I feel like, in acting classes, you'll get up sometimes; that's just the most vulnerable position you can be in. You're among your fellow actors, yet they look at you, and they're like, 'You've been on TV. You've been in movies.' It almost adds to the pressure.
You do some acting in a room for a few minutes, hopefully get something out of it that makes you a bit better at acting, and go home. Maybe the people in the room with you liked the acting you did. Maybe they didn't! Either way, it's not the end of the world; you'll be doing this again soon.
Actors are not always the best judges. We have a peculiar idea of what we think we are, and sometimes it's best left to others to decide what we play.
Auditioning is such an unnatural thing. You're in a tiny little room with, like, seven people cramped together, acting to a casting director; just, none of it makes any sense.
Reviews about film acting are very... tricky, because movies are such a collaborative thing.
Any decent actor knows you can't judge the character you're playing.
It's difficult to judge other actors, because as an actor you're looking at different things than what an audience is looking at.
I love Ron Howard, he's a wonderful director, incredibly prepared. But I have to criticize my performance in that movie. It all took place in one day. My character was having a bad day, so she's having a bad day throughout the whole movie. But this was a comedy, and I think I was too serious, too dense. Yes, I think that describes my failure there.
To be honest, if people thought my performance in 'The Office' was the same as my performance in 'The Hobbit,' it would tell me everything I needed to know about what they know about acting.
It's for people to judge if my acting is good or bad.
As an actor, I'm always critical watching others; it's just the nature of the beast. For me, any performance that doesn't cause my ego to say, 'I can do that' really signifies that it's spectacular.
From the very start of all of this, my mom has read the scripts first. And if she liked something, she let me read it. She told our agent what kinds of parts that we would want.
My parents are really honest when they watch something. My nan is brutally honest. She'll tell me, 'Oh, you looked awful in that scene,' and I'm like, 'Well, I was giving birth at the time, so it probably worked with the character, Nan.'
If the director says you can do better, particularly in a love scene, then it is rather embarrassing.
Commercial auditions can be pretty humiliating.
I'm very in love with the fact that the camera is revolted by acting and loves behaviour.
Deconstructing your performance is the curse an actor has to live with. That's why I don't watch my films.
I used to go in for Disney auditions, and they'd tell me, 'You're cute and nice but just not funny.'
