It's extremely seldom that anybody wants me to change what I've written about them. Generally I portray them in a good light, if they're friends.
You're in everyone's homes every week as this character, and they feel like they know you, and then they start to really define you as this character that you portray.
I hate the way they portray us in the media. If you see a black family it says they're looting, if you see a white family it says they're looking for food.
Not to oversimplify it, somebody once said a good rule of thumb in interpreting a character is to find the good in the bad people that you portray and the bad in the good.
I think, as an actress, whether you want to or not, whether you're ready for it or not, people are going to look at what you're doing, and they are going to look up to you, and it's not even really about you; it's who you portray on the screen.
People think that because I write about India I must be trying to portray India in a way.
Hollywood does tend to portray CIA officers as totally the honey trap. Looks matter as they do in any profession. But the most important thing for me when I was working was blending into my environment.
Abortion opponents know full well that the public would not abide putting women in prison en masse. Politically, it's more palatable to portray them as irrational, ignorant, and childlike, perhaps even temporarily insane.
When I do my makeup, it kind of helps me get into the character that I'm trying to portray.
Nicole Kidman in particular seems to bring out the butt-kisser in the sassiest of hackettes, as they ceaselessly strive to portray her as some sort of cross between Mother Teresa and Marilyn Monroe.
I don't like James Bond. They made him a super hero, but he is just an agent, a human being. In my movies, secret agents are more realistic, I didn't want to portray them in the most glowing colours.
Acting - you're taking someone else's visions and someone else's inspirations, and it's up to you to portray that to everyone watching the film.
I can be plenty frustrated and not have to constantly portray myself as upset and angry at the world.
I wanted to portray very, very dark subject matter and a deceptively complex story in the brightest colours and simplest lines possible to leave the readers reeling.
In my books, I never portray violence as a reasonable solution to a problem. If the lead characters in the story are driven to it, it's at the extreme end of their experience.
Pain seems to be easier, or melancholy seems to be easier to portray in a character. I don't know if that's because I'm a human being or because I'm an Irishman or both.
They're pretty particular about what they show. They certainly edit the scripts and have conversations with the writers about what they are and aren't willing to portray. But the writers and the network are pretty much on the same page.
I have grown up on literature and mythological stories. They have fascinated me since childhood, and I believe every character that I portray on screen is an extension of my personality to some degree. That is why whatever role I play seems in my comfort zone.
If I'm going to portray one of my idols and someone I feel... so strongly about, it has to be done right, and it has to be done 120 percent.
I just want to portray a very honest character that displays traits that people can truly relate to and can help them - the audience and myself because I learn from the characters as well - help them see themselves in a perspective that is outside of what they know already, and grow from that experience.
The great quality of the 'Three Kingdoms' is that it seems to encapsulate and portray every facet of the Chinese personality.
When I first started acting, I had all these ideals about the kinds of roles I wanted to play, but the reality is that when you do television - and I do a lot of television - you get cast for qualities that you have as a person. So I look for qualities that I like to portray.
With Superman, super powers are just ancillary. It's that character, with all those principles and understanding... that's who he is right there. I think I tried to portray a sense of trust and power and charisma for Superman. That's what we believe Superman is.
Having the name 'Bloomberg' doesn't help me in any way... and it really is a disadvantage and takes away from the image I'm trying to portray.
I was raised by very traditional Southern parents with Southern manners. You don't air your dirty laundry to people that aren't your family or your friends. Why would I ever want to portray myself as anything other than together?
They want to portray me as crazy, unhinged, unbalanced. OK, good, fine.
I try to get roles that challenge me in what I can do and who I think I can portray. For me, it's about creating characters with really fascinating stories, because that's what I like to watch on TV.
I would say some of the food I talk about that I really enjoy, like cake and bacon, I eat a lot less than I portray in my act. But that stuff that I dislike, it's pretty sincere.
I considered several names, but Titania, a character from Shakespeare's 'Midsummer Night's Dream', was best able to portray the image I wanted for what is a fantastically elegant and sexy yacht.
I think TV has been a little bit irresponsible in how they portray these people because homicide detectives are not brooding, tortured souls who are stained with the stink of the city and who have blood on their hands. They are real, live people that are incredibly entertaining.
Movies portray men as tough guys.
You have to be delicate with how you can portray characters other people are having a worship over.
Singing is a way of releasing an emotion that you sometimes can't portray when you're acting. And music moves your soul, so music is the source of the most intense emotions you can feel.
I want to try and portray characters that are in real life, that you see day-to-day. If I were to just stay in my little village in Wales, I would have gotten a very small taste of a very big plate.
I beat myself up the whole time because I'm striving for something I'll basically never achieve. I portray this image of confidence, of arrogance, and it's not really me. I'm never satisfied, and I'm never content. It means I'm a bit of a mess some of the time.
I definitely am drawn to strong females who are successful, smart women because I am a woman like that. I think it's important to portray those kinds of women on film and television. Especially as a black woman, I think it's important.