Acting Research Quotes

I'm not a method actor per se, but if I'm playing a character that, at its core of its persona, has experiences I don't have, I try to search out and get firsthand experiences of similar sorts so I have something to fantasize about.

I temporarily became a surgeon for 'Memory of Love'. I spent two weeks in an operating theatre, watching amputations, and I loved it.

I wouldn't say I'm a method actor. I do research when I feel I don't have enough experience for the part I'm playing.

Whenever you're going to play a real person, you run the risk of well, everybody in the world kind of has an image of what that person is and who he should be and so you really have to do your homework.

I visited an asylum to observe expressions of the mentally disturbed and to get my body language right for the blind girl's role. I visited the blind school, read the autobiography of Helen Keller, and watched a number of films from 'Scent of a Woman' to 'Anurag,' 'Fanaa' and 'Black.'

I see it in a lot of period pieces where everybody is standing and talking, in a stilted, archaic way, instead of being loose in the world. So, I try to do a little bit of research, just so that I can feel like I'm grounded, but then I try to bring as much of my human understanding that I can, under the filter of it being 1865.

You wanna do a lot of backstory for your character - as an actor, you wanna research that. But on the show, it's fun to remain in that naive place as you go along, and be able to continue to discover things about your character as the writers come up with them.

When you audition for 'Quantico,' they have the academy application manual and maps of the base in the waiting room. So right from the start, they have you doing research, which I thought was cool.

If you're playing the a historical character that's in the public consciousness, then obviously you've got to make an effort to look like that person and there's a huge amount of historical record there that you have to kind of comply to.

I've done a lot of costume dramas and things that are set in the past, and it's great to be able to have things that you can research and material that you can look at.

In acting you do a lot of research. Audience watch Jet Li because of the fight. They watch other actors because they are funny. If they want funny, they don't want to see Jet Li, they watch the other guy. That's the reality I face, until the one day I can prove I can make film without action that is a fun movie. Then everybody will say Jet Li, hmmm.

One of the joys about acting is researching.

Actors who say they don't watch TV are stupid. I was raised by TV! And it's how I research for auditions.

If you're playing a real person, then you want to do a certain amount of research, but that's only going to be so useful to you. Each role requires a different kind of approach to get ready.

If you're playing any real person, live or dead, you certainly have a responsibility to produce that reputation in some way.