Top 100 What Is Acting Quotes
#1. I would rather do a play because it's instantaneous. You go on the stage, and you know whether it's happening or not. Somebody asked me 'What is acting?' And I said, 'Acting is listening.' And if you ain't listening, nobody's listening.
Charles Durning
#2. Well, what is acting but the study of human behavior? And that's so fascinating to me.
Amy Smart
#3. [the only acting advice he would give] What is acting but lying and what is good lying but convincing lying?
Laurence Olivier
#4. When you're acting, everything is there around you, you just have to believe that it's real. When you're standing there with a slightly grey wig on and you have a baby in your arms screaming in your ear, you can go: "Well, I guess this is what it's like!"
Jim Sturgess
#5. I've been acting for many years, and the more you do, the more confidence you get about "this is my career and this is what I'm going to be doing."
Tom Ellis
#6. The thing I hate most in acting is asking permission to do things. What you really want to do is say, 'This is my need; this is what's going to get me further; this is what's going to be alive. I don't ever say, 'Do you mind if ... ?' I just come in and do it.
Lance Henriksen
#7. Honestly, I really don't like acting. I don't enjoy it. What I do like is going to a movie theatre and seeing my face on a poster. I like seeing my name on a poster. That is cool.
Gabriel Iglesias
#8. Obviously there are times with acting when exactly what is required is just going through the motions, and when doing nothing is the best thing. But at other times, you have to make that leap beyond the immediate environment of people putting up lights on the set.
Christian Bale
#9. Acting is something that I always wanted, but I never paid attention to the notion that it might actually work out. You have all sorts of ideas about what you want to do - at one stage, I wanted to be a jockey - but this is the one that's a big deal.
Olivia Thirlby
#10. I've always approached acting from a passion point of view. It's what I love to do. The fact that you get paid is just a bonus
Katheryn Winnick
#12. I need to work with great directors and actors, people who are better than me, so that I am challenged. It is like playing sports - surfing, basketball, it doesn't matter what it is, if you play with people who are better than you, then you get better too. It is the same thing with acting.
Paul Walker
#13. For me, acting in scenes with other people is like playing soccer with a bunch of legless five year olds. It's not really fair to them, but what else can I do, you know?
Zach Braff
#14. On some level in acting, what you're trying to find is truth, because when it's true is when it's also funny.
David Hyde Pierce
#15. That is what we have been feinting towards for a year of our lives: pretending like it was going to happen, acting like it was going to happen, and making you think it was going to happen. I like to work from the back forward.
David Mandel
#16. That is what courage is: it is acting in the face of fear.
Amy A. Bartol
#17. Acting is fun, and if you enjoy doing it, you should take it seriously and see what you can do.
Stephen Colletti
#18. Attraction isn't wrong. People can't help who they are drawn to and they certainly can't control affinity, as uncommon as it is. What is wrong is acting on inclination if it hurts someone else, namely a significant other.
Donna Lynn Hope
#19. Acting is what I'm living and breathing on a day-to-day basis.
Ruby Rose
#20. Ultimately, everyone is acting out of what they feel is the best choice. In a way, they're all trying to improve the world. And I think that those basic choices make the world a better place.
Chuck Palahniuk
#22. 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
#23. I was tired of playing the child and acting the way many of my friends did - the ones who are afraid that love is impossible without even knowing what love is.
Paulo Coelho
#24. It is highly possible that what is called 'talented behavior' is simply a greater individual capacity for experiencing. From this point of view, it is in the increasing of the individual capacity for experiencing that the untold potentiality of a personality can be evoked.
Viola Spolin
#25. All I have to say is basically if performing, singing, acting, and dancing is what you want to do, then you just have to do it - no matter where it is.
Ariana Grande
#26. I think acting is revealing to people what it means to be human.
Nick Enright
#27. What acting means is that you've got to get out of your own skin.
Katharine Hepburn
#28. There's a very fine line between underacting and not acting at all. And not acting is what a lot of actors are guilty of. It amazes me how some of these little numbers with dreamy looks and a dead pan are getting away wit it. I'd hate to see them on stage with a dog act.
Joan Blondell
#29. It's no surprise that optimistic athletes, managers and teams do better. What's interesting is where they do better. It's in coming back from defeat and acting in the clutch.
Martin Seligman
#30. What I love about photography, and it's the same thing I love about acting, really, is that it forces you, like, right into the moment, where you can't be distracted, where you can't be, like, thinking about other things or ahead of yourself or behind yourself.
Jessica Lange
#31. 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
#32. I fell in love with acting. I thought, 'This is what I want to do.'
Daniel Breaker
#33. 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
#34. When people say things like "don't let this moment pass without acting on gun control," what they're really saying is our arguments are so unpersuasive that they can only succeed when people aren't thinking clearly.
Glenn Reynolds
#35. To me, acting is all about hard work and talent. Once you get your first wrinkle, if you are a female actress, nobody will care about what you look like - it's all about what you can do.
Dominik Garcia-Lorido
#36. Acting is not about being someone different. It's finding the similarity in what is apparently different, then finding myself in there.
Meryl Streep
#37. You have to believe what you say, and if you believe what you are saying, then acting is easy.
Jean-Claude Van Damme
#38. 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
#39. Since nobody is in a position to substitute his own value judgments for those of the acting individual, it is vain to pass judgment on other people's aims and volitions. No man is qualified to declare what would make another man happier or less discontented.
Ludwig Von Mises
#40. Listening is not merely hearing. Listening is reacting. Listening is being affected by what you hear. Listening is active.
Michael Shurtleff
#41. Acting, films, scripts, is literally the only thing I'm 100 percent confident in. I know what I'm doing. I just understand it, and I love it. When I'm on set, that's when I feel the most at home and in control.
Jennifer Lawrence
#42. No one knows what he is doing so long as he is acting rightly; but of what is wrong one is always conscious.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
#43. Spiritual wisdom consists in finding out the subtleties, policies, and depths of any indwelling sin ... to trace this serpent in all its turnings and windings; be able to say, at its most secret actings, 'This is your old way and course; I know what you aim at.'
John Owen
#44. One of the things that is interesting about reading conspiracy theory is that much of what folks think is conspiracy is really many people acting in concert to make or protect their money.
Catherine Austin Fitts
#45. 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.
#46. What made me fall in love with acting, which is my life, was watching other people perform. It made me hunger to do that.
Elisabeth Rohm
#47. 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
#48. I can watch a movie and go, 'Oh, my god, that person is acting.' If you just listen to what the other person is saying, your response will always be genuine.
Kat Dennings
#49. If you think about what acting is supposed to be, my job is to disappear.
Anna Deavere Smith
#50. I'm acting like someone who is starting to realize who he is and what he can do.
Pittacus Lore
#51. We don't think of them as acting, but we take on certain characteristics based on where we function, and those relationships draw out aspects of who we are as people. And that's what acting is. Different parts draw out different parts of your nature.
Peter Riegert
#52. I can tell that fame is probably the most unadorable thing about acting. High School Musical is what got me here today and I'm very grateful - but the fame part isn't so fun.
Zac Efron
#53. That's what acting is all about - it's all about bringing truth from your own life, and putting it into your characters. If you have the advantage of using your own life in your work, that's always the way to go.
Michael Eklund
#54. I think what I do in my acting world and what I do in my standup world is bring up a brand that I want to bring across. Once you figure out your brand and what you do, it's kind of easy at that. You end up getting your audience.
J. B. Smoove
#55. I want to explore more sides of humanity and myself. That's what acting is about.
Noomi Rapace
#56. My default position is not to be an actor. My default position is to be a follower of Jesus Christ. If that means I continue in acting, great! I'd love that. But if it means I need to change professions someday because I can't provide for my family, well, that's what I need to do.
Kirk Cameron
#57. You can't expect to draw people into your life who are kind, confident, and generous if you're thinking and acting in cruel, weak, and selfish ways. You must be what it is that you're seeking- that is, you need to put forth what you want to attract.
Wayne Dyer
#58. If the character is getting mad, getting upset or getting turned on, you're getting to see that in the facial tones and the skin tones. That's what I enjoy about acting. It can be very subtle, like that.
Michael Rooker
#59. It is so hard for musicians when they step into acting is they're not coming in as a blank slate, they're coming in with a real set idea of who they are, where they're coming from, what their politics are, what their tastes are.
Shirley Manson
#60. Acting to me is a very organic art form and you just go and do it. And I like to direct the same way that I like to be directed. Let me bring in what I want to bring in, and if something's wrong, just tell me about it and I'll make some corrections or adjustments. And that's what I do.
Clint Eastwood
#61. 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
#62. 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
#63. I think anything emotional adds to your acting and singing, no matter what it is that you go through. It will always add to it, never take away.
Kelli O'Hara
#64. Islam deals not only with what man must and must not do, but also with what he needs to know. In other words, Islam is both a way of acting and doing things and a way of knowing.
Osman Bakar
#65. My mom was always like, "If I know that my kid is having fun, she's gonna do whatever she wants. Whether that's gymnastics, learning the car, acting or just being a normal kid, she's gonna do what makes her happy." That's how I've always lived my life.
Chloe Grace Moretz
#66. At the end of drama school, I made a contract with myself: I'd try acting for five years. I was 26. I had already spent eight years working in restaurants and gas stations. So I had seen enough small businesses to understand that that's what acting is: a small business.
Hugh Jackman
#67. I don't concern myself with thinking ahead to the finished product. I focus more specifically on what the character is experiencing. Once you relieve yourself of the very arbitrary and always punishing pressure of what an audience is expecting you to do, acting becomes a lot more fun and pure.
Jesse Eisenberg
#68. I certainly very much enjoy acting, but I am open to anything really. I think it's important when you have those moments in life when you are not attached to something, and you are not quite sure what the next phase of your journey is going to look like, that you don't pigeon-hole yourself.
James Scott
#69. The sitting around on the set is awful. But I always figure that's what they pay me for. The acting I do for free.
Edward G. Robinson
#70. What I would say to a person who is firm in their faith and wants to go into an acting career: It is such a difficult thing to do without compromising your beliefs.
Angus T. Jones
#71. What's fantastic is that there's a real growing appreciation for performance-capture technology as a tool for acting.
Andy Serkis
#72. In my opinion, if you want to pursue an art, especially acting, you have to be really perceptive of what people go through. There is so much bad in the world, and I think that acting it out and exploring it almost helps you deal with it.
Rita Volk
#73. Acting is a life experience. I'm always learning things when I'm making a movie. So the fame part of it is fine when you consider what you get out of this job.
Kate Bosworth
#74. When someone's acting for a scene, they can fool the camera. But in everyday life, unless you're watching and censoring yourself every minute, or spending all your time in the company of ladies, what you feel is bound to show in your eyes.
Cesar Romero
#75. What makes Superman a hero is not that he has power, but that he has the wisdom and the maturity to use the power wisely. From an acting point of view, that's how I approached the part.
Christopher Reeve
#76. Great acting is about listening to what they are saying ... not waiting to deliver your lines.
Michael Caine
#77. I want the Israeli government to be made accountable for its behaviour to the Palestinians, and I want the people of the U.S. to cease acting as if they don't understand what is going on.
Alice Walker
#78. What you learn in any acting class is how to make a fool of yourself and enjoy things and get out of your head.
Aya Cash
#79. 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
#80. If one ... struggles for what is beyond the most proper, doing not in accordance with one's natural ability, acting not with one's genuine feeling, one will surely get into trouble ...
Guo Xiang
#81. I can't say what my greatest strength between acting and singing is ... I'll leave that to the critics. Maybe my best strength is performance itself, being with the audience and feeling what they feel, bouncing off of them.
Erica Schroeder
#82. 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
#83. In acting, every day is different, and I guess it appeals to my storytelling imagination. But I've been very fortunate to get the chance to do what I want to do and earn a living from it to pay the mortgage.
Emilia Fox
#84. So what's so enticing about doing a play is that you get to do that thing that got you into acting in the first place ... There's a real attraction to being able to play, to just play. And that's something that theater affords you.
Rich Sommer
#85. Baking is my pastime. I just love creating things. But it's not what I want to do for a living. Acting is what I want to do.
Ed Oxenbould
#86. We're in the doing business, or acting business and creating business. We're not in the results business, so we don't have any control over what the result is.
Thomas Jane
#87. I don't really know exactly what the plan is ... I'm not a person that's just pursuing acting or just pursuing singing or just pursuing dancing. You know, I would love to do reality television, I would like to go back to Broadway.
Todrick Hall
#88. It's always hard to be private in public, which is what acting is because you have to do thing really emotionally naked.
Viola Davis
#89. What motivates every other decision artistically or technically is the acting. This is what motivates everything. Never can a camera move be incompatible with the emotion of the actor at that moment. The movement, the style, the atmosphere, everything is dictated by the actor.
Xavier Dolan
#90. Every scene you will ever act begins in the middle, and it is up to you, the actor, to provide what comes before.
Michael Shurtleff
#91. I've always thought of acting as more of an exercise in empathy, which is not to be confused with sympathy. You're trying to get inside a certain emotional reality or motivational reality and try to figure out what that's about so you can represent it.
Edward Norton
#92. Acting is what I dreamed about when I was doing those impressions as a kid. Even if I didn't know it yet.
Scott Haze
#93. My life is about politics, a lot of about music, and a lot about things other than acting. I like traveling the world. But, what makes me want to stay in this business and keep doing this are movies when it's a true labor of love.
Olivia Wilde
#94. 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
#95. I make two movies a year to take care of the butcher and the baker and the school fees. Then I try to write, but it's not that easy. Acting is what's easy.
David Niven
#96. Take nothing for granted. Make an emotional discovery as often as you can find one in every scene. Ask yourself: What is new?
Michael Shurtleff
#97. Acting is what I chose to do. It's what I feel I need to do.
Jessica Pare
#98. 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
#99. I've been asked repeatedly what the 'key' to acting is, and as far as I'm concerned, the main thing is to keep the audience awake.
Maureen Stapleton
#100. I like acting for now. But after seeing Apollo 13, what I really want to do is to be an astronaut. I'm dying to go to a space camp next summer!
Natalie Portman
