Acting Professionalism Quotes

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

It is hard to keep a straight face during comedy scenes. It's considered really bad form to laugh at someone else because you can ruin their best take. But sometimes it's very hard not to.

Look at someone like Edward Norton. A truly phenomenal actor. He's definitely went to school and trained.

When I do scenes with Alec Baldwin, he just stares at my boobs. That's how good of an actor he is, he finds a way.

I am not one of those actors who believes he has to live the part he is playing. I can turn it on and off.

But filming is good for you, because the crew isn't allowed to laugh. You can't get addicted to getting the laugh.

If you are a good actor, then all you have to do is give your best shot every time when you are in front of the camera regardless of who else is around you.

You turn up on set, and somebody who has come out of Oxford, has done a BBC course, is telling you how to act. You think, 'Do me a favour. Go and make a coffee.'

If I had to fall in love with all the actresses I play with and live the situations I have to play, I would be lost ! I need to be solid and know who I really am to have fun in making something else. I noticed, while talking with other actors, that they often let ambiguity float. I don't like ambiguity, it's dangerous. I need distance. I also think that the result would prevent the audience from identifying to the characters. If you feel the things too strongly, you simply close the doors.

I got to work with Robert DeNiro once and it was a strange experience. Gwyneth Paltrow and I were doing Great Expectations movie together and we were complaining about what a mediocre film experience it was. DeNiro showed up on set and all of a sudden the director got better, the director of photography got better - everybody got more interested and excited. DeNiro isn't waiting for other people to create the environment that he wants, he brings it along with him.