Acting Discipline Quotes

Meryl Streep doesn't care how she looks. She just surrenders to the truth of the character. Not everybody has the ability to do that. They look good and they can pretend to be that person, it's not the same as being that person. And there are not many actors who will surrender to that.

I'm challenged by people like Russell Crowe and Sean Penn who come in with such incredible discipline and power.

The advice that I usually give to young actors is that if you can create a character for the stage and keep that character fresh for at least 6 months that means you're doing the show eight times a week.

The only thing I have never done is a Broadway play. I'm not sure I have the discipline necessary to do a Broadway play. I know it holds a fascination for certain actors.

Without discipline and detachment, an actor is an emotional slob, spilling his insides out. This abandonment is having an unfortunate vogue. It is tasteless, formless, absurd. Without containment there is no art. All this vomiting and wheezing and bursting at the seams is no more great acting than the convulsions of raving maniacs.

I have to do some mental gymnastics as an actor sometimes, to remember not to let certain things in.

I'd love to be one of those guys who could be like, 'Yeah, it's really exhausting,' but the truth is I'm not method. I don't take roles home.

I have learnt to become patient as an actor.

I wanted to learn a little bit about acting, not because I thought I'd find a star vehicle and set the world on fire, but I thought the discipline of it would be good for me. I met a good coach, and I joined her class - with a lot of hungry young actors who really didn't acre if I was a rock 'n' roll singer or not. I started to learn to get a focus, without having to jump up and down every few seconds.

Who I always refer to as my acting mentor when I got into junior college is an acting professor by the name of Tom Blank. He took me under his wing, and he was that strong male figure. He was tough love, but he believed in me, saw everything that I had.

Like any creative human being, I would like a bit more control so that it would be a little easier for me when the director says, 'One tear, right now,' that one tear would pop out.

There's a fine line between the Method actor and the schizophrenic.

Acting is a specific discipline. Just because you can sing doesn't mean you have the sensitivities of being an actor.

Theatre is a must for actors. They should try it at least once. It makes you disciplined, teaches you to respect your work, and boosts your confidence as an actor.

I am a professional actor, and I am very careful about being sincere to the characters I play.

I don't take characters home with me.

All an actor has is their blind faith that they are who they say they are today, in any scene.

I had been asked to start going out for roles here and there throughout my career, but I know that acting is a hard thing; it takes a lot of work, and I was traveling. I didn't have the time to really focus on it, so I really waited for the right project to come along.

As an actress, I was trained to show emotion I did not feel, or no emotion at all.

I don't have a great instrument. I don't have the kind of ungodly control over my voice and body that great actors have. And I've worked with enough great actors to know that I'm not one.

I don't bring my life into a character at all.

When I was starting, I was working with actors who came up through the rep system, and they understood the discipline required: you were never late for rehearsal, you were never not ready to go on, you were always prepared; it was about showing respect to the rest of the company.

It sounds maybe a little old fashioned, but the parts I want to play and I do play, you don't want to inject too much of your own personality. What you sacrifice then is a slight mystery.

I don't have any theories about acting, and I don't think about how to do it, except that an actor shouldn't take himself too seriously, and shouldn't try to make acting something it isn't.

I think people have a misinterpretation of Method acting, because Method acting is a wonderful thing. The thing is, if you take it too seriously, it's like religion. You start to think it's the truth. But it's not the truth. It's just a way to get somewhere.