Colm Meaney Quotes

I didn't really look like a character actor, yet those were the roles I loved to play. If you were a character actor who didn't necessarily look like a character actor, you had to play bad guys.

I am a professional actor, and I don't go about moralizing about what the character does. Otherwise, seriously, why be an actor? You're not making some kind of social statement. That's not what actors do.

In the work that I normally do, you have a whole script, a whole arc, that you play. And I do believe a good actor will play every bit of information they're given.

I think being a character actor is exciting in that it allows you to embody completely different things, whether it's through wild accents or a crazy bad guy or a drunken good guy.

I love playing complex characters.

I really enjoy playing intelligent characters. I'm more interested in that than just emotional kind of Mum characters.

As an actor you get categorized by other people, but it's not like I arrange myself into comedy mode or serious mode. If it's good writing you just have to play it true - if it's funny, it's funny. But obviously you don't want it to be amusing if you're playing Hedda Gabler!

Every actor just wants good writing.

I think that different actors go about their preparation differently, but when it comes to acting, I use my imagination.

As an actor, you most often play relatively average parts, so to get to play extreme versions of anything, those are the most exciting parts.

I'm not the kind of actor that would know what my character had for breakfast last Tuesday.

I never really thought about what characters I play. I always just wanted different characters.

As an actor, one's role is very much to respond and react to the situation within the context of the character and his world.

When you see something that is well-written, the actors can get behind it.

I think all great actors - and I don't classify myself as one of them, incidentally - but I think all great actors listen well and I've learned that from a lot of the very good actors with whom I've worked - to really listen to what people say.

When you do a play, or even a movie, you have weeks to finesse your character. You really understand why they do what they do. In TV, you get new material weekly about your character.

I work a lot; I love to compose, ponder, and take notes when preparing for a role. I cut all the scenes, collate the images, form the character and shape its personality, then I make meticulous notes and transcribe each scene on my notebook.

When I do film, I really take on roles and I take on characters.

Most of the time, actors respond to the thing that's so far from who they are. We all want to play the serial killer and the ex-con.

Most of my training at graduate school was geared towards drama, so I feel good about it, and I can do it, but it requires a lot more work from me. I feel like with drama... well, with all acting, really, you need to honor the truth of the situation.

My approach to the work is the same, whether I had the lead or a supporting role. I consider myself a character actor in the true sense of the word. Unless I'm doing my autobiography, I'm playing a character.

With any actor, if you know your character well enough, you'll know pretty much what he would say under any circumstance, or whatever situation might rear its head.

I'm hoping I can evade a type and go for roles based on what I consider plausible and what I consider good.

Each character I play has different dimensions. I'm not interested in words that pull them together.

Any good actor is a character actor.