Alan Arkin Quotes

Action is drama. If we cannot make the audience laugh, smile or cry with us, we are not actors.

I love the fact that I can go out there on stage with a guitar and sing a song that means something to somebody.

From the stage, I can reach a large audience, and you learn from being on stage how much a song reaches, what extent of the crowd a song can reach. I write in a way that can reach most of the audience, but I also wanted to have truly intimate moments as well, many intimate moments, more so than the big moments.

I like to feel that something's alive in acting, like something's really going on.

Theatre is the principal job of an actor. An actor's job is to tell a story to someone in a room. TV and film can be great and I really love doing it, but it is a different way of telling a story.

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

Singing is about telling a story. When you are onstage, you get to be your own self... When acting, you're someone else.

I just try to tell a story with a song, and be able to try to transmit the emotion to you. That's all I'm really trying to do.

I would rather do a play because it's instantaneous. You go on the stage, and you know whether it's happening or not. Somebody asked me 'What is acting?' And I said, 'Acting is listening.' And if you ain't listening, nobody's listening.

It's sort of a feeling of power onstage. It's really the ability to make people smile, or just to turn them one way or another for that duration of time, and for it to have some effect later on. I don't really think it's power... it's the goodness.

The connective tissue between storytelling, advice, and comedy is passion.

Most bands out there are basically pretty boring. I try to affect people inside their bodies.

As an actor, you really want to resonate with your audience.

At the end of the day, whether it's on film or on stage or for a crowd of however many at Kenwood House, my job is to make sure people have a good time and come away with a feeling and a story.

I loved the feeling I got when I sang. I loved the feeling that it gave to people when I sang.

As an actor you become that lighting rod between the person who made the play and the audience.

Acting is all about truth and honesty, and the sensitivity that's capable of transporting you.

A lot of times, as an actor, especially a TV or film actor, you don't get a lot of interaction, or you don't get the feeling you are actually touching someone, or someone actually cares about what you do.

Out there in the spotlight you're a million miles away and every ounce of energy you try to give away as the sweat pours out your body like the music that you play.

The reason that you dance and sing is to make the audience feel like they're dancing and singing. As long as you're having fun with it and giving it 100 percent, they're gonna feel that.

The only thing we are as actors are messengers. That's all we are. Correct? We are delivering the playwright's intention through the concept of the director. And I come on stage; if I feel confident in the role, then I give it away.

I want to move people, stir something within them that makes them feel. That's what a movie should do and an actor should do, make you feel something. I think that's why people love films so much.

If you want to be an actor because you want to be recognized on the street and have people ask you for autographs, look for another career. If you want to be an actor because you love being on stage and want to capture a person's heart, go for it.

Acting is the most communicative thing I can imagine doing.

Acting is all about honesty. If you can fake that, you've got it made.