It was fun playing a horrible, snotty kid in 'Harry Potter', and then playing Prince Charming where I was also singing and playing guitar, and then playing a completely different character.
My dad didn't have a formal education, but he had a wonderful vocabulary. So in 'Harvest,' I wanted my main character to be an innately intelligent man who would have the vocabulary to say whatever he wanted in the same way as lots of working-class people can.
I believe that a large part of the training in the regional theaters is in imitation of the British style of acting. The British orientation is textual; they start from the language and work toward the character.
I make it a point to study the character I do, and if the story demands that I wear a particular outfit, I'm game.
Even if the film doesn't come out quite as you'd hoped, the process can also be very rewarding. I feel that way about a film called 'Lay the Favorite' that I made with Stephen Frears. I did that because the character was a real leap for me. The film doesn't quite all add up internally, but I feel very proud of what I did on it.
There's something special about racing in real streets. The 'artificial' circuits have a certain sameness to them. But every race conducted on real streets has a character of its own - Barcelona, Monaco, and now Long Beach.
I consider myself absolutely a character actor, and that's what I want as a career. I don't need to be the lead star or any of that, as long as I'm doing stuff that I'm proud of, really.
To be honest, and I may regret saying this, the idea of playing the same character for a very long time is very daunting to me.
There haven't been enough profound things written about what being black means and what a black character is. Nobody knows.
My story as an artist has been about trial and error. It's been about artist development, character building, struggle, happiness and failure, family, and music.
Using clothes to transform was a huge part of my childhood. But also, I've been acting forever, and wardrobe changes the way you feel, so it totally indicates the character you're going to play.
I never envisioned when I was reading that comic as a 17-year-old that I would have the opportunity to actually play the character.
My first audition happened to be for 'Kindergarten Cop,' and I took that role. I was only starting to learn English at that point. Spanish is my first language, so they made me a speaking character in the movie. I didn't really know I was shooting a movie. I was just having a lot of fun with 30 kids my own age.
People are always thinking that I'm the main character in my books, but each one has been different, and sometimes they've been men.
For me, actors have to have a character, an aura, body language. They're not models. They used to call actors models. But I want them to participate in the film.
'Ender's Game' has fabulous opportunities for spectacle, where appropriate, but there's also a tremendous central character. It's a balance.
Most of the names in my books have secondary meaning. Sometimes they foreshadow; sometimes they tell you about the character's origin or back story.
On 'Think Like a Man,' they got the best out of me because they allowed me to bring my own cadences and opinions to the character that I was playing. I think we got the best of that particular character.
Costume design is so important and really helpful, and I really love that aspect of character development, just figuring it out.
When I was cast in 'Batman v Superman,' I was sent a huge stack of comics. They provided a ton of information about Cyborg and how he has evolved as a character over the years.
I don't think a lot of actors talk about it, but there's usually a process where you essentially purge yourself of the character that you played prior to the movie.
War, we are told, shapes character; it resolves the major questions of international politics, consolidates nations, and indeed, constitutes the principal factor in the progress of civilization through its successive stages.
I always tell myself that when you're playing a character, pretend they're on trial and you're giving the best witness of their life. You really need to think about every element of the character and represent them properly, as if they were a real person. You want to give 100 percent of what they're worth and what they deserve as people.
Character is always known. Thefts never enrich; alms never impoverish; murder will speak out of stone walls.
Being able to feel free and comfortable in your character's skin is so important.
Eventually, I'd love to be known as a character actor.
When you're in the living room every week for nine years as one character, it's hard for some people to see you as someone else.
You make up a character, there's always gonna be parts of you that, like it or not, shine through.
When I don't know what to do with a character, that's when I say yes to it. When it's far away from the way I am, the way I feel or the way I think, that's when it's more attractive.
This character matters so much to so many people. I want to get that right. I want to do it justice. I want people to believe in the character and have faith in the character and kids to grow up wanting to be Superman. Or, God forbid, there's people who are going through hardship and wishing that this character would turn up and save them.
It is a big temptation to me, when I create a character for a novel, to say that he is what he is because of faulty wiring, or because of microscopic amounts of chemicals which he ate or failed to eat on that particular day.
Schedules on TV are so tight, and it feels like they get tighter and tighter with every passing year. The idea of asking where your character's come from or where they grew up - you would just get a little bit laughed at.
The era of 'The Jungle Book' was when the animators were at the top of their game and their sense of character was great.
For me, the character I play is most important.
It's 'The Hunger Games.' My character needs to look hungry. A little bit.
There are so many ways to approach a character. You have to figure out the similarities between you and the character, build on them, and at the same time, blur the dissimilarities. Since you do it day in and day out, it becomes a process and a part of you.
