Shiri Appleby Quotes

I think when you play a role, you always have to be a defense attorney for that character.

As a writer, you have to put yourself in service to the character, get behind their eyes by delineating the world where the character develops. You have to listen to the character and see him inside his certain world to know what conclusions he would draw.

I'm not interested in playing characters who see the world through my prism; I think the journey of understanding any character is to see how they tick and how they differ from you.

I usually don't find myself reacting to my characters. I just create them ... And let the audience decide whether they're empathetic or scared or compelled to cheer me on.

If I'm doing my job as an actor, the audience knows everything I know about the character.

To read a character I'm not sympathizing with is generally quite a good, attractive proposition because I've got somewhere to go, I've got work to do, to try to understand why they behave like they behave, to relate entirely and understand them and to be completely emotionally connected. That is much more fun 99 percent of the time.

As an actor, that's the best thing you can do, really take people along on a story and tell them something.

I don't care about sympathy. I care about playing a character who's understandable and clear.

I do think you need to understand a character's motivation and perspective.

My job is to see the world through the character's eyes.

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.

If we get caught up in a story, it's because we've started to care about the characters, and that can only happen if we've moved beneath the surface.

As an actor, you always want to feel like what you're doing is making a difference to the story.

I care about all the characters I play, and I get quite defensive about them.

In the work that I normally do, you have a whole script, a whole arc, that you play. And I do believe a good actor will play every bit of information they're given.

If you can't laugh at your own characters, or shed a tear for them, or even get angry at one of them, no one else will either.

Sympathetic characters usually have a voice. They usually don't have any trouble being heard.

My school of thought with going into a character is that you have to understand where they come from, and you have to empathize with them.

When a script moves me, I find that I immediately understand a character. Of course not completely, but I do understand.

The audience has to understand that if the film is going to have any meaning for them. If they are going to empathize with the characters, they have to visualize the process of concentration involved in making every move.

I try mainly to just focus on character and what my character's point of view is, with each person, and try to figure out story.

I am good when there is something central about the character. There is always a human theme I attach myself to. I am really looking for something that is moving or enlightening or something with depth as an actor. I look for these kinds of roles.

You have to have sympathy for and an empathy with a character in order to play them.

We seek to craft characters who inspire empathy: characters our audience will care for and, as a result, will care about what happens to them and thus will share the journey we have charted. A story, after all, is the character's journey.

When I look at a character, whether he's good or bad, one scene or 10 scenes, I just have to find my way in.