Like An Actor Quotes

#1. I grew up in a family of actors. I grew up onstage. The choice for me wasn't, 'Do I want to be an actor or not?' I always felt like that's just ingrained in you, the need to perform. The choice was, 'Do you want to do this professionally or not?'

James Badge Dale

#2. As an actor, acting is like playing a sport. You do this thing that's intangible, and while it's happening, it's great. But then when it's done, there's really no tangible product. Someone else is capturing it and turning it into something tangible.

Chris Evans

#3. There is a perfect rout of characters in every man - and every man is like an actor's trunk, full of strange creatures, new & old. But an actor and his trunk are two different things

Wallace Stevens

#4. An actor's career doesn't feel like just one career to me. It feels like about five or six. Because every six or seven years, you look in the mirror and you have a completely different product.

Ron Livingston

#5. It wasn't like I ever said, 'I want to be an actor.' I was in the right place at the right time. I went to a local drama group because I found football on the weekends too cold - which is highly ironic because I've had some of the coldest experiences of my life filming 'Game of Thrones.'

Isaac Hempstead-Wright

#6. I think meeting someone like, meeting Sam Shepard, that was someone who was kind of important for me, because I'd read so much of his work and watched him as an actor since I was a kid, then being on set doing a scene with him and thinking, 'This is really surreal.'

Richard Madden

#7. The relationship between an actor and a director is like a love story between a man and a woman. I'm sure sometimes I'm the woman.

Gerard Depardieu

#8. I was born in Mumbai, but I grew up in England, and then my adulthood has been in the States. I'm an American stuffed with an English person with an Indian person inside. I feel like those things kind of inform me in some way, which I think helps me as an actor.

Aasif Mandvi

#9. I consider myself as a character actor. I like the sports analogy, which I do all the time; I'm an avid sports guy. I'm a golfer, but I grew up as sort of an avid fan and participant in baseball, and I'm like a relief pitcher. My job is to come in and throw strikes.

Clint Howard

#10. I did four or five years in telly, and by the end of it was drained. I was a bit sick of myself. I didn't feel like an actor anymore. That sounds silly, but when you're doing a play you're using different muscles, and it blew all the cobwebs away.

Matthew Macfadyen

#11. For me, the political part of being an actor is very tough. To sit somewhere and tell somebody why you should feel this way or that way about my character does not feel like my responsibility. It feels like the responsibility of the writer and the person who created it.

Emma Stone

#12. It is an actor's defect. I want everybody to like me, so I'll say what I think will please them.

Jean Reno

#13. An actor alone is a bit naked. Like when you do something in front of your mirror, you're usually really bad, because you're looking at yourself.

Clemence Poesy

#14. I always hated the world "acting" - to say, "I'm an actor." It should be more like a believer.

Michael Jackson

#15. I didn't know any successful actors in Kenya, so I felt like I could get away with going to college to study film more easily than I could with saying, 'I want to be an actor.' That's what I did.

Lupita Nyong'o

#16. When audiences look at an action actor like myself, sometimes we are very easily stereotyped or characterized as one type. They forget that we are actors, too.

Donnie Yen

#17. I like to work as an actor. Not just for money, but because I really enjoy acting.

Peter Sarsgaard

#18. There is a temptation for an actor to editorialize what they're doing. And you can't do that with Pinter. It's almost like a musical score. His lines are so specific, but they can mean different things to different people, like an alternating current.

Peter Riegert

#19. If I had had to struggle at the beginning like most actors ... I'd never have stuck it out. But having such complete success at the beginning, I was stuck with being an actor for life.

Harry Morgan

#20. You're literally being an actor - you're pretending - and that's not what I like to do.

Kristen Stewart

#21. When you're a child you're able to assimilate so easily into any situation. You even start talking like the people you're around. I wasn't conscious that I was so good at that until I started to truly feel like an actor.

Vincent D'Onofrio

#22. When I was ten, I loved movies like 'Cool Hand Luke' and 'Roman Holiday.' When I watched those things, I felt like it was such a good escape. It wasn't even that I needed an escape, but I wanted to be an actor so I could give that feeling to someone else.

Spencer Boldman

#23. Every young person is going to be inspired to be a maker from now on. It's like how everyone used to want to be a musician, an actor, an athlete
but a maker is what people are going to want to be.

Will.i.am

#24. Directing talent is very nebulous. You know, it's not in front of you like an actor's performance.

Michael Douglas

#25. I feel like any time you, as an actor, can be surrounded by other amazing actors, you can't do anything but grow.

Kristin Renton

#26. I thought 'I can't be an actor, I can't'. Then this film came up and it was like someone saying to me, 'You can, don't give up'.

Keisha Castle-Hughes

#27. I wasn't even going to do acting. I don't know how it even happened, to be honest. I was going to go into psychology or something like that. Or business. And then some moment of madness took over and I decided, 'Oh, I'm gonna go to London and try to be an actor.'

Amrita Acharia

#28. All I can do is do my best work, try to create the best kind of moment to moment reality that I can do. That's what I do. I'm an actor. And all the rest of it is like baseball. You hit the ball. Sometimes it goes in the hole. Sometimes it goes to the player.

Tobin Bell

#29. All this focus on my private life is the most unappealing aspect of being an actor. I don't like it, but it goes with the territory, and I have to put up with it. I certainly don't set out to attract attention.

Sean Bean

#30. I think as an actor, you're more like a dancer, and you have to use your body. I don't understand all these questions about nudity. It's a nonsense. He's an actor, an artist, so get on with it.

Steve McQueen

#31. As an actor, I think sort of relish the chance to take a leap and sort of put yourself out there. You know, it's, like on any film, you just have to be willing to embarrass yourself, because otherwise you are not going to really reveal anything that you have. So I think it's exciting.

Daniel Radcliffe

#32. And lot of Asian audiences and reporters don't like me to act as a bad guy. But I think I want to become an actor, I want to try different way.

Jet Li

#33. I admire an actor that can do a lot with doing nothing really, for the most part. I like doing a lot by doing so little.

Taylor Kitsch

#34. Yeah, you know, if I'm having an emotional scene I do like to go off and be by myself; not to say that I'm a method actor or anything like that, but for scenes like that that are more emotional, I do like to take that night off and not be so social.

Shay Mitchell

#35. When I grew up, the only way a lad like me would maybe escape was playing football. Not being an actor.

Sean Harris

#36. It often looks like an actor's had a big break out of nowhere, but in reality, they've been working their way up, little by little, for a while.

Ashley Madekwe

#37. 'The Good Wife' has actually been something, ironically, that I've watched since episode one, season one in the U.K. because it came up when I was in drama school. I always watched it. It was kind of like an actor's show.

Cush Jumbo

#38. As an actor, I feel like youre asked to live life as vibrantly as possible.

Stana Katic

#39. I really like writing music. That's kind of like my little hobby. I like that because sometimes you don't really have any control when you're an actor, over what you're doing next, and everything is kind of decided by other people. You're always waiting to hear from people.

Amelia Warner

#40. I hated the idea that I would be like my father. Which is one of the reasons I decided I didn't want to be a writer and wanted to be an actor instead. I wanted to go in a total different direction. But, of course, I ended up being a writer anyway.

Loudon Wainwright III

#41. To me, it's the kiss of death when you start winking at the audience as an actor. I just never liked it. I don't like it when we do monologues, looking into the character.

Thomas Jane

#42. I want to establish a wide range and play all kinds of parts. It's that sort of acting career I really respect. I like to turn a sharp left from whatever I've done before because that keeps me awake. That's why I want to be an actor - I don't want to play endless variations on one character.

Tim Curry

#43. But as an actor you do want to challenge yourself and step outside what you have done in the past and that what I like to do, I like to jump around and try different things and stretch myself.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead

#44. I would not want to be a part of any project that I feel would not work. An actor like me always wants to work to get appreciation of the audiences. And appreciation can only come if people will come to watch the film.

Rani Mukerji

#45. The life of an action star is very short. I want to be an actor like Robert De Niro, like Dustin Hoffman or Clint Eastwood who in their 70s or 80s can still act.

Jackie Chan

#46. Thing is, I'm a funny actor, but I'm not good at being funny. I'm going to ramble for a second: I'm an actor who can make things funny in the moment, like in stakes or in circumstances or out of character.

Matthew Lillard

#47. An actor's life is all about rejection. It's you they don't want; it's you who's too tall or too short or too fat. With stand-up, it doesn't matter what you look like.

Mark Billingham

#48. Every actor is alive because of his/her fans. I'm glad that my fans love me so much. I have an immense responsibility towards them. That's why I'm careful while signing a film. What is also important is to judge whether I would like to watch the film as an audience or not.

Rani Mukerji

#49. Well, an actor is an actor is actor, to paraphrase someone or other and the opportunity to work, to have a steady engagement, certainly seemed like an appealing concept to me.

Walter Koenig

#50. I like my films to have a certain amount of realism - something that's thought provoking and intelligently written. More than the amount on the pay cheque, I look for a level of respectability as an actor.

Arjun Rampal

#51. The body is an actor's tool, like the face, malleable. I never thought that being naked was immoral or outrageous.

Emmanuelle Beart

#52. I like Joaquin Phoenix. He's an amazing actor and he's so buff.

Katie Leung

#53. I wasn't like, 'I want to be famous.' I just wanted to be an actor. I wasn't chasing anything. I was never stressed or worried. I never had any fear of rejection or not making it, anything like that.

Sean Harris

#54. You have to live your life like you're pretending. An actor living a character's life. Otherwise you won't take risks. You won't live.

Laura Dockrill

#55. To be an actress and act crazy is really fun for me, to be able to be acting like you'd never be able to act in your real life and scream and freak out. It's an interesting test for an actor.

Alexandra Daddario

#56. All I've tried to do as an actor is follow the good writing. That's been my main drive. It's not always possible, so when you do come upon it, like when I came upon this, you realize pretty quickly this is something you need to be involved with.

Cillian Murphy

#57. I remember the first time my mind was blown by an actor was Tim Curry, because I loved 'Clue' when I was a kid, and then I was watching the movie 'Legend,' and the Devil suddenly smiles, and I was like, 'It's the same guy!' It was a total Keyser Soeze moment.

Oscar Isaac

#58. It's not like I had big dreams to go to California and become an actor. I loved doing my shows at school and community theater, and I probably would have settled in New York because it was closer. I was going to go to NYU.

Christine Taylor

#59. Transformational acting was the reason why I became an actor in the first place. Your hair and make-up and the costume are the tools that you have, and it makes you feel like that person. When you look in the mirror, you don't feel like yourself, and it changes the way you move. I love that stuff.

Matt Ross

#60. Movies serve many purposes, and I've visited many of those genres, from the most light, frivolous comedy that is just trying to make you laugh, to movies that explore the most complicated side of the human soul. As an actor, I play all of those things, and I still like it.

Antonio Banderas

#61. I didn't know what my passion was until I discovered the dramatic arts in junior high and high school and I realized, 'Oh, I like this. This is something I feel like I'm good at.' But, the idea of moving to Hollywood and becoming an actor was really unrealistic.

James Marsden

#62. Obviously I like to make sure that my life is separate, so as me as a person, I know that my fans know me. But as an actor I like to do different things and I'm gonna want to try new things that may not necessarily have a positive meaning.

Selena Gomez

#63. 'The Comeback' is my favorite TV show of all-time because it's just brill. It's Lisa Kudrow's show about what it's like to be an actor on a TV show. She's so amazing on it.

Gillian Jacobs

#64. Like any other actor, my agent called me with an opportunity. It just so happens that the opportunity was the lead in 'Star Wars.'

John Boyega

#65. We have a full writers' room, and with something like 'MyMusic,' we've scripted it out with professional writers. There is some very basic improv from the actors, but everything is very to the letter, so it's easy to edit down to an episode. There are fun little things an actor might throw in there.

Benny Fine

#66. As an actor, you have an accumulated knowledge base. But there's also something about it that every time you really feel like you're doing it for the first time; you have no idea whether you're capable of it.

Brit Marling

#67. It'd be disingenuous to say I don't like attention - I'm an actor for God's sake - and it's flattering and all, but attention was never my big goal. I just like to work and have a good time.

Paul Giamatti

#68. As far as an actor-director connection, I think those can develop, and when they do, they're really great, and you just cultivate it like you would any relationship or friendship. If you find that something special, it helps down the line when you want to do more projects with each other.

Taylor Handley

#69. In L.A., being an actor is like a pastime, everybody there is like, "I was on this reality show; I'm an actor." It becomes a word that is loosely thrown around.

Condola Rashad

#70. I'm not an American actor. I'm a French actor. I'll continue in France. If I could make another silent movie in America, I'd like to!

Jean Dujardin

#71. An actor gives voice to the many multitudes that we all contain. That's why we love the movies, why we love TV shows: we watch different people portray an aspect of ourselves, maybe even one we don't like.

Kristen Stewart

#72. An actor should have not one face but a thousand faces; like the phoenix which carries a print of each animal, an actor should carry a print of each human being!

Mehmet Murat Ildan

#73. I started out wanting to be an actor and I like to give actors as much as possible. I love writing stuff where they can really lose control.

Elizabeth Meriwether

#74. If I don't have a script I adore, I do one I like. If I don't have one I like, I do one that has an actor I like or that presents some technical challenge.

Sidney Lumet

#75. Every film for every actor is a make-or-break film. I believe every film has the power to break you or make you. So, an actor will treat every film like his last film. That's the way we need to work, and that's the way you can drum up that passion needed to do good work.

Abhishek Bachchan

#76. I should be getting photographs of me with my arm around these people like restaurant owners do, because eventually I am going to have to prove to my kids that once I was an actor!

Josh Hartnett

#77. An actor's life is like a series of - it's like the first day of school happening over and over again.

John C. Reilly

#78. I feel I have to work hard to nurture whatever talent I have as an actor. I feel like it's not natural to me. So I don't take it for granted ... What I think is my natural ability - which is writing - I think I totally take that for granted.

David Duchovny

#79. I look at smoking as a crutch, and as an actor I would like strip away as many crutches as possible.

Claire Forlani

#80. I love being an actor, and I don't want to be a spokesman for anything, I don't want to do anything crazy or fancy like that. I just love playing characters and getting paid for it, and that's what I want to do till the day I die.

Rainn Wilson

#81. Running my show is really like an actor being in repertory but where, in one day in one performance, you do scenes from a drama, a farce, a low comedy and a tragedy.

Dick Cavett

#82. I wouldn't even begin to presume that the talent of an able actor is anything like the talents of a prodigious musician.

Juliet Stevenson

#83. I like being meticulous and it's quite difficult as an actor to have that much control.

Robert Pattinson

#84. Growing up in a family of actors, what's great about it is that they're very supportive and they understand what it's like to be an actor - the rejections, the highs and lows ... and having a common language with them is great because you have shorthand speech.

Chris Pine

#85. You as a soul you are alive, you as an actor - dead, as a character - dead... That's life, like it or not, it's not my problem!

Deyth Banger

#86. I don't think special attention should be given to an actor or a singer or a baseball player or a soccer player more than anyone else, but they do have an opinion like anyone else.

Viggo Mortensen

#87. We're very good friends, we have a very honest relationship. He keeps me honest, I keep him honest. He's an incredible actor and when you have an actor like Denzel action becomes drama.

Antoine Fuqua

#88. I could care less about being an action actor like Stallone or Schwarzenegger.

Vin Diesel

#89. I don't have a specific type of role that I aspire to play or aspire to act. I really like a challenge and I really like doing things that are different because if I had to do the same thing all the time, then I don't think I would be an actor.

Vanessa Lengies

#90. But I don't really care for directors flaring up and trying to humble some actor, which they would do to try and make an example out of them so everybody else would stay on the ball - and David wasn't anything like that.

Richard Farnsworth

#91. As an actor, to get a gift of a part like that is unusual. And then, to have the prospect of another one is always going to be interesting and exciting.

Brendan Gleeson

#92. An actor is never so great as when he reminds you of an animal - falling like a cat, lying like a dog, moving like a fox.

Francois Truffaut

#93. I'll never be the biggest kind of star; I'll be like Bob Duvall, respected as an actor but a lot of people can't identify the face. I don't have the personality of a big star, or the looks of a Mel Gibson or a Paul Newman, or the style of a George C. Scott.

John Malkovich

#94. As an actor, doing it for 30 years, with every movie, you're trying to figure out a way to make it more naturalistic and more organic to humanity. When you have lines like, "Never let the monster out," it's hard.

Josh Brolin

#95. We have the best driver in the world in drifting and best guy in rally racing and stuff like that. So obviously there's a lot of stuff that I didn't do, but there's a lot of really incredible things that I don't think we've ever seen an actor do.

Sean William Scott

#96. Living as an actor is rather like living life on the trapezes in a circus. Every time you jump on, you have to pray that, when the time comes for you to jump off, there is another trapeze swinging your way.

Celia Imrie

#97. You want to work with good people. When you're working with good people, it frees you up. There's nothing worse, as an actor, to show up and then feel like you have to protect yourself somehow because you don't feel like you're in good hands.

James Badge Dale

#98. When I'm acting, I wish I was out there, being a part of it and making it. It's all on your name to do that. It's your vision. You're going to get slandered for your work, and I like that. As an actor, it's so hard. I'd rather direct than act.

Jason Momoa

#99. I had to learn that a good actor, like an iceberg, reveals only a small part of his ability on the surface. You suggest; you don't serve on a platter. You hold back. You don't expose it all to view. That's the way to put the audience's imagination to work.

Lilli Palmer

#100. Sometimes you read a script and it's like, "You'll improv and this is just a blueprint of what the scene could be," and that's never a good sign. And it's never encouraging as an actor to take that on, really.

Paul Rudd