Kelly Reilly Quotes

I always played the ugly sister instead of Cinderella or the Wicked Witch. But those are the parts I love, and actually, to be a character actress, you have more longevity, hopefully.

The life of an action star is very short. I want to be an actor like Robert De Niro, like Dustin Hoffman or Clint Eastwood who in their 70s or 80s can still act.

I'm not going to be rockin' n' rollin' when I'm 50 years old. But you can be in your prime on television, compose songs, or write a Broadway play when you're 50.

My perspective was always being on a number one show doesn't mean anything if I'm not still working consistently at 40 to 50 and 60 years old.

I've been able to reinvent myself and to keep an audience going at whatever age. This is terrific. I mean, how many actors get that chance?

We have had examples in our industry of people working for 30-40 years because of their ability to act. Your looks leave you after a point, you don't look the same way you did when you were in your 20s or 30s. After that you have only your ability to show.

I have been lucky enough to portray many, many characters.

There are people who do not get to act after two films. I have been in the industry for over two decades.

Generally speaking, I would say villains are a little more exciting to play, but if you get a flawed hero, then that can almost be just as amazing.

Shakespeare was the thing that started me off on that train, you know, and every one of his plays. There are so many different characters, and the wonderful thing about being in an all-girls school was I got to play them all, you know. So I got to play Mercutio and Oberon and Malvolio - it was great.

If I'm still acting at 46, I'll be surprised.

It's ridiculous to imagine you can stay young forever and live forever. It's taking away from young people. There's a beauty and respect in age. Magazines and media are disrespectful of age.

I always wanted to play characters, and that was definitely one - a Russian spy.

There was a time during 'Gone Girl' that I'd come home, and I'd say, 'I get to be every part of being a woman in this role.' For me, I feel it much more as a springboard for the work I'm going to take on thereafter.

I'm very lucky and very fortunate to have survived and to still be working after 45 years.

Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of acting: character acting and lead acting. And in my life, to begin with, in the 1980s, it was all character acting. And then when, by fluke, through 'Four Weddings', I got into doing lead parts, it's a completely different thing.

I have a little bit of experience going in and playing a character - I played a character on 'Smallville' that had been established for decades and decades before I took it.

I've been in the business 60 years, and it's taken me this long to play a scene with a monkey. That's what happens if you stick around.

I don't mind being older. I'm proud of my age. I've achieved a lot. It's the same thing with Mick and the Stones. They should be revered and respected. Isn't it strange that now we're living longer we have so much less respect for old age? Perhaps it's a less valuable commodity?

If the role is challenging enough, I don't see why I shouldn't play an older man or a father figure. It is not about playing what you are in real life. We are called actors for a reason!

In movies like 'Cape Fear,' I never played verbal characters. Now, as a grown-up, I relish playing people that are not like myself. That's what I enjoy about acting.

I've been very lucky to have played a variety of characters, and they weren't defined by their race.

I have been in the business for 62 years. It's a match made in heaven.

I love it when I get to play characters that are much younger than I am in real life. I feel it's an advantage.

My goal has always been, from the time I was at drama school, about longevity.