Physicality in Acting Quotes

As Michael (Chekhov)'s pupil, I learned more about acting. I learned psychology, history, and the good manners of art - taste.

I've never worked with an acting coach, no.

I've been in front of the camera a million times as a musician, and even directed a few music videos. So, I know a lot about spacing, focus, blocking, etcetera. So, acting isn't totally new for me. Still, I find it fascinating, because you actually get to be another person.

I'm fascinated with actors, and I've never quite understood the process.

If you're doing live-action, you have to learn how to actually do whatever it is that you're doing. If you're doing voice-over, you can fake it.

I never even think about the physicality of roles, until honestly I get the gig and I think, 'OK, now what do I have to do in this one?' Like, I approach it thinking more about the character - do I respond to it? Is it something I think I can play? Does it seem like it'll be fun?

As an actor, you have to understand how you are seen and then play with that. Otherwise, my looks are not important.

My goal as an actor is to grow and try different things.

I think for acting on stage and in film, one informs the other. Obviously, they require really different kinds of discipline and really different kinds of work. It's more along the same continuum, for me.

I would like to go on that path of evolving into a better actor.

I just feel my way through. If I had to give an acting class, I wouldn't know what to do.

I don't like showing the technique. I don't like people who say, "Here, I'm going to act, but first I have to bounce off this wall." If you have to bounce off the wall, do it by yourself. Don't feature the technique. My old drama coach used to say, "Don't just do something, stand there." Gary Cooper wasn't afraid to do nothing.

I feel like I can always do better with action and I always want to push the envelope there as long as I can because I'm a physical person and I love expressing myself physically, but I'm also, on the very flipside, an extremely emotional person. I like watching the relationships and the chemistry and the relatability.

I love being challenged physically, as an actress.

You have to start thinking a little differently as an actor.

I'm always keen to use my body in my work, so I'm looking forward to the motion capture for Smaug. Both Gollum and King Kong were primates, whereas I'm playing a serpent, so it'll be interesting - I'll have to tie my legs together, possibly, or else they'll be kind of splayed out to the side as a reptile's should be.

Acting is broad enough a church that you can pick your races, decide which way you want to go at different times.I think that the story and circumstance tends to dictate the most and then what you do with your own approach after that.

I think I'm a better actor now. I mean, I really think I know a lot about acting now. But I didn't know a lot about acting then, in 80's, and I never knew how to be myself. I never knew how to relax and just play it from me. I was always trying to deliver a line.

I'm a very physical actor. I use everything - toes, teeth, ears, everything. I don't simply mean physical in the sense of movement and vigour. I find myself remembering the shape of a scene by how I'm standing, what I'm doing.

Acting is doing. The more you do, the more you learn. Work begets work.

If I want to do the kind of work that I like to act in, I need to open my mind to it.

I will do plays as long as they're interested in having me do them. It's the biggest opportunity to learn the most about how to act. Something I discover every time I'm doing one is how little I know about acting - how important the art of listening is, and how important it is to listen with your entire body. You can tell so much of a story with stillness, and a lot of that can be from really actively listening to your scene partner.

As an actor, you learn, every time you work.

I enjoy the physicality a little more, with Vinnie Paz [in Bleed for This] that was the most prep I've ever had to do for a film, that was a legit like 7 months of diet and working out. And then I was able to do like an accent, I was able to change myself physically, I was able to do a lot of the things that I'd always looked at actors and admired when they did that. So I was excited to do that.

As an actor, I don't feel like it's necessary to watch a great deal of films. In fact, I think it can lead to imitation and unhealthy competition, which just isn't needed.