Jennifer Jason Leigh Quotes

I think acting has helped me come out of my shell because when I play a character, I can't be self-conscious.

I was super shy as a kid, and theater was a way that everything made sense to me.

I started off doing theater as a kid, and I always played a character. I hid behind the script and was told where to go. But to actually perform as yourself is very difficult. I didn't used to enjoy it, but now I do.

My parents thought if they put me in drama classes, I might come out of my shell. It worked, and I've acted ever since.

I was a shy kid and acting did bring me out of my shell during high school.

I took up drama and did so much extracurricular work, like the National Youth Theatre and Guildhall's Saturday school. Acting is where I felt most comfortable and how I wanted to express myself.

I'm a very shy person, and I never tried to do theater. I've been asked many, many times by the most incredible authors in America to do theater. And I always said no, not knowing what it is to be on the stage and to do theater.

As a little girl, I was always shy, but in front of the camera I wasn't.

You know, I don't talk about the characters that I play. Years ago, I was a little timid about it and I kind of squirmed when I was asked, 'Could you tell us something about your character.' Now with a little self-confidence that comes with the grey beard, I just flatly refuse.

I was horribly shy all through grade school and high school. But somehow I got up the nerve to audition for one play in high school - 'Auntie Mame.' I got a small part as the fiancee who comes on in the end. I got laughs. I wasn't shy at all doing the part. I can do anything on stage and write it off as a character.

I love acting because it's empowering. It empowers me.

I don't like going for more than a year without doing theatre. I don't mind falling flat on my face so long as I feel I'm open to the possibility of something extraordinary happening.

In real life I'm very low-key. A wallflower. One of the reasons I went into comedy and acting was that I was sick of being shy.

I really liked drama and being in plays, so when I was playing a character onstage and I could act like somebody else, then I wasn't scared or nervous, but I didn't like meeting new people when I had to be myself. That was scary.

I am basically a shy person, so performing sometimes helps me focus - having all those people concentrate their attention on you. I don't see it so much as becoming another person onstage; it's more exploring a different side of your personality.

The muscles you flex in theater are muscles that you really need. I must always find a way to get back there. It's irreplaceable.

I was shy and a hard worker, so acting was a way to focus whatever nervous energy I was experiencing onto a goal.

I was 26 when I went to my first acting class. I'm naturally quite shy. I'm a quite private person. There's this really strange acting class in New York called Black Nexxus. For someone who's slightly shy or self-conscious, it's the most frightening thing you can do.

Drama school is really a forum for making a fool of yourself.

I never spoke out as a kid, I was never good at it as a kid, I was always too shy but I think I have a story and would like to be good at it and tell my story.

I was a very shy sort of person, and by acting different characters, I could immerse myself and make them do what, perhaps, I wouldn't do.

The biggest impact that acting and theater had was, of course, stage presence, but it also had a big impact on my writing.

Ventriloquism kind of helped me find my voice. It's really helped me come out of my shell.

I was very shy as a kid but when I found out I could perform and have people's attention everything changed for me. My mom likes to joke that until I was eight or nine I only knew what my sneakers looked like because I constantly walked around with my head down. But all of a sudden the stage made sense and that's what brought me out of my shell and a monster was created.

I was always really shy. That's why being in front of cameras like this is uncomfortable. I found that when I was a kid, I would hide behind playing pretend. That's when I would come out of my shell. I would dress up as an old man or something and go out onto the street with my mom. I would come out of my shell that way. So I ended up stumbling into acting. It was the one thing that I found a passion for.