Viola Davis Quotes

I really love being a character actor. I have to say I wish it were a little easier. There are still a lot of things that I don't get, like I do wish I had more of my own.

I've played a different type of character in a different type of thing, for the most part. It's not like you can't mine tons of fascinating stuff from any character that you play, and I've always been fascinated with women and relationships, but this has been a completely different experience, for sure.

You can't really judge characters, because that's when it gets really hard to play them.

That's what I love about acting, is playing different roles. I want to work for the character, and not make it work for me.

There is always pressure playing a real living person and even pressure developing a character from scratch.

The thing about being an actor is that as we get older, there are more and more characters to explore and, in general, they get more complicated, so you get to bring all your crazy life experience to the table.

It's easier to play aggression and malevolence onscreen, often, than to hit softer notes.

The interesting thing is, when you play a real-life character or someone based in a book, you always come up against people's preconceptions of what they have in their heads.

'On the Road' is another one of those, a film in which the audience has a very clear idea of who they think your character is, so you know you are asking for it. But that's the challenge.

Crazy is so hard to play, there's nothing you can really tell an actor.

For me and for I'm sure any actor, each role is a different challenge to prepare for in a different way.

Playing Juliet in 'Heavenly Creatures' changed my life, and the role of Clementine in' Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' opened many new doors creatively.

My character in 'Hollyoaks' went through absolutely everything! There's not one emotion where I'm going to go, 'I don't know how to play this.'

I dig those kinds of roles where I have to dig down and find some internal motivation. I like tough roles.

Sometimes I'm playing somebody that I may have a problem with. Your job as an actor is not to go only play things that make you look good.

As actors, that has been challenging for us to pick up the nuances of the living legends we are playing.

As an actor, it's really exciting and challenging to play a character which is much older than your actual age.

I love playing different and challenging characters on screen, and Newton is one such role. But I'm someone who doesn't think so much about what will happen next.

You have to play the character in the best way you know how and do what you need to do in order to bring that character to life and not worry about the millions of people that you may be disappointing!

I've been in front of the camera a million times as a musician, and even directed a few music videos. So, I know a lot about spacing, focus, blocking, etcetera. So, acting isn't totally new for me. Still, I find it fascinating, because you actually get to be another person.

For me, I have having the time of my life playing this character [Louis Litt]. At times, it's unbelievably challenging and scary, when it comes to certain vulnerable areas that I don't necessarily want to go.

When you play a character that is so emotionally closed there are times when you ask yourself if you are doing enough and if it's reading. That is where you have a director, who is the barometer of what you are doing.

It was great to do August Rush and have all the challenges of playing that character, especially the American accent for the first time and also playing the guitar and the conducting I had to do.

In The Greens Are Gone, I play a character that's bipolar, so that was a big step and quite a challenge.

Sometimes the characters that I'm most resistant to are the ones that I find the most satisfying to play, because you have to dig deeper and you have to find different parts of yourself that are not necessarily the first thing you access and that's fun and interesting.