Acting Mentorship Quotes

I think it's my job as a young actor to watch adult actors and take tips on the way they work.

On 'The Impossible,' I was taught how to act. Naomi Watts was there every day constantly teaching me. That was where I discovered I wanted to be an actor.

I grew as an actor just by watching Kamal Haasan acting. I had the good fortune of being able to observe Kamal Haasan from close quarters.

As an actor just learning the craft, you literally do a scene with Jimmy Gandolfini, and you walk away a better actor.

[Working with Meryl Streep] I just felt like I was shaving years off my discovery as an actress to realize, "Okay, that's what this feels like."

My mom (Kate McCauley) is an actress, so I guess she's the one that taught me it was a possibility. For as long as I can remember, I've always played make-believe ... It's something that I've always done, that I've always been comfortable doing.

I did Bored To Death with Jason [Schwartzman] and Zach Galifianakis and those guys. I mean, how lucky can you be that you get to be the old guy? I get to be Robert Preston to them now. That's what I feel. My job is to pass on what Preston and other people gave to me, which was show up, take the work seriously, don't take yourself seriously, and have a good time and be of service. Be there to support.

I am more than glad to take tips from experienced actors.

In my early days, I used to go to many acting gurus, Asha Chandra and Roshan Taneja being two of them.

Working with Adrien Brody was like going to Julliard, but instead of four years, I went for four weeks. He was like the Albert Einstein of professors, it was just the best experience of my life. Adrien was the most influential mentor in my acting career thus far, and even after the movie he continues to mentor me.

My first ten years in Hollywood were really tough. I'd be coaching friends who came to me for acting advice, and then they'd make it before I did. I'd still be helping them while they were on movie sets and I had four lines on a TV show.

Every actor's different. It seems to me the older veterans, they don't need to hear as much. But younger actors need a little more feedback, a little more assurance, and that's fine.

But it is a hard, it's a hard profession teaching acting.

To be that big of a star and that grounded and that classy, I'm mean [ George Clooney] was a true mentor for me and, as a director, he's incredible.

I'm not really sure if I have anything that inspires me. I think what goes into my work is everything beforehand that I do with my dad. He teaches me acting, and I think maybe without him it would be pretty hard. I started acting for fun, really, because my dad's an actor and my sister's an actor, so I started doing it and it was normal. But it got places really fast, and I started doing feature film auditions and stuff.

I'm very lucky that I have my mother - who was such a great actress - and my brother as family. Of course, I take benefit of that fact. I read scripts with them. We have discussions and I take in their inputs and advice about how to play a role.

I know with Gary Ross especially, he kind of gave me pointers here and there, but he kind of let me become firm in any way that I needed, and he just let me try things and to explore what I can do with my acting. So that was very helpful.

I learned a hell of a lot from my co-star, Kurt Russell. He's one of my closest friends and was one of my best teachers. He was the pro. He approached it like a baseball player. Acting is a contact sport to him.

I always tell younger actors that if they want to learn the ropes, there's no better place to do it than right here in the U.K.

And as an actor, just working with someone as seasoned and professional and kind as Richard Jenkins, it's always a learning experience watching him - on camera and off camera, just soaking it all up.