It's fun for women to be in a Western. And I had to learn how to handle the guns. I would walk around with the fake guns. It takes a lot of practice to twirl them around - but I can do a lot of crazy things now from movies. I can gallop a camel! Give me a camel, I know how to start it and stop it!
For an actor, if you're not doing a job, you can't just practice acting. Your instrument is your whole person.
My dad lived on Sunset Boulevard for a couple of years as a waiter, and he said he'd do a different character every time somebody sat down, just to get some practice.
I never did improv professionally, but that was certainly in my training as an actor. I like it.
For me, rehearsal is very important, and I spend a lot of time doing it. Also, I work with my acting teacher for hours and hours before walking onto any set.
Ever since I was younger, I would make table reads at home where I would give fake interviews.
I have done some formal acting training, because I sucked at acting when I first got to Los Angeles. I'm still one of the worst actors and auditions out there.
Something they taught us at drama school, and it's taken me a long time to realise it's true through practice, is that you can't put judgments on a character you're playing, especially while you're doing it.
Such a big part of this business is rejection. Each time that you get rejected, a big part of it is just staying positive - even if you don't get the role, it's still giving you practice. I love being able to take direction and talk with the casting directors in the room.
I'm the type of actor that, if I'm not filming something, I'm in class.
You learn to act by acting. You only get so much from acting class. You have to put your act on stage.
When I think about it, I was working very hard the summer before I applied to graduate school. I was going to the library every day in the summer. I read a play a day for about three months. I was taking audition classes, and I was reciting lines to myself and acting as my own scene partner. But I was having fun.
I recommend doing some sort of acting class, something that can eventually get you in front of an agent or a manager, and practice is very important.
This practice of skinny actresses donning fat suits is essentially the new and acceptable blackface in Hollywood.
The funny thing about acting is, there's no 'right' way to make it. Some people need to work their butts off, and some don't. They're just naturals. I wasn't a natural. I sucked.
I've done a couple of series before, and what I like about TV is, as an actor, you get that chance to practice all the time, and that's really how you grow.
You cannot study acting in books. Do it, do it, do it. And watch good actors. See what they are doing and how they are doing it. You have to practically participate, I think, in order to develop yourself.
Your artistry is a muscle that needs to be exercised, so if all you are doing is auditioning, you'll never get the satisfaction of fulfilling the need to play the part.
I used to practice Tony speeches in my bathroom with my hairbrush.
Tori joined us for dinner --in body, at least. She spent the meal practicing for a role in the next zombie movie, expressionless, methodically moving fork to mouth, sometimes even with food on it.
To step into acting was not that difficult a transition to make. What was difficult was the work and the practice that went into becoming good at it, because I hadn't had any training.
