Top 100 Good Acting Quotes
#1. I suppose once in a while, a filmmaker makes a movie that's more than just a sum of its parts, more than good acting or good filmmaking. It's something else that has nothing to do with what you've done. This is in 1999, made by people in 1999 for people in 1999 about people in 1999.
Sam Mendes
#3. Every film by Will Smith, Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier, Lena Horne, Ruby Dee, Don Cheadle will have great acting and carry good messages in the film. The films starring those actors are the films I tell young people to watch for good acting and to view for quality movies.
Brian J. White
#4. Good acting is good acting, however you learn it. Some people who haven't studied are amazing. Some people like Leonardo DiCaprio are naturally gifted - he's learned technique by working with people early on.
Sam Rockwell
#5. I like to rehearse with the actors scenes that are not in the script and will not be in the film because what we're really doing is trying to establish their character, and good acting to me is about reacting.
Jim Jarmusch
#6. Vary the pace ... is one of the foundations of all good acting.
Ellen Terry
#7. There was more good acting at Hollywood parties than ever appeared on the screen.
Bette Davis
#8. All you've got to do is turn up and have a few facial tics and be a lunatic and throw someone around the room or blow their brains out and people think it's good acting.
Paddy Considine
#9. The biggest mistake in student films is that they are usually cast so badly, with friends and people the directors know. Actually you can cover a lot of bad direction with good acting.
Brian De Palma
#10. The basic laws of good acting are the same, but everything about the experience is different-your job responsibility, the time you spend on it.
Laura Linney
#11. Such is the disconcerting miracle of good acting; at its best it implicitly challenges our faith in who we are, who anyone is.
Melissa Febos
#12. With film, you have very limited tools to convey subjectivity - voiceover, the camera's point of view, good acting - but even the very best actor in the world is crude by comparison with what you can do in a written paragraph.
William Boyd
#13. I've stopped showing actors what to actually do. I rather just talk to them about it. Then I usually play music. That's a great way to convey inner emotion, bring the power of style and acting together. That's really what it is, very good acting without talking.
Nicolas Winding Refn
#14. For me really good acting is about subtext.
Clive Owen
#15. I find that a lot of the good acting comes out when you're physically being pushed: your brain turns off and just deals with the situation at hand. You get to a point where you're exhausted at the end of the day, but I quite like that.
Emilia Clarke
#16. Good acting is consistency of performance.
Jim Dale
#17. Good acting is about being as natural and calm as possible. These days producers have such definite ideas that you have to be prepared to do whatever they ask.
Bryn Terfel
#18. I think it's definitely beneficial for these characters to have good acting voices behind them and it affects the characters in a way that people can feel like they're part of the game and that they know these characters.
Tara Strong
#19. I was aware that I was not getting the good acting roles because I was either too handsome, too pretty or whatever. I was being judged in ways that left me nowhere to go. You have to be patient.
Pierce Brosnan
#20. I'm like a man in a wheelchair watching other people run. I can see what good acting is but I can't quite reach it but I'm so close sometimes, V. I'm really trying.
Emily St. John Mandel
#21. In really good acting we should be able to believe that what we hear and see is of our own imagining; it should seem to be to us as a charming dream.
Joseph Joubert
#23. I grew up with horses when I was a kid in Argentina. I like them. I respect them. I'm careful around them. You never know what they're going to do. They're endlessly interesting. I've had some good acting partners that were horses over the years.
Viggo Mortensen
#24. I'm a good acting partner for me ... when I don't have anyone else, I do really well!
Elaine Stritch
#25. Not everyone could have the blissful equanimity of Lamen, who seemed to pay the Prince no deference of rank, a piece of very good acting. Charls
C.S. Pacat
#26. I have learned a lot from jazz. I compare good acting to jazz music. The more you study and prepare as an actor, the more equipped you are to live in the moment. Just like the gifted musicians in my dad's quartet, it takes a courageous actor to be free.
Nat Wolff
#27. When actors are being defensive and defending their position, that is when you get less than good acting.
John Boorman
#28. There are moments when you get out of your own head and you exist in the moment, and that can be good acting.
David Duchovny
#29. There is more good writing and good acting in any ten minutes of Twister than in, say, all of Citizen Kane.
Orson Scott Card
#31. I am acquainted with no immaterial sensuality so delightful as good acting.
Lord Byron
#32. Over the years, I have realized that there's more to a film's fate than just good acting and a solid script. It needs to be marketed well. It's the package that sells - the songs, action, actors, etc.
Randeep Hooda
#33. Good acting is all in the writing. If it isn't on the page, then it really won't make any difference. You cannot act on force of personality alone.
Larry Hagman
#34. In Korea, I do different kinds of genres. So, like that, I would like to do a lot of good acting films.
Lee Byung-hun
#35. Sometimes, on particularly good takes, I'm so moved that I stop "doing" the scene and just watch in awe at the miracle of good acting. As I said earlier, that's life up there. When it flows like that, that's when I say "Print.
Sidney Lumet
#36. Good acting is about reacting, not tryingto express something, but reacting to a situation as the character.I don't like acting acting.
Jim Jarmusch
#37. Good acting is thinking in front of the camera. I just do that and apply a sense of humor to it. You have to trust the audience to get it.
Charles Grodin
#38. But I think the other is a little more like bullfighting, a little more daring and although I appreciate good acting and I liked being versatile my whole career, it kept me working.
Robert Klein
#39. Good acting should be invisible. You shouldn't be aware of the acting. It should feel real.
Susanna White
#40. I love actors, and I love good acting. I love what actors do when they're good, and I'm a big acting fan.
John Carney
#41. I always say if you've seen good acting on television, those actors are really good. Because there's just not enough time. You don't have any preparation.
Sasha Alexander
#42. Everyone brings their own particular skill set to the job, and acting training can work for a lot of actors, and it can't. I've seen a lot of really good actors go into acting schools and then come out a little bit corrupted.
Xavier Samuel
#43. To step into acting was not that difficult a transition to make. What was difficult was the work and the practice that went into becoming good at it, because I hadn't had any training.
Queen Latifah
#44. It's very different. You do so many things in this play. You can't just focus on acting or singing. You have to be good at both. I'm very glad I did this play.
Will Davis
#45. Some kids are good at math, some kids can run, and acting was an interest of mine. Because I knew you could do it for a living I decided, that's what I'm going to do.
Jonny Lee Miller
#46. It doesn't work that way, you know, because most parts that you think you'd do well, most other people don't. So they offer you something - The Avengers is a good example ... I fitted into that because I came from that sort of background. It's not even acting.
Patrick Macnee
#47. My goal was for acting to become my main income. I would say to myself, 'I'm good enough.' That became my mantra.
Michael Fassbender
#48. Movie acting is about covering the machinery. Stage acting is about exposing the machinery. In cinema, you should think the actor is playing himself, if he's that good. It looks very easy. It should. But it's not, I assure you.
Michael Caine
#49. I make something I can look at and say, "That's a good piece of work, and there's some terrific directing and acting in it, and you should be proud of it."
Wes Craven
#50. Acting is always something I thought I could do, and I thought I would be pretty good at it, but I thought that I missed the opportunity, that it was too late.
Greg Poehler
#51. It's all about story and character with me, and I don't care if the job is on daytime or prime time or the web. Hey, give me a good character and someone to listen, and I'll do my acting on a street corner.
Justin Hartley
#52. Acting was always a part and faucet of my life. It just comes very natural. I think it's a good thing.
Nicki Minaj
#53. Acting is the only thing I'm even vaguely good at and acting is something that I think I do know about.
Martin Freeman
#54. High school is just horrible in general. So, I think it was a good time for me to have stopped acting. I got to be normal in high school.
Jodie Sweetin
#55. Modeling is great because I don't have lines to memorize. But I find acting much more challenging - which is a good thing!
Candace Kita
#56. You're starting to look like you did before, and that's not good because what you looked like was complete shit, so get up and go to bed so I can stop acting like your mother. I can already feel my balls starting to recede. And hey, does it look like I'm growing breasts? - Kye
Krista Alasti
#57. 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.
Billy Zane
#58. Acting doesn't feel good. It's not comfortable to feel all this stuff, it's not.
Tea Leoni
#59. The Song is a gritty, realistic, and powerful film. The acting and production quality are excellent, and the story is captivating. Although not for children, the story is a good reminder to adults of what really matters!
Alex Kendrick
#60. Acting, I love it and I feel that I'm good at it, but the thing that makes me feel most alive is when I'm playing guitar and singing.
Taryn Manning
#61. It's stressful to keep doing audition after audition after audition. You finish one and go to the next one, and you have to learn lines. For me, I have to work on my accent, so I was getting accent coaching and acting coaching. I wanted to make good impressions.
Luke Mitchell
#62. I would just like to be able to give to people through acting. If I can entertain people by being somebody else and allow somebody to feel something, then that makes me feel good.
Melanie Griffith
#63. I don't see many people with longevity anymore. Everything was harder when I started, and you had to take acting lessons, do theater parts, work on connections and then get lucky. The technology is good, but it's also a hindrance for longevity.
Dustin Diamond
#64. I don't get a rush from anything. I did music as hard as I could. Acting for me at least, is a far more restrained performance than music. It requires a lot of skill and discipline. I'm not any good at it but I enjoy trying to be good at it.
Henry Rollins
#65. The problem with acting is that there's really no control. You're at the behest of others. Everyone else decides if you did a good job and you have to wait for other people's permission to work as an actor.
Leigh Whannell
#66. As it is with a play, so it is with life - what matters is not how long the acting lasts, but how good it is.
Seneca.
#67. As I've been acting since I was young it's taught me to give a good speech, and, though I say so myself, I did it pretty well.
Jonathan Krohn
#68. I had given thought to acting, but I never really had a good enough opportunity or a character who made sense and paralleled my life a little bit. I feel like I'm one of the poster boys for a bad guy in a movie. I feel like I'm a good person to play a bad guy in a movie. I can say that.
Gucci Mane
#69. It is good to exercise patience. But never let your patience be the type that will keep you refrained from acting.
Israelmore Ayivor
#70. You need to be well versed with acting if you want to prove yourself good at every situation of life. Don't be too conscious about everything. Just let go and accept the good and bads!!
Nelson Jack
#71. The theater has never been any good since the actors became gentlemen.
W. H. Auden
#72. We've defined decency down now that we look at the entertainment value of it, whether the acting is good, the writing is good, the story is good, no matter the depravity, we'll watch it.
Rush Limbaugh
#73. I was blessed with my career. I passionately love acting. And it's given me a good livelihood.
George Takei
#74. Pitiful are those who, acting, are attached to their action's fruits. The wise man lets go of all results, whether good or bad, and is focused on the action alone. ~ Bhagavad Gita, c. 400 BCE ~ 2:49-50
Larry Chang
#75. I don't really know how to act that much. I'm quite good at comedy, but it's mostly acting naturally.
T. J. Miller
#76. Acting for me is like a ping-pong game. That's the secret of acting. When you have a really good actor, I always want to be as good as he is or she is.
Sibel Kekilli
#77. I've been called a funny person, for a long time. I don't know that I know anything about comedic acting. I'm not a good improver, which is what a lot of comedic actors are really good at. I have failed miserably when I've been asked to improvise.
John Cho
#78. I actually grew up hearing this a lot: 'If you're an actor, you can only be an actor, and you have to just do that.' But in order to be a good actor, you have to draw on life experiences. To only concentrate on acting, you're cutting yourself off.
Todd Louiso
#79. If it's well written and well directed and you've got good actors to work with, acting is easy. But making sure all the ducks are in a row is the hard part. It's very rare.
John Lithgow
#80. An acting career usually has about a shelf life of ten years before people get sick of seeing you. It's a good thing to have a job to fall back on and I really do enjoy directing.
George Clooney
#81. You need to become a good listener. As you're working, you hear someone else's lines and how you absorb them becomes your acting.
Jacqueline Bisset
#82. Some deeply untrusting actors - the kind that need to know exactly what's what and are completely insecure - might be quite good within the parameters of a certain sort of acting.
Mike Leigh
#83. Movie acting suits me because I only need to be good for ninety seconds at a time.
Bill Murray
#84. I really need to work. People think that I'm no longer interested in acting and only interested in working with the animals. Obviously I have given that impression, but it is not how I feel. I think I'm a good actor. I think I look OK. I don't understand why I'm not working all the time.
Tippi Hedren
#85. I hate taxing my mind with analysis. I'm not a good analyst. I cannot talk about acting. I hate talking about it. I hate talking about analyzing.
Anthony Hopkins
#86. I had just arrived in New York from California. I was nineteen years old and excited beyond belief. I was an art student and an acting student and behaved as most young actors did - meaning that there was no such thing as a good actor, 'cause you yourself hadn't shown up yet.
Robert Redford
#87. I am very happy acting, and just have never gone at, or been bitten by the directing bug to the extent where I'm willing to put acting aside. If offered the opportunity, I think I could do a good job with the right material.
Stephen Lang
#88. For me, acting goes to a special place; it's almost mystical. You have to let go of what you think is good; it's a jump into trust, and trying to reach without wanting too much.
Juliette Binoche
#89. Since being diagnosed with Asperger's, I'd been working with an acting coach who has now become a good friend. We'd been trying lots of improvisational techniques to help me with some of the problems I experience. But it's a very slow process.
Paddy Considine
#90. Hollywood no longer offers entertainment. Instead, activism has replaced acting, and sermons have supplanted stories. Instead of a good yarn, you get a yawn.
Ilana Mercer
#91. My first paid job was delivering newspapers. The first paid acting job I got was dressing up as Edam cheese and handing out leaflets on London's Oxford Street. I got pushed over by these little herberts and given a good shoe-in.
Jason Flemyng
#92. I've only been acting since 2009 and I learn more and more with each job. I think I prepare and I'm very focused and I have a good work ethic that I learned in school.
Jenny Slate
#93. Tris," he says. "What did they do to you? You're acting like a lunatic."
"That's not very nice of you to say," I say. "They put me in a good mood, that's all. And now I really want to kiss you, so if you could just relax-
Veronica Roth
#94. In the acting world, you can really only become good by practicing and doing it, and I just think every time you walk onto a set you just become better and better. I think I'm in a totally different space than I was back then on that first movie set.
Terrence J
#95. It's a fine line of doing what's good for your life and what your parents want you to do, but also following your dreams. With my parents, when I was younger, I always had to do two things. If I was acting, I always had to do a sport or something on the arts side of things along with that.
Kaley Cuoco
#96. God has been acting honorably throughout history regrading what He wants. We're the ones at fault. God is good. And I still really, truly like Him
Dee Henderson
#98. It feels like as you get a bit older, you've worked out the things that are good for your life apart from with acting.
Dolly Wells
#99. It doesn't matter to me whether I go back to outer space or not [while acting]. The job's the same and I don't have any sort of genre preferences. I'm looking for a good story and a good character, whether earthbound or not.
Harrison Ford
#100. It's always at the back of my mind that acting might come to an end for me when Harry Potter finishes. I don't know if I'm good enough to have a long career. I've got a bit of an inferiority complex about my acting. My self-esteem is quite low in that sense.
Rupert Grint
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