Shirley Henderson Quotes

I was living in New York City and flat broke. My next door neighbor was an actor and he always seemed to be having more fun than I was. He convinced me to give acting a shot, but because of my shyness I was sure it would be a lost cause.

I've always had a process that I do before I even get to set or go to the location. I work privately, and it almost feels like therapy between me and who I'm playing. So I have this inner life that's there and it gives me a confidence, too, that when I'm playing the role I know every question.

When I am rehearsing for a play, I try to read nothing that might distract my concentration from the work in progress.

Broadway was without doubt the hardest I ever worked in my life and the highest highs I've ever had as an actor. The unadulterated fear was on a level that was hard to explain.

I like to remind myself how hard acting is. I do parts in friends' stuff.

I think one of the mistakes actors make is we're so focused on what we're going to say.

People think memorizing lines is hard, when that's the last thing you worry about. You get that done, and then you've got to worry about the internal stuff, which is the challenging part.

As an actor, being on autopilot is the worst thing possible.

I went to school to be an actor in Canada and realized I hated auditions once I left, which is a huge problem if you want to get a part.

The play is on top of me all the time, and I am constantly thinking about it. Even when I leave the theatre, I'll mumble the lines to myself or think about the way the character walks or holds himself.

I don't know what else I could do but pretend to be an actor.

Film, theater and television always kind of scared me. I don't ever seriously think of myself as an actor at all, and I don't plan any film career or television career.

When I'm acting and I have to remember my lines and put my mind in concert with my body, I don't tic.

I'm not a particularly ambitious actress. I love to go and do my work, head down in the dirt, and be the character.

I always panic on the first day of work. You can do all the Stanislavsky-backstory homework, but when that moment arrives and you are in the clothes, hair, and makeup of somebody else, and you're saying the words created by somebody else - I never know how to do it. It's a complete mystery to me.

I liked to carry the script into an audition because, for me, it reminded people that this was not the final performance. I'm still a work in progress.

When you're acting, you do have to prepare yourself for doing that. You have to leave behind - or you try and leave behind - anything that's going on in your personal life.

I don't ever recall being nervous before performing because I've already stepped into the shoes and the clothes of the character.

One of the reasons that I needed to become an actor was that I didn't have any self-confidence.

When I first started my acting career, I only knew what my acting teacher taught me. When a director gave me an impromptu direction, I didn't know what he wanted me to do, and I wanted to escape from the place.

No actor ever forgets a role, so I should have realized something was wrong.

There's nowhere to hide in the theatre. You can't be the one in rehearsal who doesn't know their lines.

I had been singing all my life, but I started acting in high school.

When I attack a role, be it TV, film or stage, the first thing I say is, I don't want to know anything. If it's good I don't want to hear it; if it's bad I don't want to hear it. The only thing either thing can do is distract me. I like to stay focused.

I was terrible in my first play. After that experience, I had to face that I wasn't good enough to play with the big boys. I had to go away and learn, so I worked in regional theater for three years. I even understudied at the Kennedy Center.