I'm always happier and a better actor when I can really lose myself in a character and become somebody else.
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 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.
On 'Nip/Tuck,' I was a Nazi, so basically for, like, six months. I went into this place where I was wearing a lot of black. Everyone has a dark side, and I can channel that.
How do I act so well? What I do is I pretend to be the person I'm portraying in the film or play.
Meryl Streep doesn't care how she looks. She just surrenders to the truth of the character. Not everybody has the ability to do that. They look good and they can pretend to be that person, it's not the same as being that person. And there are not many actors who will surrender to that.
When you are an actor, you bring a tool in your craft but you are not that person.
It's easier to see in someone else, another actor, how they kind of disappear and then this other persona appears. A great actor is a thing of mystery.
When I do an accent I commit fully and take it very seriously.
I like to be other people, not me. And when you're on the red carpet, it's like, 'Here's Tom Hardy.' I don't want to be me. That's why I play other people.
Being a dramatic character was more difficult for me. It was a new thing that I explored because it was challenging. But I love to challenge myself and different things.
What I mostly do is take the script, analyse the hell out of it, see what's in there, see what kind of person I'm dealing with, and then forget I'm playing a father and just play a person who exemplifies all those things.
I think a lot of young girls see actresses, and they think of red carpets, and they think of 'Us Weekly,' and they don't really think about the breaking down of a script and what that requires and what you would need to pull it off.
It was hard not to feel violated [in Stone movie], 'cause I have to go home after walking in these shoes all day. It plays a number on your head. Some days I came home and was really upset; it was hard to see the baby [Jovovich's 2-year-old daughter].
For me, when I'm making a movie I like to stay in character throughout the day.
You want to try and bring a character to life in an honest a way as you possibly can. It doesn't matter whether he's a doctor, an actor, a car salesman or a captain of a starship. If you can bring truth and honesty to that character, then your audience will believe you.
The delineation between the actor and his part is a practical matter. When the camera runs, you want the actor to be the character.
When I did the pilot, Mort was very real to me. When I got through with the ten weeks, Maura is even more real to me.
You draw on whatever's relevant to the part you're playing; it makes it more personal.
When you're acting, you do have to prepare yourself for doing that. You have to leave behind - or you try and leave behind - anything that's going on in your personal life.
When I'm [playing] a character, I can look at it and know it's not me and not be concerned with how it looks.
Well, from an acting point of view, I bear no relation, I don't look like Alfred Kinsey at all, but I thought somewhere in my artist's soul, my actor's soul, I could capture something of the spirit of the man.
I like actors who like to change and transform to other things.
I'm an actor, because I get to see other sides of life and I get to be other people and it excites me so much.
I often talk with other actors about that time when you've just finished a job, because I think you do take on the characteristics of some of the characters you play. Sometimes it can be a great thing and sometimes it's a bit haunting because you're not quite sure how to leave it on set. My dad talks about it as being 'de-personalised.'
