Steve Carell Quotes

Every little thing that people know about you as a person impedes your ability to achieve that kind of terrific suspension of disbelief that happens when an audience goes with an actor and character he's playing.

You know, I've just always been sort of goofy and kind of gone with it. I actually usually work more in drama, but I have been floating back and forth with comedy, and somehow they keep giving me jobs in comedy, so I guess there's something funny about me.

One of the things I find about acting is that the less the audience knows about the actor, the more they're able to believe in him in the role.

What I try to do often when I'm acting and what I like when I'm seeing good acting is how authentic it is. How true is this to what I know of the world that's been created for me? The ultimate test for me is, like, if I heard a clip of it on the radio, I'd like the audience not to know if I'm acting.

I think when someone who's known for doing drama does a comedy but just tries to be funny, that's a mistake.

I think if they suddenly cut away and you realize there is a stunt guy, you're out of the movie.

The one thing about doing all those movies and all that television is I know what I'm doing. And I can do what Sean Connery can do. I can do what Clint can do. People even say I look a little like Clint. But that's just because I'm skinny and tall and old. With a receding hairline.

I think the biggest compliment an actor can have is if people forget who they're watching and get lost in the character.

It is impossible to give a performance that makes you unaware of the fact that you're watching an actor and be really involved in all aspects of filmmaking.

The energy of live theater is indescribable. You are just in the moment for an hour and a half.

From the first time I saw Sid Caesar be funny I knew that's what I had to do.

I like actors who, when you see them on screen, you sense a person, not just an actor.

In the theater there is often a tension, almost a contradiction, between the way real people would think and behave, and a kind of imposed dramaticness.

I'm not a broad comic, but I think I can be funny and I think I make people laugh.

Acted drama requires surrender of one's self, sympathetic absorption in the play as it develops.

With comedy, don't try to be funny. That's really helped me. Just say the lines as you would say them, interact with other characters, and try to make it as real as possible. It will come out funny.

Being an actress, I find myself people-watching and I can be quite shy.

All comedians have to use their physicality, so I use my size.

To do comedy, you have to be a pretty good actor to start with.

I'm not a media personality, I'm an actress. I want to protect that thing: the suspension of disbelief. The rest of it is just distraction.

With acting, the last thing you do is try to look pretty. Modeling actually makes acting harder - it makes you so self-aware.

I never really absorbed myself in a role like some actors do.

On a television show, precise acting isn't the order of the day.

I knew what kind of actor I was going to be, and I looked for inspiration to people like Alec Guinness, Cyril Cusack, Timothy Spall and Jim Broadbent. I looked at them and thought, 'They play human beings as they really are.'

I consider myself an actor who is funny.