Viola Davis Quotes

The thing about being an actor is that as we get older, there are more and more characters to explore and, in general, they get more complicated, so you get to bring all your crazy life experience to the table.

People say that they like the characters that they believe that I am. But, I don't as much. I like the characters that I believe that I am not. Like my role on 'Law and Order.' That character unnerved people. And I loved every second of it. I want to continue growing as an actress. There are ways that I can reach quicker, or deeper, with acting.

I've played a lot of really smarmy people in film, and it can be real fun, don't get me wrong. But it can be characters I'm not as excited to explore.

As an actor, you just like to be able to play as much range. I just want to be invisible. I want to be able to be perceived as an artist as opposed to 'a black actor': that's the joy.

It gives me a chance to explore so many dynamics - that's what we actors dream of doing. So, I love playing the villain.

I'm not a huge fan of scary movies, but I love doing them because your character arc gets condensed, and everything is elevated, and so you kind of have this amazing opportunity to go in many different places.

It's not a pleasure torturing actors, although some of them enjoy it.

I feel that I have grown so much as an actor being on 'Homeland.'

I think acting can be very frustrating, and there's no experience that doesn't make you a better actor.

Disney acting is a little more difficult than many people think it is. People feel like the characters aren't deep, but as an actor, you try to do everything you can do the best of your ability.

Like any other actor, I draw on life experience.

In films you do a scene, you play around with it and unless you're doing a lot of reshooting, which no one has the luxury to do, you deal with the problem for a day and then you move on. On some level, it never allows you to go very deep into what performing is about.

All the characters I've ever played have really had nothing to do with looks. There's a lot of things that are a lot more interesting to me to play than that.

I'm very much looking forward to my 30-40 years of acting, and, as I get older, I'm really looking forward to some of the roles that are out there to play.

By being an actor, one can explore various personalities of a human being, be that person, behave and live that person's life, and then you are back to your normal life.

The road Cordelia has travelled, the journey she has taken up to now has been such a joy to play as an actress, because there have been so many chances to do so many different emotions.

The whole of my acting career is a bit of a mystery to me.

The exciting part of acting, I don't know how else to explain it, are those moments when you surprise yourself.

The interesting thing is, when you play a real-life character or someone based in a book, you always come up against people's preconceptions of what they have in their heads.

Part of my strength as an actor comes from what I've learned all these years: when you play a villain, you try to get the light touches; when you play a hero, you try to get in some of the warts.

Every time I've crossed to a new level of film acting, the film has been a breakthrough project.

After 'Prom Night' I did two movies where I was playing a prostitute. I gravitate towards characters that have some sort of inner turmoil or some sort of character arc. That's the great thing about acting, so many different things and being really diverse in your choices.

The opportunities I've had to play really complex characters - which haven't been a lot, but some - you never get over them.

Even when I'm playing a lawyer or a doctor, I want to play a person. A human being.

In acting, you draw so much on your private life.