LaChanze Quotes

As an actor you become that lighting rod between the person who made the play and the audience.

If you don't care for the villain, if you don't love him and hate him at the same time, then he's just boring.

When a character does something appalling but you still want to root for them, I find that the most exciting challenge to play, if you can pull it off. You're not supposed to like it, but you can't help it.

I think when see you a character on the screen who is actually being touched by the world, and the stuff is actually landing on him, it makes you empathize.

Anthony Mackie in 'The Hurt Locker' is everything an actor can hope to be. So rock steady in his portrayal that you immediately forget every performance he may have previously given, and focus only on the character in front of you.

A lot of times in movies, especially in sequels, the characters become caricatures and just sort of improv machines and joke machines, rather than people you can actually connect to.

I would say that I have a love-hate relationship with almost everything in my life, including stand-up.

Ultimately, physical resemblance isn't as important as whether this person can bring this character to life in a way that's compelling and makes me care about what happens to them.

Michael Scofield is someone everyone can relate to, but nobody would want to be in his shoes.

Well, I go to the theater today, and its curtain - there is no curtain in this play; the lights go down and go up - and we start. And I live this character for two hours. There are only two of us in the play. And It's a complete experience.

The thing I love about acting is that you can bring something very personal into the open and at the same time remain hidden because you're always playing a character in a story that someone else has imagined. You're always protected.

Kristen Stewart is kind of captivating; she can just stare at stuff and it works because I still want to watch it.

Michael Fassbender is phenomenal in '12 Years a Slave.'

I remember watching Wesley Snipes as Blade. I watched Michael Jai White as Spawn. I even watch Shaquille O'Neal as Steel. I felt like seeing a physical representation, a non-cartoon representation, affected me in a much different way.

If it's a 50-seat theater, I am neurotic about whether I'm doing an honest performance. Sometimes I walk away happy enough with it. You know, it can always be better, but sometimes I'll walk away distraught, feeling like I missed the pulse of the character that evening.

There's something in the German language that makes you feel like you're getting a hug and a backstab at the same time.

There are so many ways to approach a character. You have to figure out the similarities between you and the character, build on them, and at the same time, blur the dissimilarities. Since you do it day in and day out, it becomes a process and a part of you.

When I'm doing a play like 'Betrayal,' I have to be careful not to get stimulation overload.

I remember watching Cate Blanchett in 'Elizabeth' and feeling like for the first time - even though that time period wasn't happening now - that I believed that role.

I guess I always knew going into the movie that casting that part would be difficult. Oliver just felt likeable. I felt it would be hard to dislike this man. I don't know why, but I'm sure other directors have felt the same when casting him. Oliver is goofy yet formidable, smart but likeable... I didn't want the character of Alex to be nasty or demonised. I wanted him to be struggling with his actions.

Obviously the actors are incredible at being the audience surrogates in this crazy universe.

Hatred is a disguised form of love. You can only hate someone whom you really wish to love, because if you were totally indifferent to that person, you could not even get up enough energy to hate him.

My great love is the stage because I do feel like it's the place where, if you're lucky and everything is firing in the right way, you have the greatest shot at being successful. I don't mean by getting great reviews, but I mean by finding the core fo the person that you're playing.

People can be lovers and enemies at the same time, you know.

You're always supposed to have sympathy for the person you're playing. You should be the one person who does.