Tom Wilkinson Quotes

When I walk onto a set, no matter what it is, I always do the very best work that I can. But I'm not braindead, and I want to do things that I want to do, you know?

I always say to my agents, you go through one of these big kind of movies, everyone makes money, but like, I said, 'I'm the one who's gotta go make it, and if I don't have my heart in it, and it's like a love affair, I'm not going to do a good job. Then, and I don't want to just get paid. I just, I don't want to do that.'

As an actor, you want to do the best job possible, and you want the best scripts possible because it makes life more interesting.

This acting job - it pays very well and you get to live a wonderful lifestyle, but it's something that I love doing, so I want to work with other people who enjoy it as well...

If you do a scene the right way, you can go home at the end of the day and really feel like you accomplished something.

Other writers, producers, and directors of low-budget films would often put down the film they were making, saying it was just something to make money with. I never felt that. If I took the assignment, I'd give it my best shot.

Theatre is where my heart is. It's where I can do my best work. And even if I do films and TV, that's what I want to come back to.

I didn't become an actor to be famous. I genuinely love acting and never expected to make a penny at it.

A huge part of acting in movies is appetite. You do your best work when you've got a lot of appetite and you really want to embrace something. When you get tired, you don't have that hunger.

I was living in London and I thought, 'There's nothing here for me anymore.' I don't want to become this actor who's going to be doing this occasional good work in the theater and then ever diminishing bad television. I thought I'd rather do bad movies than bad television because you get more money for it.

I'm very, very lucky to be a working actor, but I've also been careful. I don't just take anything. 'Durham County' came to me. You have to look at the quality of work you do, and 'Durham' set the standard. I wait for things that keep me really interested.

I do my best work when I feel conviction to say something through the character I play. Always I want to have integrity and not compromise that.

Especially for fostering creative, conceptual work, the best way to use money as a motivator is to take the issue of money off the table so people concentrate on the work.

In acting, you can't do things for the money. You've got to do a project because you like it.

As an actor, all you want to do is to work and do good work.

But no, I love acting, it's a wonderful job.

The stage is my love, it's where I started and where I do my best work.

Not all offers I get are exciting and inspiring. I would rather sit at home and not work than jump into mediocrity for the sake of just moving ahead. If it's a good script, I would sacrifice my personal time and grab it.

Television, for me, is great because I love to act, every day. I love to work that muscle. I love to learn, and I love to be able to just do what I love. It's when I'm at my best. So, I love TV for that reason because it's every day.

I never did love Hollywood, I just loved the work.

Why do I continue making movies? Making movies is better than cleaning toilets.

I'm choosy to a fault. You want to hold out for a project that means something. You're the one who's there working fifteen hours a day, and if you don't believe in it, it can feel a whole lot longer.

I do my work to the best of my capacity. I don't pick a role looking at its length. I take up a film because I would like to see it.

It's not a matter of becoming a superstar. Fame and money aren't the purpose of all this. No actor's going to say, 'I don't want to be famous.' But the main purpose for doing what I'm doing is the passion in the work.

As an actor, the only pressure I have is to just be truthful and to do my best work.