It's important for me, when looking at a role, to decide whether or not to take the journey of that character. Will I grow as an actress? And will I grow as a person?
I do think that there are certain parts, if you are lucky enough to play them, that are bigger than you, and they stretch you. I don't think you become a bigger person, but you develop certain muscles you didn't have before.
I needed to put something together that would continually get me up at 4:30 in the morning, get me to work and get me excited to throw on those costumes - which clearly continue to excite me, if you are a viewer of the show - and circumstances that continue to surprise me and ask me to go places acting-wise that I haven't explored before.
There are so many characters I want to play. I'm greedy about acting.
It's what still excites me most about acting: letting your imagination go places it's never been before. There's nothing better than that.
I'm fascinated with acting now. In retrospect, I was only beginning to chip off the tip of the iceberg with how far I can go or what I was exploring inside of me that I hadn't touched in a while as far as emotional headspaces.
I was so hungry when I started attempting acting. Not even to be a professional. Just to find out if I could act.
Actors have either got to play something that's close to them, or something that's the complete opposite.
Most American actors are taught the Stanislavsky method... Method acting, but I really think that as an actor you have to develop what works for you. There is really not one way of doing anything. There are many ways of achieving the same goal.
I'm still trying to figure myself out as an actor.
You have so much freedom as an actor in your character's choices, and I really learned to take advantage of that.
I've been trying to find out what my wheelhouse is as an actor. 'Gilmore' was my first job, so only from there did I have a chance to really experiment and see how far I could stretch; I went maybe a little too far in certain directions.
There are actors who do various different shades of a similar character, which is fine. But I prefer the Cillian Murphy school of doing something that takes you so far outside yourself that it's an incredible challenge and adventure.
The repetition of the theatre means you've got the time to get deeply inside the person you're playing.
The whole acting thing is a buffet. One, in terms of role choice and movie choice, I like to do lots of different things, and I think that's the whole fun of it. But I also see it as a buffet in terms of the character.
I know with Gary Ross especially, he kind of gave me pointers here and there, but he kind of let me become firm in any way that I needed, and he just let me try things and to explore what I can do with my acting. So that was very helpful.
In other words, I wouldn't like to be an actor if I could only be real. I like to get wild, behaviorally wild, and it's crazy to think of any form where it's just one way.
I think that the worst thing as an actor is to fall into a monotony with characters.
I'd like to play every type of character, but only once. I like to expierence things.
I like going in to different styles of acting and exploring stuff I haven't done before.
I want to keep pushing those boundaries of acting.
I think the thing that I always try to do - because it piques my interest - is to play really different parts all the time.
Genre stuff is the most exciting stuff for an actor to play. I get to try new things, do things I would have never got the chance to do.
I don't have a specific type of role that I aspire to play or aspire to act. I really like a challenge and I really like doing things that are different because if I had to do the same thing all the time, then I don't think I would be an actor.
I am glad that after 'Rustom,' I did 'Mubarakan' and then 'Baadshaho,' as it explores my range as an actor.
