Ice T Quotes

I just don't believe you're capable of being an actor unless you have a desire to experience your emotions in a public way.

Actors have to make you believe that it's happening for the first time and all that jazz and make it human and at the same time entertain you.

I find a similarity between performing music onstage and acting - a reality of emotion.

What I learned is that acting is to a large extent about trying to stave off self-doubt long enough to be natural and real onstage.

Actors incorporate certain emotions from our own lives in order to create characters, and emotions come from experience.

I'm able to look the person acting across from me and respond to that. There are times when it becomes so lonely and painful, but I think I'm able to overcome them because I realize that the more fiercely you prepare for a role, the more the audience can feel it.

When I do a character, I try to base it on someone I have met or an experience I've had.

As a child I was taken to the pantomime or the theatre and I would always, always fall in love with somebody on the stage. And want to have sex with them.

As an actor, our very palette is one of imagination. So it is a walk onto an empty space and then imagine the world beyond it is what we do.

If you can just actually let the character be for a bit, then you get the right sense.

Sometimes I think of movie acting as advanced pretend.

You need to become a good listener. As you're working, you hear someone else's lines and how you absorb them becomes your acting.

As actors, you do have to be aware of your audience. You can't act in a vacuum, even if that audience isn't exactly present with you.

As a young performer, I didn't know that you can have a great time playing someone in terrible crisis. The more you know it's not real, the deeper you can go into it. And the easier it is to let it go when it's done.

When a performance isn't working, it's usually because the actor is trying to do something and they're not able to express their idea very well. It's a muddled expression.

I definitely think it exercises an interesting muscle, auditioning for bad parts and trying to figure out how to make it real. I don't know what I'm talking about now.

I'm on fire when I'm singing, I'm completely in character, I use my sense memories, and every syllable of it is meant. It's a very special thing.

In theater, you're playing characters. You believe you're somebody else, and you're acting.

An actor should be able to create the universe in the palm of his hand.

As an actor, it's amazing to get to create different characters.

The job of an actor is the same in all of them, really. I mean, you're just creating a character that you hope people will believe, so it doesn't make that much of a difference really.

In day-to-day life, our brain sends lots of signals. In acting, there are no signals. You have to believe in what you are trying to portray.

The worst thing you can do as a performer is to judge your character in any way, positively or negatively.

Performing, for me, has always been a very inner process.

The reason why I hate working in theatre is the tedium of memorisation. But once that is done, then you feast on this never-ending meal. If you play it correctly, every night is fraught with very high stakes that are very difficult to find in everyday life.