Elizabeth Pena Quotes

Auditioning for 'Philomena' was such a traumatic experience because I had three callbacks, and I was absolutely positive that I was just an option.

I think it's one of the main negative emotional ingredients that fuels show business, because there's so much at stake and the fear of failure looms large.

I worry a lot about what people think. I worry people think I'm not helping them enough, that they don't like my music, that I'm playing a song too fast or talking too fast. I worry my wife isn't happy with our relationship... I'm afraid somebody's going to take my career away from me. That it's going to go away, or I'm going to get fired.

I just think there are a lot of celebrities who don't feel that they have a voice. A lot of actors come from a place of fear, and that's just a general statement about actors. You're terrified the casting director won't like you, you're terrified the producer won't like you, you're terrified the director won't like you, and on and on.

A lot of guys who have never choked have never been in the position to do so.

When you blow an audition that you have a lot of importance on, it haunts you for years.

When expectations are really high, you're doomed.

I just don't want to fail, to be honest.

Pressure is self-doubt when you're unprepared.

Ever since I can remember, over-expectation and pressure have been my worst enemies.

I think all actors get scared because we're frightened to disappoint.

I think anytime you put the weight of the world on yourself saying, 'I have to perform,' or, 'I have to get a completion. I have to throw a touchdown,' nine times out of 10, I think you're going to fail.

Auditioning sucks!

It's hard to continue to be great and have so much on your back, knowing that even a little mistake can mess you up for good.

If you don't live up to somebody's standards, you get hammered.

I don't want to disappoint - that's a nightmare to me.

I lack confidence as an actor.

I thought that when you have more success that you'd feel more buoyed or feel more confident. But in fact my brain has the gift of switching it around and saying, 'Now people are expecting something. Now you're really going to let people down.'

I'm in a complete state of panic before I begin something because I'm sure that it's going to be a complete disaster. I'm going to do a worse job than anybody could ever imagine anybody doing on the planet Earth.

Writing on assignment, with lots of money handed to you before you even began, got very scary for me. My dread of not being perfect, something I got from a childhood surrounded by powerful, successful people, began to infect everything I wrote.

I think maybe in a way it gets worse because you come in with a real reputation and they've paid you lots of money and all that.

When I first started as an editorial cartoonist, I was terrified on a daily basis. Filling that hole the next day, knowing that tens of thousands of people were going to expect something funny. There is still that pressure, but you kind of learn how to cope with it a little better.

Some people thrive under pressure, but pressure can also ruin your performance, it can push you down angles which you don't want to go.

My theory is this: Women falter when they're called on to be highly self-conscious about their talents. Not when they're called on to enact them.

Show business is, essentially, a fear-based industry.