It was not even that long ago when my acting career was in the gutter. I was just thinking that I didn't want to live a life still going on auditions and not getting work. I wasn't inspired or anything at the time, and it sucked.
I prefer directing to acting. There is huge freedom that comes from being behind the camera. It brings a lot of responsibilities as well but is intensely rewarding.
I started acting as an amateur when I was a kid, but I wanted to become a diplomat. It was self-centered and weird, but I had this idea of going out in the world and solving conflicts and making the world a better place. But I kept on acting, and eventually, I just dropped out of school and continued acting.
I started off thinking that I just needed one shot to prove myself, but then I realised that I was only going to learn about acting by doing it.
When I'm acting, I just come up with people I've known, and I stick with it.
Before I became an actress, I was a cellist. I've been playing since I was 14, was in a lot of bands, and acting was more of a hobby.
I honestly don't even know how I got into acting. It happened so quickly because my mom and sister used to do commercials, and apparently when I was little I would unbuckle myself from the stroller and crash their auditions.
There's so much fakeness in the fashion world, but Mum and Dad have always given us a good work ethic and were quite worried at first about whether I could make a living from acting. They've been together for 29 years and share the same values. I really do want to have that kind of marriage myself.
I was in an acting class taught by Eric Morris, and Jack Nicholson was in the class. He wrote the script for 'Head', so all of us in the class got little tiny parts in the movie.
I do a lot of teen shows and voice over work for animation, so when I got the part in 'The Number 23,' it was really cool because now I get to be in a movie with Jim Carrey. Acting in this movie was really a learning experience for me.
My bag is acting or getting into an amusing situation and then sharing my amusement.
I know I'll always want to come back to theatre, and I also thought if I can crack classical acting, everything else will probably seem easier.
I grew up seeing a lot of theatre, and it was theatre that really seduced me into acting - not film or television.
Music runs through everything I do - I even think musically; even when I was acting, but, especially, when I am directing. Directing is very musical.
One of the most precious parts of acting is the work before you show up on the set, the time you spend being with your character before you bring that character to life. To me, that's the most rewarding part of it all. It feels very good to show up on a set just knowing that's with you.
If you put up a blog, people can cut out the middle man and get material to you. Which is really helpful because a lot of time there's really cool stuff out there that we just don't see. Because, y'know, the agent is acting in our best interest, but it does sometimes prevent some of the good stuff from getting through.
The thrill of acting is making a character real. Modeling is the opposite of real. It's being fake in front of the camera.
I love 'Watch the Throne,' because Kanye was acting so ratchet.
As for Aamir Khan, he keeps raising the standard with every film. For an artist like me or a newcomer like me, we can only look up to that and dream, 'When will that be us someday?' There's so much to learn from him. He is the encyclopedia of acting.
Acting is not rocket science, but it is an art form. What you are doing is illuminating humanity. Or not.
I thought I'd be doing theater, really. That's all I had experience with growing up. I mean, I saw movies and television, but I don't think I really connected at a young age that that was acting, that that was part of the profession.
Regarding green screen, green screen is really like doing some stage work. You have to make believe that there is a window, make believe that something is there that is really not there and convince the audience. It's part of acting.
It is very difficult for me to accept the fact that I am acting in front of the camera.
I've been asked which of the other arts novel-writing is most like, and I have come to believe it is acting. Of course, in terms of pattern it can be like music, in terms of structure it can be like painting, but the job to me is most like acting.
My feeling is, I do a lot of low-budget films. I don't do low-budget acting. I have no interest in just goofballing my way through, thinking, 'Ah, no one's ever going to see this anyway.'
I'm really getting into acting and TV. 'Sports Illustrated' is a big, iconic brand I'd like to work for, too. But TV and acting is really funny and a bit more exciting than shooting all the time.
Acting in 'Command & Conquer 3' called for me to interact with the player and to look directly into the camera, which is a big no no when filming for TV or film.
People used to ask me questions on my blog about how to break into the acting industry. You often have to start out in parts where you have very few words, but you still have to try to make an impact.
My favorite acting books are Stella Adler's 'The Art of Acting' and 'Sanford Meisner on Acting.'
My mom had done some TV and commercials before I was born, and so when I was born, she knew I had a really big interest in acting because I was always acting in plays with my dolls, and they were sort of boring, because I've seen them on tape; they always involved a lot of singing and dragging them around by their hair.
I kind of dwindled into acting.
I think there's something to be said for being physical in acting.
I just enjoy acting, whatever area - theatre, film, television.
I started writing because it was hard to find acting jobs. I didn't like any monologues in auditions, so I started to write my own things. Since then, I have written a couple of shows. I was nominated for playwright of the year for a play I wrote called 'Potential Space.'
I remember getting out of acting school and friends of mine talking about, like, 'You know, I don't think I'm gonna do TV.' Like, people putting on these airs of being picky. And I was never a snob about it.
In day-to-day life, our brain sends lots of signals. In acting, there are no signals. You have to believe in what you are trying to portray.
