Motivational Quotes

Acting and actors

Somebody told me I should put a pebble in my mouth to cure my stuttering. Well, I tried it, and during a scene I swallowed the pebble. That was the end of that.

- Davies, Marion

Best Quotes about Acting and actors

More than in any other performing arts the lack of respect for acting seems to spring from the fact that every layman considers himself a valid critic.

Hagen, Uta

For an actress to be a success, she must have the face of Venus, the brains of a Minerva, the grace of Terpsichore, the memory of a Macaulay, the figure of Juno, and the hide of a rhinoceros.

Barrymore, Ethel

I was planning to go into architecture. But when I arrived, architecture was filled up. Acting was right next to it, so I signed up for acting instead. [On his college registration experience]

Selleck, Tom

They are, as it were, train-bearers in the pageant of life, and hold a glass up to humanity, frailer than itself. We see ourselves at second-hand in them: they show us all that we are, all that we wish to be, and all that we dread to be. What brings the resemblance nearer is, that, as they imitate us, we, in our turn, imitate them. There is no class of society whom so many persons regard with affection as actors.

Hazlitt, William

The face of Garbo is an Idea, that of Hepburn an Event.

Barthes, Roland

I'm an actor. And I guess I've done so many movies I've achieved some high visibility. But a star? I guess I still think of myself as kind of a worker ant.

Whitaker, Forest

Stage charm guarantees in advance an actor's hold on the audience, it helps him to carry over to large numbers of people his creative purposes. It enhances his roles and his art. Yet it is of utmost importance that he use this precious gift with prudence, wisdom, and modesty. It is a great shame when he does not realize this and goes on to exploit, to play on his ability to charm.

Stanislavisky, Konstantin

Acting is happy agony.

Guiness, Sir Alec

Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you -- tripping on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of your players do, I had as Leif the town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus, but use all gently; for in the very torrent, tempest, and as I may say, the whirlwind of your passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness.

Shakespeare, William

10.

I am the Fred Astaire of karate.

Damme, Jean-Claude Van

11.

An actor is only merchandise.

Chow Yun-Fat

12.

A man who strains himself on the stage is bound, if he is any good, to strain all the people sitting in the stalls.

Brecht, Bertolt

13.

Actors often behave like children, and so we're taken for children. I want to be grown up.

Irons, Jeremy

14.

For the theatre one needs long arms; it is better to have them too long than too short. An artiste with short arms can never, never make a fine gesture.

Bernhardt, Sarah

15.

I never said all actors are cattle, what I said was all actors should be treated like cattle.

Hitchcock, Alfred

16.

People say I'm cocky, but am I supposed to sit here and be insecure and not know where my future's going or not realize that moviemaking is the greatest thing to happen to me?

Lewis, Juliette

17.

Acting deals with very delicate emotions. It is not putting up a mask. Each time an actor acts he does not hide; he exposes himself.

Moreau, Jeanne

18.

Mr. Clarke played the King all evening as though under constant fear that someone else was about to play the Ace.

Field, Eugene

19.

I was born at the age of twelve on a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lot.

Garland, Judy

20.

A lot of what acting is paying attention.

Redford, Robert

21.

In Europe an actor is an artist. In Hollywood, if he isn't working, he's a bum.

Quinn, Anthony

22.

Show me a great actor and I'll show you a lousy husband. Show me a great actress, and you've seen the devil.

Fields, W. C.

23.

I'd prefer not to be the pretty thing in a film. It's such a bloody responsibility to look cute, because people know when you don't and they're like, They're trying to pass her off as the cute girl and she's looking like a bedraggled sack of potatoes.

Driver, Minnie

24.

I'm not an actress who can create a character. I play me.

Moore, Mary Tyler

25.

Insecurity, commonly regarded as a weakness in normal people, is the basic tool of the actor's trade.

Richardson, Miranda

26.

The hardest part has been maintaining a small head--remaining down to earth. So many people try to make you more than you are. This business has changed a lot of good people and a lot of good families, and I don't want that to happen to me.

Brandy

27.

You reach a point where you say you're not going to do juveniles any longer.

Howard, Ron

28.

I don't think there's a punch-line scheduled, is there?

Python, Monty

29.

The basic essential of a great actor is that he loves himself in acting.

Chaplin, Charlie

30.

I am acquainted with no immaterial sensuality so delightful as good acting.

Byron, Lord

31.

Until Ace Ventura, no actor had considered talking through his ass.

Carrey, Jim

32.

Actors ought to be larger than life. You come across quite enough ordinary, nondescript people in daily life and I don't see why you should be subjected to them on the stage too.

Sinden, Donald

33.

First of all, I choose the great [roles], and if none of these come, I choose the mediocre ones, and if they don't come, I choose the ones that pay the rent.

Caine, Michael

34.

A good many dramatic situations begin with screaming.

Fonda, Jane

35.

An actor is a guy who, if you ain't talking about him, he ain't listening.

Glass, George

36.

The main factor in any form of creativeness is the life of a human spirit, that of the actor and his part, their joint feelings and subconscious creation.

Stanislavisky, Konstantin

37.

The actor's popularity is evanescent; applauded today, forgotten tomorrow.

Forrest, Edwin

38.

Acting is a matter of giving away secrets.

Barkin, Ellen

39.

Some people are addicts. If they don't act, they don't exist.

Moreau, Jeanne

40.

I have spent more than half a lifetime trying to express the tragic moment.

Marceau, Marcel

41.

Acting is a question of absorbing other people's personalities and adding some of your own experience.

Newman, Paul

42.

You are not in business to be popular.

Alley, Kirstie

43.

All men practice the actor's art.

Petron

44.

When I was a fireman I was in a lot of burning buildings. It was a great job, the only job I ever had that compares with the thrill of acting. Before going into a fire, there's the same surge of adrenaline you get just before the camera rolls.

Buscemi, Steve

45.

The actor becomes an emotional athlete. The process is painful -- my personal life suffers.

Pacino, Al

46.

To grasp the full significance of life is the actor's duty, to interpret it is his problem, and to express it his dedication.

Brando, Marlon

47.

Actors die so loud.

Miller, Henry

48.

It's a business you go into because you're an egocentric. It's a very embarrassing profession.