Francois Truffaut Quotes

It's what I learn from the great actors that I work with. Stillness. That's all and that's the hardest thing.

There is probably some great acting that goes on in movies from people who have never been on a stage, but if you are in for the long haul, you'd be missing an enormous part of what being an actor is if you're not part of theater.

A really great actor, in a lucky performance, can transform himself or herself. I've seen actors do that. But often it's a mechanical transformation, which isn't as interesting, and you've got to be careful how you go about something like that, I think.

There are some great actors I don't want to meet because I don't want to know how they did it. I don't want to know anything about their personal life, and the illusion, or whatever it is, the shape-shiftery magic stuff that they do, which is my joy.

I know some really great actors who are pretty judgmental people, pretty critical people. But they're great actors. When they're acting, that's the craft.

I think chemistry and great acting go hand-in-hand.

It's easier to see in someone else, another actor, how they kind of disappear and then this other persona appears. A great actor is a thing of mystery.

Great actors are people who just meld into the part without calling attention to the fact that they are so-and-so doing this part. They may never become huge stars, but will always, in memory, stay respected actors.

Actors act... Their job is to become this character. And I have, in fact, seen Sam Heughan become Jamie and Caitriona Balfe become Claire right before my eyes. It was an astonishing transformation.

As an actor, my body is my tool to flesh out the roles I play.

When the show starts, I am in my SpongeBob stance, and I walk like SpongeBob, and the first step that I take, I am SpongeBob.

There is a very thin line dividing characterisation from impersonation. I've to make sure I don't cross over into mimicry.

It's not the actor's job to be interesting; that's the script's job. It's our job to be truthful and brave.

I want to be an artist... an actor who acts really well.

The skill of a gifted actor, their ability to interpret and develop a character and truly bring her or him to life, is one that I admire enormously.

As an actor I can bring the story, the narrative in each performance. If I can't do that, then… might as well give up as an actor, hadn't I?

When I bagged 'Arundathi,' I don't think I knew how to act. It was because of director Shyamprasad Reddy that I delivered that performance.

Homo sapiens does its best to forget the fact, but it is an animal.

I like to watch actors while they are acting, how they hold their attention when so many people around are there to distract them. It's difficult.

Crying does not equal good acting.

I was always under the impression that acting is an innate gift. One of the first things I heard them say at Koothu-P-Pattarai was that actors should realise the art of acting through their training.

That's my job as an actor - to go on and try to do the work so subtle and so fine and specific that the memories will linger for a long time.

I think finding a way to relate material to yourself can be useful to some people but acting for me is just being really good at make-pretend and lying. I've always been a great liar.

Why is it when a white actor or even a black actor does a British accent, it's considered art?

When I watch an actress say a line, I watch how they deliver the lines with gestures.