I've always remembered something Sanford Meisner, my acting teacher, told us. When you create a character, it's like making a chair, except instead of making someting out of wood, you make it out of yourself. That's the actor's craft - using yourself to create a character.
When I was acting, I was always asking abut the mechanics of filmmaking. I decided I would learn what everyone on set was doing, so I would feel less threatened.
Even though I hate acting, I love doing videos for my songs.
I love acting so much that I have to have that as much as I have to have my time with my kid.
A lot of acting requires you to be a charming version of yourself. A lot of what happens in the industry is that you are cast based on other things that people have seen you do, or how you are perceived to look or sound. If everyone thinks you're bizarre and creepy, then you play bad guys.
Studying acting has been personally enriching because it has taught me to take the time to imagine what someone else's life experience might be like. To look deeply at how our pasts and the circumstances of our early childhoods mold us as people.
I acted all the way up until Princeton. It was just one of my favorite extracurricular activities. Then I got to Princeton and had a really conservative vibe. All my friends were planning on law school, med school, or Wall Street, and suddenly acting seem like a really risky proposition.
I've always gone back and forth between acting and music, but for music I'm not trying to be a pop star - I just like to do it.
You have to really concentrate on piano or acting. You can't do both.
I knew absolutely nothing about acting, and had to be taught everything. Some people are born naturals and know how to walk, talk and hold themselves. I didn't and had to learn everything.
It's really so depressing to be still listed in the Social Register after all the acting I've done.
I don't know how I could have an acting career with this.
I think in some ways, acting and writing are the same. You're getting inside the skin of someone else; you're creating their language and their actions. As a writer, you have to see the whole picture and the structure, and you have to understand every character.
I decided to not be so dismissive of my music in favor of my acting. Acting has been such a consistent thing for me; a lot of times in the past, I wouldn't have had the confidence with my music to really make it a part of my schedule. I would easily push it to the side, or I would easily take up time that was needed for it.
I don't feel like I've ever kissed any of the people I have done for acting. That moment didn't exist for you; it existed for that person.
My mother and father always supported my passion for acting. I think they just kind of expected me to move to New York and become an actress and have all these adventures.
I think acting is the most difficult one among all the performing arts.
In Hungary acting is a profession. In America it is a decision.
Acting is very start and stop.
I can see clearly now... that I was wrong in not acting more decisively and more forthrightly in dealing with Watergate.
I ran spotlight. Swept up. Did box office. Ran the lighting board. But acting was the most fun.
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.
My goal was for acting to become my main income. I would say to myself, 'I'm good enough.' That became my mantra.
My first paid acting job was a movie called Fandango. It also starred Kevin Costner.
My feeling is that you should try to do the things you enjoy most in life. I chose acting as a career because I enjoyed it then as I do now. The only question for me then was, 'Can I make a living at it?'
When you're acting, it should be the most important thing that's going on. But when you're not, leave it alone.
What's been nice is that I've been able to direct from a very idealistic place. I've never had to make my living as a director, which gave me a chance to choose material I feel passionate about. The directing allows me to not have to grab any acting role that comes along. I can pick and choose a little bit.
That's what I always enjoyed about acting, the real adrenalin rush. My heart - still before I go on stage - crashing out of my chest. That's thrilling to me.
The only thing I like about being an actress is acting.
But you're right, I did think about acting more and then decided against it.
I never planned any of this, so I don't even think about getting acting jobs. If they call, they call. I sure don't sit on the sidelines waiting to be asked, like a nice little Catholic girl at the dance. I keep myself extremely busy. I've written 91 plays! I love to read. And I always have something to clean.
The kind of acting I used to enjoy no longer exists because your prime consideration is the budget, running time, the cost - and whether they'll understand it in Milwaukee.
It's like a kitchen, acting. Put a chef in a kitchen and they will have different recipes. Whatever your recipe, what works for you won't work for another.
Now that I've got some films under my belt, I have the courage of my convictions regarding acting. It gives me a leg to stand on.
One of the things I find about acting is that the less the audience knows about the actor, the more they're able to believe in him in the role.
You have to do real acting, not just do a voice.
