an element of you that you bring to it.

I tend to get comfortable with the dialogue and find out who the person is in the script and try to hit that. People are sort of independent of their occupations and their pastimes. You don't play a politician or a fireman or a cowboy - you just play a person.

When I act, a part of me goes into the character I am playing.

So you can't judge the character you're playing ever.

In the moment of acting you don't feel like anything, you feel like the person, as much as you can.

Sometimes you can just step into the character, and you get all your feelings and emotions just from sympathizing with her and being her. But then, other times, you just have to resort back to anything that you've been through in your own life and try to play that.

It's absolutely true that it's almost impossible to play a character without having any affection for him.

You know, the character of Isabelle in 'Love Crime' is the only character I feel the furthest from. I have nothing to share with her, so it was really difficult. Being an actor of composition is something, but you always base yourself on something you know about.

In a weird way, I live vicariously through the characters I play as an actor.

You put a lot of yourself into a character, so even though he's not you, in a sense it is you.

I don't even draw on my life experiences when I'm acting. I just try and make it feel like I'm living through that person's skin.

There's a little bit of me in everybody that I play.

I try and find a way to love every character I play.

I don't know how to play a character unless I love him.

There are elements of myself in every character I do, just because you take from your real life experiences and sprinkle those into your character.

As actors, we have to take characters, and we have to feel for them and ultimately become them, and share that on screen so that audience feels that.

I do tend to find when you're playing characters, often - just for the time you're playing them - there are sides of your personality that get stronger because you draw on them more.

I think there's a bit of me in every character. Basically it just depends on what happens with the character.

I'm sure there's pieces of me in all the characters I play.

You definitely put a bit of yourself in every character, and you always have to have an understanding and empathy for the person that you play.

In all my characters, I try to find an iota of myself, and in Castle, I found a lot. He gets away with a lot, so that's fun.

I think it's necessary to identify with anything - with any character you play, there's got to be something in common, so you can link up to that person, even if it's like one tiny thing. But it's equally fun to play somebody completely different, and trying to find what that thing is to make it.

Everybody has parts of themselves that they're not 100% happy with - that's what makes you human. And being an actor, your job is to play human beings. Your job is to play real people.