The thing is, if I try to talk about acting, I come off as moaning. But I'm privileged. I think it's all about control. Acting is vulnerable because you're not in control of anything. You have to give up a lot of your trust; it's up to somebody else what they do with what you've given them.
I know acting is not impersonating, but I'm good with impressions. I can do impressions of people I know, and people I've been, and roles that I've acted before.
When I read a script, the important thing is that I can connect in some way with that character and have some idea from what his story is that I can tell that story too, because that's all acting is, is storytelling.
My first exposure to TV, film, theater, the idea of what acting was, is I was a little kid, and my mom's best friend was a local casting director in Cambridge, Mass. Her name was Patty Collinge.
My first acting lessons were Shakespeare. The first time I ever started working with a coach was doing scenes from 'Measure for Measure,' which were tough dramatic scenes. And then 'Taming of the Shrew,' which required comedic timing. And that's the kind of stuff I love.
Olivia Newton-John was our first choice to play Sandy, but she was nervous about acting, whether she would feel comfortable with us and could pull it off at all.
My thinking is lot more different with many actresses in the industry. I don't understand why people in showbiz put their profession of acting in the back seat after marriage.
I've always had a day job and never been just acting.
My first real acting gig was probably playing Mamillius in my mother's 'Winter's Tale.' My mom and dad are both in theater, so I grew up acting and being a little theater brat as well.
Growing up, I was always in my high school musicals and everything, but I kind of stopped doing all that when I finished school and acting became my main priority.
I started as a director and just fell upon acting.
I mean, there's chemistry in life and there's acting chemistry. I'm not saying they're the same thing, but they're as mysterious.
I'm really shy with my acting when it's off, because the camera gives me an excuse to be in character, whereas otherwise I would just feel like an idiot.
I went there and helped him shuffle pictures of people, and one of the agents asked me if I was interested in acting. Of course, I was a little bit interested in it; I'm sure that's part of the reason I moved to L.A. even though I never admitted it to myself.
The government gave me enough money to go to acting school.
The acting bug just seemed to stick with me. I loved going to theatre school in college and continued to train in film classes and had been auditioning for T.V. and movie roles since I was in my late teens. My career has been slow and steady, and I kind of like it that way.
I grew up around horses, but acting and riding on camera is a whole different thing.
Rarely in film acting do you get to do a scene for very long.
Acting is like a game of tennis. The better your opponent, the better you're going to play.
I try to keep away from being big-headed. That's what causes people to lose the acting thing. They start being commercial, and then they stink for the rest of their lives.
The acting thing is the side benefit of becoming a little bit well known with my music.
There's a oneness to showing yourself to an audience. They feel that. It's healthy. That's what acting is all about.
A lot of acting techniques are very self-oriented.
Winston was a bit of a challenge, all right, from a lot of different perspectives. It wasn't just the culture or the class divide or the historical baggage - it was also the age difference. We had to see if I could be aged-up legitimately, without it becoming some sort of hokey acting challenge.
I always wanted to direct. I always saw myself as a director. I know that I've definitely found what I should be doing with my life. In my life, as far as my career goes, I always felt, as an actor, that it was something that would just be a temporary thing that would get me to what I wanted to do next. That's what my acting did.
I probably wouldn't be acting if I didn't grow up in Hollywood.
I always wanted to go into acting.
Well, acting is cheap; I knew all these actors who weren't in the Screen Actors Guild yet, and it happened that they were all just about thirty years old.
Acting is a sense of wonder and magic and mystery for me and when life takes me on a new journey, I simply remember the smile my first ballet recital put on my face and I move forward.
Acting, to me, is being given the freedom and ability to play, and that's - that's what I love most about it. I feel very comfortable in playing, whether it be in front of a camera or on stage.
Acting is an imaginative exercise. It would be odd if you didn't try to identify with the roles you play, but I think I can differentiate between where my imagination is leading me and where I actually am.
Even when you're not acting, don't lose sight of your goals or who you are.
I'm not as good a singer as I am an actor. So that's why I - the stories I like so much is because I've been a story teller for a long time. I started as a singer and found out I didn't have a very good voice. That's the reason I went into acting.
You couldn't take football away from me, you couldn't take acting away from me.
My parents made certain I had no illusions about acting. To them, it was always just a job.
When I first did 'The Lord of the Rings,' I was acting on the set with the other actors, but then I had to go back and repeat the process on my own to do the physical capture on a motion capture stage.
