Domhnall Gleeson Quotes

I wanted to be an actor. That was my real goal. But I wasn't any good at it, so I wrote my own material and acted through that. That's my idea of fun. I get to be all these things in the songs.

Acting is like free therapy! Trying to make people laugh or cry can be inspiring.

It's bad writing, however naturalistic it's written, that's where you have to do your best acting.

I always enjoy impersonating my characters in the first-person singular.

The best advice my dad ever gave me is that acting is believing. Acting is not acting. It isn't putting on a face and dancing around in a mask. It's believing that you are that character and playing him as if it were a normal day in the life of that character.

I still love finding the soul of the characters I play and defining who they are. This to me is my paint set, and the colors are always exciting to choose.

You try to pick good stories, and that's pretty much all the control you have as an actor.

Creating a role is an interesting thing - each show or each situation is different.

Acting is reacting, and it's always easier to react when someone is doing a good job.

If I'm not clear with the character, I can't do anything with it. But once I get that character, the possibilities are endless. When you have such a defined character, I feel like I can actually read the phone book and make it funny.

About the best thing an actor can do when all is said and done is to make people laugh.

One of the things that makes any good entertainment, whether it's a play, drama, comedy, television, film, whatever, is that you feel a certain amount of spontaneity.

All the best performers bring to their role something more, something different than what the author put on paper. That's what makes theatre live. That's why it persists.

When I started acting, it was really the way for me to be able to communicate.

What I find most interesting about acting is transforming myself.

I don't rehearse films as much as opera or theatre. When I began directing films I thought a long rehearsal was a good idea. Experience showed me that the best performance was often left in a rehearsal room.

I'm best known as a stand-up comedian, but I'm a good actor in the right role.

Any good production team is going to allow an actor to breathe life into the characters - that's why they hired that woman, that man, whatever the case.

I know what I love about acting - and it's the creative process.

You can't just sit there and do the lines. You have to do something revealing or unusual.

You can't follow another actor's performance. You can't be Robert DeNiro, because you're not Robert DeNiro, and, you know, he is.

When I saw John Turturro in 'Danny and the Deep Blue Sea,' I realized that was the kind of actor I wanted to be.

I don't see a difference between the idea of what an actor does and what someone supposes a character actor is, really.

Directing is more comfortable for me because, as an actor, there's always something inherently false. Because I'm not that person.

If I want to be a real comedian, I can't let you dictate my material, so I started creating more new material.