Tom Cruise Quotes

Well, I think one of the main things that you have to think about when acting in the movies is to try not to make the acting show.

When you drop your guard in films, the acting process compensates. You get lazy and you start acting.

In acting there's two different things: You're either pitching in a scene, or you're catching.

Since I was from the theater, that's how I learned how to go through the process of being a character. That's how I learned, and that's what I was comfortable doing. And then, the first feature films, I'm sure I was no fun because I did not want to be spontaneous in that filmic way that really can work for you.

The actor's job is to put themselves in the shoes of the character they are trying to portray as truthfully as possible.

Some actors get by with behaving, not acting. You've got to sell the effect. I act more in the 'Nightmare' movies because it's not like me. I'm acting, not reacting.

In acting class, teachers talk about how the 'givens' of a situation help define a character.

I'm almost tempted, when I'm playing a real person, not to meet them. Afterwards, maybe. But, the job is the same. You still have to show up on screen and be alive and real and all that stuff.

First of all, the actor needs to get out of the character's way. You follow the character without judgment or prejudice or preconceived ideas.

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

There are a lot of actors who will sit here and talk to you about characters - 'He does this, and she's a really interesting character because she does this.' I'm not like that at all. I'm not an actory actor.

As actors, you play people who are not yourselves!

You take what you know, and you put it through your own prism. If I play characters that break down or cry, it's Gary Oldman crying; it's not the character crying.

How do I act so well? What I do is I pretend to be the person I'm portraying in the film or play.

The trick to acting is not to show off, it's to think the thoughts of the character.

Acting is not acting. It isn't putting on a face and dancing around in a mask. It's believing that you are that character and playing him as if it were a normal day in the life of that character.

Actors don't need a lot of talk beyond the first few sentences. They may say they don't draw on their own life, but all actors do.

When you get to set, you don't try to play the plot; you just play the character.

One of the reasons why good actors are good is that they have poor impulse control. If you put them in front of a camera, they respond as if it was actually happening, in real time, rather than doing it after several takes.

For better or worse, I don't necessarily categorize myself as a method actor; I'm not going to make claims that I stayed in character 24/7.

Some actors are what I call more like mirror actors, which means that they do a performance at home in front of the mirror, and then they go deliver it. I'm not that type.

I like to prepare for my roles well, so you can call me a method actor to an extent.

Once you are in the character, you should let your inner actor take over you.

When I'm acting, I just come up with people I've known, and I stick with it.

I am neither a method actor nor a trained one. So, I don't generally prepare for any role. Becoming the character and being in that moment are most important.