Character Understanding Quotes

As actors, you don't actually need to know the future of the character. You just need to know the backgrounds.

As an actor, you can't just imitate someone. You have to get under her skin.

You're living with these characters for years and years, you need to have a lock on who they are as people, what they like, what they don't like, what they experience, and what they go through.

The funny thing is that I feel close to all my characters. Deep, deep inside them all.

I've written short stories from male perspectives before, and I've never had a problem with it as long as I've understood the character's emotions and motivations.

I think that being a parent has expanded my writing, expanded my understanding of my characters, and has added a depth and richness to my work. Having kids deepened my idea of parenting and all the anxieties that come along with it.

I am rather partial to Shakespeare, though I haven't done loads. But when it's done right, there's nothing like it. There are layers upon layers upon layers, and you unpack new things constantly. I don't know how he knew so many things - about the world, about women, about human nature, life, death, our fears and hopes.

You want to feel, 'I know that character.'

Actors need to know why they're saying what they're saying, more than just learning their lines.

Playing a character is an illusion, and I feel that when you know too much about a person, possibly part of that illusion is disrupted.

Sometimes I write from the point of view of characters whom I would dislike as people, not as a perverse exercise, but because this cracks the story open and makes me see it in a way I would not see it naturally.

When I prepare for a role, I try to get inside the character's head and understand him.

A good journalist, as you know, is a great listener. And so's a good writer. And I got to listen to people for almost 20 years. That serves me well, I hope, when I try to understand how a character might be feeling, or how they might react.

When I read a script, I try not to judge the characters. I try to have an open mind and really see what it makes me feel.

I try to begin with a strong grasp of my characters. Even if it's schematic, I need it clear in my head who these people are.

It would be hard to play a character you don't like - for me anyway - or can't find something in them to like.

If you can find a way your character moves, you know more about your character than you'd ever dream.

A character like Baahubali required a preparation that I had to undergo mentally and physically - from undertaking a strict routine and a lifestyle, which helped me become the character physically, to knowing the character's depth and a lot more.

I think therapy can be very revealing and useful for actors. You start to dig deep and understand certain mechanisms that you hadn't been aware of before and, you know, meanings behind things.

Every role affords me something different in the way of understanding, and that's really why you take these roles, not to show that thing that people talk about of showing what you can do - that has nothing to do with anything.

I think every actor wants to play those big parts. In the very first play I ever did, I remember understanding all the characters in it. I always felt I could play anyone.

Anytime you take on a character... you just have to find the parts of the character that you can understand.

Prior to being in 'Carousel,' I had only seen the movie. So, when I read the script, I felt like it was a lot deeper than the movie portrayed it to be.

Acting is something different to everybody. I just know that if you watch an actor or actress getting better and better, I think that's them just understanding themselves better and better.

I loved Hank Kingsley. He was very real to me. There was just something about that character. I really believed him. I didn't think he was a buffoon. I understood the inner workings of him, so I sort of felt sorry for him, the poor guy. He was very important to me.