Actors Quotes

Nobody in the world knew about Megan Fox until I found her and put her in 'Transformers.' I like to think that I've had some luck in building actors' careers with my films.

My biggest fear as an actor is being involved in something mediocre, or being mediocre myself.

The love scenes that worked, regardless of the director, were the ones where the actors weren't fearful. When somebody was fearful, you could see it right away. It takes you out of the story, and that's to be avoided at all costs.

Scarlett Johansson. I think people don't really realize how great of an actress that girl is. She's so beautiful and that distracts you from what she can do as an actor.

One wants to think that - and this is really a stupid thought - that through your art or whatever you do as an actor you can actually affect someone else's lives and thoughts or whatever.

I wanted to give my actor a break. I wanted to live and to learn English. I wanted to be anything, a cabdriver, a busboy, anything to keep me away from acting for a while.

A lot of film directors are quite scared of actors. They are a bit of a nightmare sometimes, but I like them. It looks like cunning, but you try to get extra things from them all the time, by stealth, by making them feel confident, so they trust you and you can push a bit.

I'm an actor. If you had said to me before I started acting that I'd get two bites of the cherry - you would do things that people will remember forever like 'The Brothers' which I did in the '70s and now 'Doctor Who' - I'd have been overjoyed and I still am.

As any actor will tell you, the hardest thing to do is small parts, because you focus all your attention and concentration on that small part. When you're playing the lead part, you don't have time to think about the whole of it, so you just have to steam on and get on with it.

You are always damned by things that you do well as an actor.

I think every leading man wants to be a character actor, and every character actor wants to be a leading man.

We all perform our lives in a way. And the actor is a perfect metaphor to get at that theme of "how do we find our authentic selves?" And that we all - whether we're actors or not - perform ourselves. As a way of searching. As a way of fumbling around and trying to say, is this my voice? Is this who I am?

A lot of people try to paint this child actor stigma, but I always looked at it as a great opportunity.

You have no idea how fragile an actor's self-worth is.

People think actors have such glamorous lives, but the truth is actors go where nobody wants to go.

Young girls of 13 or 12 are great actors.

I became an actor so I didn't have to be myself.

An actor should be able to create the universe in the palm of his hand.

A good director creates an environment which gives the actor the encouragement to fly.

I like actors that are good with pantomime and that can transmit a lot by their presence and attitude more than through their dialogue

I think actors are at the mercy of the opportunities presented to them. So you kind of have to wait for them to choose you. My music is insular - I can choose that.

There is but one stage for the peasant and the actor.

It is the quality of the moment, not the number of days, or events, or of actors, that imports.

I'll always be there because I'm a skilled professional actor. Whether or not I've any talent is beside the point.

An actor's a guy who, if you ain't talking about him, ain't listening.

Our stories come from our lives and from the playwright's pen, the mind of the actor, the roles we create, the artistry of life itself and the quest for peace.

If you catch me saying 'I am a serious actor,' I beg you to slap me.

A good actor is somebody who can be truthful and fascinating and interesting and enlightening.

Becoming an actor? If it's not a calling, don't do it. It's too hard.

Because of my age and because there's more work on the small screen. What it's missing in quality it makes up for in quantity. From an actor's selfish point of view.

I've never had a desire to be famous. Lots of actors are actually extremely shy. I have shy areas.

The magic doesn't come from within the director's mind, it comes from within the hearts of the actors.

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

If you watch the show and the characters don't look at each other while they're talking, the actors probably aren't getting along.

Ninety per cent of how you learn is watching great people. When you are surrounded by good actors it lifts your performance.

One man in his time plays many parts.

In a sense, I think a movie is really a little like a question and when you make it, that's when you get the answer.

There's always an imbalance with actors and actresses in the industry. And I think because there are just fewer movies overall being made, it's that trickle down effect.

I am admiring of my fellow peers, black filmmakers and black actors and actresses.

I just feel incredibly lucky to be employed when there are so many actors and actresses who are not employed. That's why, you know, I sometimes feel desperate, in case I'm not going to be cast again.

Sure I faced the troubles and challenges that most actors and actresses face until they get noticed, but I was always confident of myself and my capabilities.

I think what's dangerous about being an actor who does action movies is you think, 'Well, I can totally handle myself now.' But if my opponent didn't know the other half of the routine, I don't know how well I'd do.

But all actors go through the process, it's hit and miss, you have achievement and failure.

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.

Until Ace Ventura, no actor had considered talking through his ass.

The real meaning of persona is a mask, such as actors were accustomed to wear on the ancient stage; and it is quite true that no one shows himself as he is, but wears his mask and plays his part. Indeed, the whole of our social arrangements may be likened to a perpetual comedy; and this is why a man who is worth anything finds society so insipid, while a blockhead is quite at home in it.

The best actors instinctively feel out what the other actors need, and they just accommodate it.

As an actor I worked for seven years with a community theater company based in London. We used improvisation techniques to take stories to young people who wouldn't normally have access to them - in prisons, hospitals, young offender's units, youth clubs and housing estates.

Acting is a question of absorbing other people's personalities and adding some of your own experience.

You go through stages in your career that you feel very good about yourself. Then you feel awful, like, 'Why didn't I choose something else?' But overall I'm pretty satisfied that I made the right choice when I decided to be an actor.