John Tiffany Quotes

If people need to be informed by lines, then there's no reason why the actor is saying the line except for information for the audience; I think there's something wrong.

The ebulliently sharp mind of 'White Christmas' director Walter Bobbie made me tremble and strive in the same breath. The deceptively 'simple' dialogue of David Ives, asking every actor to just. say. it. Float it on the breeze; it doesn't need 'explanation,' just energy and truth.

When an actor constructs reality, it has to be riveting and entertaining. There has to be an emotional connect with the audience.

Emotional power is maybe the most valuable thing that an actor can have.

I don't have a favorite genre. I love to work and live vicariously through every character. It's all about trying to bring the character to life and get the story across in a way that resonates with the audience. It's always interesting and challenging in a gratifying and unique way.

Good actors, you always know what they're thinking. That's why they're good actors.

As long as you have the acting chops and the desire to get inside a character, you can play anything.

When you act, you've got to be like a poet or a musician. It's not about evidence before court. It's not a forensic subject. It's poetry; it's a completely different place.

Tolstoy may be right about happy and unhappy families, but in ballet, it works the opposite way: All good ballets are different from each other and all bad ones are alike, at least in one crucial respect - they're all empty.

I think singing and acting go hand in hand. Take an R&B singer: one song says, 'I love you,' the next is, 'Baby, don't leave me', the next is, 'If you leave me I don't care.' You have to drop in and out of different perspectives.

When watching movies, I was always inspired by the performances of the cast. Of course, the story and the direction and all that intrigued me. But what actors would propel themselves to do, and be, was awesome. It was like, how could these people give so much?

One of the great pleasures of acting is surrendering to someone else's point of view of the world - living inside a character and a story that never would have come out of your mind or heart.

The beauty of performance for me is finding details with which to betray character.

I guess just a lively imagination is the best effort an actor can have.

Our job is to unleash the play. It's not just about your character or interaction with the other characters. There's an energy in all good plays which you have to find. And that is part and parcel of ensuring that an audience gets what it's about.

Actors that don't look like they're acting and stories that are told well inspire me.

The fundamental job of the actor is to tell about the human condition, to be a voice for the truest ideas and deepest emotions.

I was blown away watching Michael Keaton act because he was such a maniacal, evil person on set. He takes on a totally different life, and it was so amazing to watch him work.

An actor can give his best shot but the script and dialogues have to have punch to make it more effective.

As an actress, my ultimate goal is to create a universal experience in my acting.

It's down to the actors to show the writers the potential of the character.

We are not brain surgeons. We are not curing cancer. We are not finding the next cure for Alzheimer's. We are simply and merely entertainment. We take on and wear the masks of characters. That's what we're paid to do.

I like it when actors offer something new with their performances, and elevate the scene. I don't restrict an actor.

That's my job as an actor - to go on and try to do the work so subtle and so fine and specific that the memories will linger for a long time.

When you're in a good play and a good production, you find that you're in something that has a life beyond you. You think, 'Oh my goodness, this play's alive.'