Quotes About Film Acting

#1. I've had plenty of lessons about film acting and theatre acting.

John Boyega

#2. You can see all sorts of things in film acting if you know where to look and what to look for. One thing I often notice is that the actor is looking for his mark, the place where he has to stand to be in the right place in the shot.

Michael Caine

#3. I've learnt that there's acting for film, acting for theatre, and acting for an audition.

Sarah Snook

#4. I've dealt with a few method actors, and I don't know if should say this, but I think it's a bunch of nonsense. I think it's film acting and you just have to be on when the camera is rolling.

Natalie Portman

#5. Every time I've crossed to a new level of film acting, the film has been a breakthrough project.

Anupam Kher

#6. The foundation for film acting is stage acting.

James Lipton

#7. Television and film acting is really fun because you are working with other people and you are not completely responsible for the outcome of the project.

Alex Borstein

#8. With film acting, and often when the camera comes very close, you just have to think about something and the camera will pick it up.

Ruth Wilson

#9. The difference - the fundamental difference between theater acting and film acting is that film acting is disjunctive.

James Lipton

#10. And film acting is incredibly tedious, just by its nature. It's incredibly, mind numbingly slow.

Hugh Grant

#11. The only people who have doubts about the sincerity of my music are people who come to it relatively late, off the back of having seen me in a film. Acting is about being other people, and music is about being myself.

Riz Ahmed

#12. Absolutely, 'Rabbit Hole' gave me a nice first introduction into film acting.

Miles Teller

#13. Here is something no real celebrity will ever tell you: film acting is not very fun. Doing the same thing over and over again until, in the director's eyes, you 'get it right' does not allow for very much creative freedom ... In terms of sheer adrenaline, film has absolutely nothing on theater.

Mara Wilson

#14. I love film acting - I'm not snobby about it. I don't think that theater acting's a more noble profession. I think they're both very important. I love both. And in my dream world, I'd get to do both forever.

Rebecca Hall

#15. That's the thing about film acting and television acting. You just release yourself and do what is true for the moment, and ignore everybody and everything and all the technical razzmatazz that goes on.

David Suchet

#16. Film acting has been a very pure experience, because you have to give the purest form of yourself as an artist.

Dwight Yoakam

#17. I got into film acting because I wanted to be James Dean. We lost him at a very young age - he was only 24 - but I'm in my fifthies, so there's only so many times you can act like James Dean. I had to find new ways of expressing myself that kept me fascinated with film performance.

Nicolas Cage

#18. I had a really great experience so far with film acting. And most experiences from most actors, I've heard, are not like this. But I want a career that has many disciplines and many options.

Thomas Horn

#19. That to me is what my idea of film acting should be. There shouldn't be any acting. You should just be watching a real person.

Michael Caine

#20. Film acting is really the trick of doing moments. You rarely do a take that lasts more than 20 seconds. You really earn your spurs acting onstage. I needed to do that for myself. I would hate to say at the end of everything that I never did a stage play.

Sam Shepard

#21. Film acting is one of the only industries where you're criticized for working hard. In any other industry, it's considered a quality and something to behold.

Nicolas Cage

#22. Juilliard definitely emphasizes the theater. They don't train - at all really - for film acting. It's mostly process-oriented, pretty much for the stage.

Adam Driver

#23. Film acting would be about 80 percent better than it has been lately if actors did their homework, if they didn't have egos that took the size of their talent for granted.

Rod Steiger

#24. I don't have any plans to pursue film acting. It's not my thing anymore, if it ever was. Yes, I do still act sometimes. But when I do, it's with people I know and trust, people who respect me as a person and appreciate what I have to offer.

Mara Wilson

#25. I was mainly a stage actor. I found film acting mechanical, because it was so technical - there was so much technique with the lamps and the movements of the camera.

Erland Josephson

#26. Reviews about film acting are very ... tricky, because movies are such a collaborative thing.

James Franco

#27. I was working more on a primal, instinctive level. And it just seemed to suit me; it seemed to suit my concentration span, it seemed to suit my personal style of performance, and I have fallen in love with film acting.

Ron Perlman

#28. Ballet has really helped me in every acting role. You have to be very disciplined, you have to be able to control your nerves and perform under pressure, and all those things you have to use in acting when you're on film or going for an audition.

Mia Wasikowska

#29. I had been doing something for more than half of my life that I wanted to continue doing - I really loved making the film and I really love acting and it is what I want to do.

Emma Watson

#30. I didn't go to film school, I went to acting school.

Charles S. Dutton

#31. I wanted to write in film or something like that. I thought acting was an embarrassing thing to say you wanted to do, especially when you're young. It seemed really uncool.

Max Minghella

#32. Acting in 'Command & Conquer 3' called for me to interact with the player and to look directly into the camera, which is a big no no when filming for TV or film.

Grace Park

#33. I just love acting. Being in theater or being in television or film, I'm really living out my destiny.

Sufe Bradshaw

#34. I began auditioning for acting jobs at the ripe old age of 12. Thirty years later, including a 15-year run on television, I sometimes just get offers for work. Often, however, I am still required to run pell-mell around Los Angeles or New York, interviewing for film and TV jobs.

Diane Farr

#35. I would rather do many small roles on TV, stage or film than one blockbuster that made me rich but had no acting.

Miranda Richardson

#36. 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

#37. I think there were some dubious feelings about it, that the first 'Scarface' would not be surpassed by the second 'Scarface.' We were wrong; it surpassed it. The acting talent, the cinematography - we were propelled into a real class action film. Long after I kick the bucket, it'll be played.

Robert Loggia

#38. 'She's Gotta Have It' and 'School Daze,' I really didn't know what I was doing. And the biggest indicator of that was the acting. 'Do the Right Thing' was like the first film where I really felt comfortable working with actors.

Spike Lee

#39. For me, the challenge of a period film is that, unlike a contemporary film where the character can be very free-form when it comes to the acting, there's a burden to acting in a period film because you have to stay within the character's historical background and the gestures of certain periods.

Donnie Yen

#40. Acting is what I love to do.I understand the differences between the different formats. But I enjoy whether it be film, TV or in the theater.

Carter Jenkins

#41. Whether it's acting, directing or writing, I want to be involved in the film industry for the rest of my life.

Tom Felton

#42. For me, acting is about the art of it and it's about being on a film set and doing your thing, painting a blank canvas.

Shailene Woodley

#43. I've actually done three pilots for Disney. I met with the network when I was 16 years old and had just started acting. I would fly to Los Angeles to film pilots, then fly back to Dallas, where I grew up.

Spencer Boldman

#44. When I connect to my soul, project it into another # character , and then bring it to the stage or to a film
that has always been for me the great joy of # acting . It's been as if my soul kind of leaps out of my body and is able to be free and dance around.

Kyra Sedgwick

#45. Acting just happens to be my skill, but I think I would probably be just as happy being a technician or entering into the film business in some other way.

Jodie Foster

#46. 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

#47. I don't know if I even consider myself a comedian really - I do comedic acting in some films and dramatic in others.

Kristen Wiig

#48. After working on 'Europa,' I found it incredibly freeing to speak English in a film, so it kind of sparked an interest in me as an artist to improve my acting.

Daniel Wu

#49. Through acting and film, I felt that my life had a sense to it. I felt I had a mission.

Cecilia Roth

#50. When I'm acting, I just want to be the character and not have to think of any film technicalities.

Denzel Whitaker

#51. Relax, Xander. It's only two lines."
He closed his eyes and leaned into her, his arms wrapping her back. "But it's still lines in a real film, and if I mess it up-"
"They'll have you do it again. And again... and again." Liv laughed. "No big deal. Life is full of second chances.

Danika Stone

#52. I'm obsessed with those old romance films. I also would love to venture into the silent film world. I think that's extremely compelling and interesting and really relies on the acting, even more so than when you have an actor speaking.

Sami Gayle

#53. A lot of what is famous about film making are the movie stars and what is considered a movie star is a lot of great acting, but also a lot of physical beauty.

Kelli O'Hara

#54. I started my career giving a clinic in bad acting in the film, "The Silver Chalice," and now I'm playing a crusty old man who's an animated automobile [in "Cars"]. That's a creative arc for you, isn't it?

Paul Newman

#55. Acting for me, is a passion, but it's also a job, and I've always approached it as such. I have a certain manual-laborist view of acting. There's no shame in taking a film because you need some money.

James Spader

#56. I have great respect for actors like Jodie Foster and Natalie Portman who went to school the entire time they were acting. All I did was one small little independent film, and I realised I couldn't balance both lives.

Nikki Reed

#57. My first job was a film called 'Storm Damage' for the BBC. I was 16 and working with really respected British actors. I didn't have an agent at the time, and it kind of threw me into real acting.

Ashley Madekwe

#58. We made one film called Thy Neighbor's Wife in which I got flogged at the public whipping post for adultery. I did my best acting in that film, I guess.

Cleo Moore

#59. 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

#60. I think that in France, we really admire American films, we admire their drive, we admire the modernity and ellipsism in the film and the writing and the style of acting, and we look at them perhaps in a way to see what we can steal from them, too, to make our own films more modern.

Francois Cluzet

#61. I took an acting class for 10 seconds before I played a lead in a student movie. I showed the film to an agent who said he would send me on interviews but wouldn't sign me.

Kirstie Alley

#62. Film is a time capsule. If I have a lack of dedication or focus, it's permanently there as a negative reminder.

Adrien Brody

#63. My love for the theater has always been a priority. That hasn't changed. I got into acting that way. The film work that came up was really a surprise.

Philip Seymour Hoffman

#64. Making a film or doing a play are completely different experiences and entirely fulfilling, but completely unique. I also think one complements the other. People often say that theater is about flexing your muscles, and is actually real acting, whereas I sort of disagree.

Eddie Redmayne

#65. Acting is secondary - I don't feel like it's going to stick around because it's not something I want to do forever. My art has always been my top priority and I have far more experience in that field than I do in film.

Jemima Kirke

#66. I watched a film with a very famous, great, great actor, I won't mention his name because everyone loves his memory, but I thought, "God he was acting a lot." Great actor, but nonstop acting. Wall to wall, fitted-carpet acting.

Anthony Hopkins

#67. My background are acting, film production, directing, and I studied them for many years. Keep in mind that you need many other skills when you are starting any film project related to real life.

Tommy Wiseau

#68. My first love is acting on stage. A sitcom is a hybrid of stage and film.

Judd Nelson

#69. I never dreamed that shooting a film would be so hard. There was less regulation then of child actors' hours. Even the concept of acting confused me.

Tatum O'Neal

#70. Theater to me is acting but it's more real on film.

Ted Shackelford

#71. Most of all, I really wanted to become a filmmaker, and I've used every acting experience to just turn it into film school.

Jeremy Davies

#72. I wanted to stay in New York to pursue acting, but my dad urged me to get a four-year degree. Reading about the film school at Florida State University, he suggested I go there. I received my bachelor's degree in 2003.

Lauren Miller

#73. I did theatre a lot when I was a kid. Then I went to acting school in New York. I did a lot of behind the scenes in college. I wanted to learn while I had the time. I studied theatre and film in different capacities.

Justin Bartha

#74. If I don't do this film. I'll be acting in corsets for the next 20 years.

Keira Knightley

#75. I like fashion, but I love, love, love music and film; they are my two passions. I would love to pursue my acting and my love of music more than anything.

Cara Delevingne

#76. I've been acting for 25 years, living out of suitcases on theater tours or film locations.

Alfred Molina

#77. My goal has always been not to look forward to the next thing, but to relish and celebrate the successes I have at the moment. Whether it's landing a part in a student film or having a good day in acting class, I never discredit anything.

Dianna Agron

#78. In a funny way, acting, to me, is all make-believe, even if the film has unicorns in it or is a normal movie that can be set in real-life time. I'm still imagining that I'm a different character, so it's all, in a funny way, like fantasy.

Elle Fanning

#79. I always wanted to be a film-maker when I was younger, not an actor. I was an eight-year-old who dreamed of being a writer on 'The Simpsons,' which was a weird dream to have. But I started taking acting classes as a way to learn how to direct actors and I sort of fell in love with it.

Jonah Hill

#80. I never took an acting class, so I've made all my mistakes on film.

Heath Ledger

#81. I decided I was going to give up singing and concentrate on acting, and a result of that, I didn't do another film for two to three years, and I don't blame it on anybody but myself.

Bobby Darin

#82. I wanted to go to acting school, and I did a few modeling jobs to pay for acting school. I never aspired to be a model. I met lots of photographers, and I learned a lot about light - as a source of love and illumination, light as a gift of love. On film, that's a massive contribution.

Jacqueline Bisset

#83. 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

#84. I wanted to be involved in TV and film in some capacity, so a compromise, because acting seemed unrealistic, and so risky, was to get into the production side. And it was a really fortunate, smart move looking back on it, because it gave me perspective on another side of the business.

Wentworth Miller

#85. I find that as long as I'm acting it doesn't matter if it's for TV, or a series or a short film. I always have fun no matter what I'm doing.

Jodelle Ferland

#86. I did a film once that I was killed in. It was a painful, horrifying day. It was a wonderful day from the standpoint of acting, but I was a wreck otherwise.

Leslie Easterbrook

#87. When you do bigger jobs there's more attention and when you film in New York you get loads of paparazzi everywhere. It affects your work because you're trying to think about the person you're acting with and you've got 20 other lenses taking pictures of you at the same time, and it throws you.

Carey Mulligan

#88. When I finally awoke it was crystal clear to me that I had to pursue my love for acting on a professional level in film/TV despite any fears I'd had about it previous to the accident. And I've never looked back.

Kyle Cassie

#89. My role as Ewan McGregor's girlfriend in the film 'Incendiary' ended up on the cutting-room floor, but at least I had two brilliant days of acting with Ewan.

Natalie Dormer

#90. I grew up in baseball stadiums. It was my two brothers and baseball around me all the time. I knew nothing about film or acting or theater when I was young!

Stephanie Sigman

#91. Suddenly I was writing a lot of screenplays, and I was no long in New York, so I stopped acting in plays, and it just became too tricky to find a part to play, either in a play or a film that coincided with my schedule writing and or directing.

Michael Cristofer

#92. Acting in film, you know, I hear all the time, people say 'You did so much better than I thought you would.' So there's an added element of surprise in film, different than in music.

T.I.

#93. I love theatre. It's far more satisfying than film. Sometimes there's a collective sigh from the audience, or it's so quiet you can hear a pin drop. I couldn't believe how easy acting was when there's an audience; after a few previews I almost couldn't do it without one.

Katie Leung

#94. I never thought of acting as a creative process. Christ, I used to go to the movies and see Brando talking like he was trying to sell shoes, and he was great. I thought anybody could do it. Then I tried it, and I got so uptight, I'm limited as to what I can do on film.

Kris Kristofferson

#95. I want to do acting as much as I can. When you're on contract with a show, you can't really do other shows. It's hard to do film. I haven't had the opportunity to even audition much for films because I don't have an agent.

Retta

#96. Acting is not a competition; everything must be done for the good of the film or else everybody loses.

Michael Caine

#97. I think maybe because I do other things and they mean as much to me as movie acting, it takes the onus off me. It's not the end of the world if I can't get a film job, or if a movie doesn't turn out well - even though I don't like it when that happens.

Viggo Mortensen

#98. The only reason why you should do a film is because it creatively carbonates you and gets you going. If you're doing it for any other reason, you've lost sight of why you're acting in the first place.

Graham Phillips

#99. Film is such a bizarre vehicle for acting. It's such a bizarre experience. I don't think you ever really get familiar with it. If you do get familiar with it, you're probably not that good anymore.

Liev Schreiber

#100. The only reason I'm acting in films I direct is to get the money to make them, quite frankly, it's not what I'm interested in doing.

Denzel Washington