Motivational Quotes

Acting and actors

You don't merely give over your creativity to making a film -- you give over your life! In theatre, by contrast, you live these two rather strange lives simultaneously; you have no option but to confront the mould on last night's washing-up.

- Lewis, Daniel Day

Best Quotes about Acting and actors

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

Moreau, Jeanne

Remember: there are no small parts, only small actors.

Stanislavisky, Konstantin

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

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

Howard, Ron

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

Unless the theatre can ennoble you, make you a better person, you should flee from it.

Stanislavisky, Konstantin

I'm an assistant storyteller. It's like being a waiter or a gas-station attendant, but I'm waiting on six million people a week, if I'm lucky. [On being an actor]

Ford, Harrison

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

Chaplin, Charlie

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

Newman, Paul

10.

Remember this practical piece of advice: Never come into the theatre with mud on your feet. Leave your dust and dirt outside. Check your little worries, squabbles, petty difficulties with your outside clothing -- all the things that ruin your life and draw your attention away from your art -- at the door.

Stanislavisky, Konstantin

11.

Left eyebrow raised, right eyebrow raised.

Moore, Roger

12.

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

13.

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

Richardson, Miranda

14.

I just stopped playing bitches on wheels and peoples' mothers. I have only a few more years to kick up my heels!

Lansbury, Angela

15.

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

16.

An actress must never lose her ego--without it she has no talent.

Shearer, Norma

17.

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

18.

Ah just act the way ah feel.

Presley, Elvis

19.

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

Pacino, Al

20.

Why, except as a means of livelihood, a man should desire to act on the stage when he has the whole world to act in, is not clear to me.

Shaw, George Bernard

21.

If you have to be in a soap opera try not to get the worst role.

George, Boy

22.

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

Glass, George

23.

Acting on a good idea is better than just having a good idea.

Half, Robert

24.

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

Marceau, Marcel

25.

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

Carrey, Jim

26.

I have often seen an actor laugh off the stage, but I don't remember ever having seen one weep.

Diderot, Denis

27.

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

28.

Such is an actor's life. We must ride the waves of every film, barfing occasionally, yet maintain our dignity, even as the bulk of our Herculean efforts are keel-hauled before our very eyes. [On filming MacHale's Navy]

Campbell, Bruce

29.

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

30.

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

Moore, Mary Tyler

31.

I don't do T & A very well because I haven't got much of either.

Leoni, Tea

32.

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

33.

Acting is a matter of giving away secrets.

Barkin, Ellen

34.

The mug is a tool. My ace in the hole. To have looks is the bonus on top of what motivates me to be an actor. Not to realize they're an asset would be counterproductive to the cause; they serve the common good.

Zane, Billy

35.

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

Barthes, Roland

36.

I have tried to be as eclectic as I possibly can with my professional life, and so far it's been pretty fun.

Hunter, Holly

37.

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

38.

I was sitting in the looping studio late one night, and I had this epiphany that they weren't paying me for my acting, for God's sake, but to own me. And from then on, it became clear and an awful lot easier to deal with.

Lawless, Lucy

39.

Actors are one family over the entire world.

Woodard, Alfre

40.

Acting is the expression of a neurotic impulse. It's a bum's life. The principal benefit acting has afforded me is the money to pay for my psychoanalysis.

Brando, Marlon

41.

An actor is only merchandise.

Chow Yun-Fat

42.

A lot of what acting is paying attention.

Redford, Robert

43.

The most difficult character in comedy is that of the fool, and he must be no simpleton that plays that part.

Cervantes, Miguel De

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.

Every time I get a script it's a matter of trying to know what I could do with it. I see colors, imagery. It has to have a smell. It's like falling in love. You can't give a reason why.

Olin, Lena

46.

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

Byron, Lord

47.

You are not in business to be popular.

Alley, Kirstie

48.

If you give an audience a chance they will do half your acting for you.

Hepburn, Katharine

49.

Every actor in his heart believes everything bad that's printed about him.

Welles, Orson

50.

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