Acting as an Escape Quotes

Some actors say they don't know themselves at all, and that's why they act: because they can disappear into other people.

Given the amount of work and time my mum devoted to my sister, it left me a lot of time to play on my own. I mean, I played with kids in the street all the time, too - I definitely wasn't denied a childhood. But I do wonder whether, in a sense, acting was my way of getting noticed.

Movie stars are insecure like everyone else. That's why they go into acting!

Nobody became an actor because he had a good childhood.

Well, I always try to look at my characters as being better than I am. That's one of the reasons I guess I became an actor - because you get to create a persona that's bigger or better or more interesting than your own.

I always just felt more comfortable just kind of hiding behind a character than being myself onstage.

I act because it's the one time I'm sure of my identity. There's no doubt. It's on paper.

I see myself as a character actor, and I've always been drawn to playing characters that are different from myself because acting is escapism for me. I've never been that comfortable playing people that are like me.