As an actor, you use the things from yourself that you can apply to the character.
I just had a throwaway part, really, if you think about it. I'm not a natural actor, you know? I'm a comedian, through and through. And I really love my lines. Those are the lines I want to do.
Good actors are always looking for props. They're looking for behavior. It makes it a lot easier. You're not solely dependent of what's coming out of your mouth. You're also less self-conscious, less aware of the camera.
I'm always happier and a better actor when I can really lose myself in a character and become somebody else.
I love people like Renée Zellweger who aren't afraid to look unattractive and really put themselves into a character role and to really be an actress instead of just thinking "Am I on-screen pouting and looking beautiful?" because that's not really what it's about.
Part of my aspiration as a film actor is to bring subtlety to everything I do - honesty but subtlety.
You can't just tell actors, especially young ones, to 'act happy' and expect them to do it. They must in some essential way be happy.
I find that a lot of the good acting comes out when you're physically being pushed: your brain turns off and just deals with the situation at hand. You get to a point where you're exhausted at the end of the day, but I quite like that.
As an actor, you can't just imitate someone. You have to get under her skin.
In 1954 I was on Broadway for five months in 'The Matchmaker' and went once a week to the classes of Uta Hagen, a theatrical guru whose teaching in retrospect illuminated the whole of my training at the Old Vic.
I don't ever recall being nervous before performing because I've already stepped into the shoes and the clothes of the character.
I'm not a classically trained actor. I'm not a product of Stavlovski method or anything like that.
As Michael (Chekhov)'s pupil, I learned more about acting. I learned psychology, history, and the good manners of art - taste.
I've had to gain weight for roles and ugly myself up for roles. So yeah, I'm game. I'm game for that kind of thing. I'm certainly not too vain in that respect. If it's a great role, I'm willing to do whatever it is that it takes.
You can always tell an actor by the bored look in their eye whenever someone else is talking.
I think of myself as a journeyman actor. I've got some talent and I work hard, but people like Brando or Pacino - those people are touched by God.
I love acting. I'm actually a very emotional actor.
To be an actor, a true actor, you have to be brokenhearted.
I don't get a chance to cry that often on film, so I was hoping that talent would come my way, that day. I cheated, I guess, when I just started looking at my technology device - my iPhone - to look at pictures of my kids, before I did the scene where I had to cry. That was a good trick that I found.
I learned more doing 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' than I did during three years at drama school.
It's daunting to play a real living person.
Subliminally, I had always wanted to act. Although I had only performed in a couple of plays, I was serious about it and was subsequently trained by people like Lee Strasberg and Elia Kazan.
I'm not a method actor per se, but if I'm playing a character that, at its core of its persona, has experiences I don't have, I try to search out and get firsthand experiences of similar sorts so I have something to fantasize about.
I love acting and I know that's a cliché, but I didn't really, I was very naïve when it came to the whole being recognized thing.
The way I prepare is through script analysts and back story. I create back story for a character based on script analysts, filling in as many details as possible. I also do a lot of research.
