Truthful Acting Quotes

You will never, I think, fully conquer the play. Every night, you see this Everest before you. It's that two, three hours and the audience, and you'd better tell the truth.

I act according to the requirements of the character, and if I try to play the role, then I play it truthfully. In my daily life, I'm a laid-back, peaceful guy. I'm just doing my job to act.

I had gone to acting school for years. It was the kind of thing I had studied to do. I had worked with good coaches and trained to do this my whole life: to be a realistic actress capable of doing truthful work.

At the end of the day, my sole goal, when I go into any scene, is to try to be as honest as I possibly can, and then everything else is second. The most important thing for me is to just be as honest as I possibly can.

It's not the actor's job to be interesting; that's the script's job. It's our job to be truthful and brave.

The secret to acting is don't act. Be you, with add-ons.

I think the responsibility that any actor has is to bring some truth to the work.

It's important for an actor to feel like they're really being watched and to receive feedback and encouragement about the aspects of what they're doing that feels truthful - and also to raise awareness when they might be resorting to habits and tricks, which every actor has.

Work for the actor lies essentially in two areas: the ability to consistently create reality and the ability to express that reality.

As an actor, what I can do is tell the truth. At least, I hope I can tell the truth - a dramatic truth, but still an honest portrayal.

When I go into making a movie, personally, I don't try to bring other pieces of movies with me. I think that finding a character, relating to her and making her as real as possible means forgetting all of that stuff and just trying to find the truth, in that particular character's words.

Even great actors who transform who they are still go to a really honest place; I think that's sort of that special skill that actors have.

That's what acting is all about - it's all about bringing truth from your own life, and putting it into your characters. If you have the advantage of using your own life in your work, that's always the way to go.

Nobody is more truthful when he's acting than De Niro.

You have to be truthful and believable in whatever you do and that is the founding principle of acting.

I just try to be honest and true to the character and play the part.

I think everything needs to be played real, for reality's sake, for truth. And that is the drama and the comedy. When you do that, it's funnier. And when you do that, you really do hit the emotional beats. I do it the same way as I do a drama. I just play it for truth, and then maybe have a little bit of fun with it sometimes.

For me, what makes great actors, always is how truthful they are to the character and the story and the emotion that they're trying to tell.

Acting is not acting. It isn't putting on a face and dancing around in a mask. It's believing that you are that character and playing him as if it were a normal day in the life of that character.

Revealing yourself, physically or emotionally, to cast and crew is frequently uncomfortable. But it is essential if you want to to tell the truth. I felt more at ease being bold with some than I did with others. I was incredibly fortunate to have worked with Randy Harrison as Justin Taylor. We share enough taste in music and art to have had a real camaraderie, and luckily that evolved into a deep friendship.

And you know, whether it's drama or comedy, the best work is based on truth. It's just that, with comedy, the circumstances are just crazy-heightened, and you have these crazy things thrown at you. But you still have to do it truthfully, because that's where the humor comes from. So it's not that difficult to cross over.

When you're with another actor and doing something very intense, often you pull them over to your side, or they pull you over to theirs. But if you stay in your own truth, you can play that perfect tennis match. I always want to bring my power, but not in a way that eliminates the whole game!

The stage is the opposite: you are talking loud so you can project to the back row and you know the whole play. In a movie, you are scene-to-scene; you only know the purpose of that scene. On the stage, that is artistic science. It is real, it is loving, it is truthfully you. It is two different formulas to make two different art pieces, but it is all about truth.

You want to be honest with a character and play it truthfully, and you want to be genuine with your character.

Creating a character and living truthfully through her is a whole different ball game. It's all part of the same person but it's a much newer medium for me.