Craig Robinson Quotes

I do build my own backstory as an actor. It's important to know where your characters have come from in order to know where they're going - in order to exist in that state of being.

When I take on a role, all I tend to do is get to know the script and ask millions of questions, and keep fine tuning what I think the character is trying to say.

Well, first of all, you read the script a million times. Because what the script gives you are given circumstances. Given circumstances are all the facts of your character.

As an actor, you want to be able to move your character forward into new ground, but also it's really interesting to go backwards and unpeel those layers and the interesting elements of what your character is and what informs the decisions that you make so that you can have as much meat to work with.

For me, I always have to establish a reality for the character. In very actor-y terms, you just have to understand his reality.

Whenever you have a role where you don't get to know anything about the character, you have to invent it yourself. You have to feel like it came from somewhere.

It's nice to create a character, not just within two scenes, but within the journey of a whole movie. It's fun to do that.

The first thing I do when I read a part is see if I can identify emotionally with a character. If I make that connection, everything else is just working on knowing their life circumstances and manifesting those through practice and research.

I think substitution is a huge part of acting, but I don't personalise my work that much.

I don't really prepare for each role the same way.

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.

Well, you know, with every character, if you're going to expose yourself, you've got to figure out every detail that you're going to play. So there's no character that you can just go put on his shirt and be fully prepared.

Also, in my acting, I feel very much like a storyteller, exploring the flaws of the characters that I interpret. I look for the imperfections, and I love a character that is just so flawed.

Part of an actor's job is to draw up a back story.

Some actors - myself included - like to know where your character's going: you like to know what the arc is for the character so that you can plan where you're going to give beats for this, that, and the other and give the audience what they want. But on 'Homeland,' you do the opposite.

What happens with every role, you have to trick yourself, you have to creatively find ways to explore the mental state of your character.

As an actor, your first priority is the work - immersing yourself in the role, backstory, and bringing that to screen.

For me, as an actor, the challenge is mostly before the film starts when you have to get into the psychology of the character.

I don't prepare for my characters.

I am trained in theatre, and so I take time to study and get into the skin of a character.

I never do any research for my roles.

With any character you portray, you can never play the end in the beginning. You have to pursue and attack your intention as if they're going to be successful.

My task is to find the authenticity in the character. I tend to go with the script and tell that story.

There's no set rule, but when you look at the script, you start thinking about this person and how to create this human being on screen. You dig deeper into a script.

There is nothing like being able to develop a three-dimensional character over a long period of time. Sometimes you aren't able to fully portray a character because you only have a couple of scenes to do it in, and you don't get the full life and background of that character.