actors Quotes

It's what actors call a big, juicy part, when you're a leading man. I don't get a lot of those. I get a lot of supporting things.

It's interesting - a lot of good actors are good mimes. But I'm terrible. If I tried to do an impression, nobody would know what I was doing.

I remember that. I was talking to him and I said how great it would be if actors had a tail because I have animals and a tail is so expressive. On a cat you can tell everything. You can tell if they're annoyed. You can tell whether they're scared.

Our feeling is that the most important thing on a set is that actors have enough confidence to try different things. If there's stress or tension, they won't go out on a limb because they won't want to embarrass themselves if they don't feel completely comfortable.

I wasn't a huge fan of reality shows, because I'm like 'they're taking away from the actors,' but sometimes mindless is just wonderful.

I like directors who have worked as actors. They know the experience.

My influences were Peter Sellers and the great British character actors.

Daniel Day-Lewis is one of the greatest actors of our age; he's like Olivier. He's one of those people who can take you into a place where no one else can take you.

A lot of actors never talk to other actors about how they're doing things, or why. I think it's important to share the way you're thinking.

Fonda and Gary Cooper had the best sense of timing of all the actors I knew.

I generally get challenged; I haven't been typecast, which is really, really, nice. It's not something that every actor gets, really. It's luxury. Most actors are capable of it, but they aren't afforded the opportunity to express their variety.

I think fear is one of the natural states of most actors, to be honest.

Because technically actors are just public servants really. They just tell stories because people need to be told stories. That's all it is. And yet we get treated as though we're important.

I've never had any illusions about being a lead actor in films, because lead actors have to be of a certain kind. Apart from the beauty of looks and figure, which I cannot claim to have, there's just a particular kind of ordinary-Joe quality that a film star needs to have.

It's what I learn from the great actors that I work with. Stillness. That's all and that's the hardest thing.

The reason actors, artists, writers have agents is because we'll do it for nothing. That's a basic fact - you gotta do it.

Most actors are either a shower of bloody scruffs or think they should dress like Hamlet off stage.

When we were doing 'Freaks and Geeks', I didn't quite understand how movies and TV worked, and I would improvise even if the camera wasn't on me. I thought I was helping the other actors by keeping them on their toes, but nobody appreciated it when I would trip them up. So I was improvising a little bit back then, but not in a productive way.

I've been a sports fan all my life, and like most other actors, I'm convinced I could have been a pro athlete if Hollywood hadn't come calling.

When you think about it, we actors are kind of prostitutes. We get paid to feign attraction and love. Other people are paying to watch us kissing someone, touching someone, doing things people in a normal monogamous relationship would never do with anyone who's not their partner. It's really kind of gross.

I've waited my entire life to be busy. Whenever I hear actors complain about being busy, I think, 'shut up.' Because you do, you wait to be successful or to be able to work.

You project a version of yourself to the public to protect and insulate yourself a little bit. Actors come up with a version of themselves in order to protect the real person.

Actors and magicians are both performers, and they represent things that are not necessarily who they are.

I made mistakes in drama. I thought drama was when actors cried. But drama is when the audience cries.

I think I'm inspired mostly by other artists that aren't actors, like writers or singers or artists, for being so brave.

Most actors don't really have a director's sensibility. They have an actor's sensibility.

Some actors couldn't figure out how to withstand the constant rejection. They couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel.

What I observed about my fellow actors was that most gave up very easily.

With a book I am the writer and I am also the director and I'm all of the actors and I'm the special effects guy and the lighting technician: I'm all of that. So if it's good or bad, it's all up to me.

And as far as actors go, Peter Sellers is my all-time favorite.