Acting Anonymity Quotes

Being an actor, the less people know about my personal life, the more open-minded they can be about each role I play.

As an actor, I don't want an image. I want people to see the character, not 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.

I have been in the industry for many years now, but people still come up to me and say, 'Sir, you're such a good actor. We loved watching you in that movie. What's your name?' While any other actor might get offended, I don't mind this at all.

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.

There are actors I know personally, or I've heard them say, "The less known about me, the better, because I just want people to think of me as the character." I think Matt Damon said that recently. He has a point and I think I get that.

With acting, there is a level of anonymity which is conducive to your profession. There are examples of very public people who are on the cover of every celebrity magazine but can't open a film.

Part of what makes your performances more convincing is that your own image isn't getting in the way. And the more you can keep it like that, the better for your work and your state of mind.

I've often sat down with people talking about a film I've been in, and they haven't realised I was in it.

Sometimes people are like, 'Hey, you played Dean Thomas!' and I'm like, 'Wow, you actually know!' It kind of shocks me because when I think about movies I love, and if I saw someone who essentially did what I did in Harry Potter, I probably wouldn't recognize them walking down the street.

I don't want to be known for anything other than the fact that I play characters in movies.

[As an actor] you're looking to crawl into an anonymous fictional person's skin, but then you have the ironic obligation to promoting the movie in such a public way that it almost undermines the initial intention of going under the radar.