Actor's Dilemma Quotes

The trap for an actor is that you become too successful at what you're trying to do, and you can find yourself stuck there.

When I started working on 'Battlestar Galactica' in Canada, I was told to get as fit as a marine for my character Lee 'Apollo' Adama. So I did. But now I have a problem with suits, because I'm 5 ft. 9 in. with a 40 inch chest and a 31 inch waist, so I'm rather too big for that very tailored British look, and they always have to be altered.

I lost 30 pounds to play my character in 'The Mexican', but people don't take to skinny mafia men, and I don't feel right when I'm thin.

Wouldn't it be funny if I were a total nightmare? If I just shot 21-hour days and went over budget? But, you know, it's something I'm really careful about, because I am a mom, and also, I'm an actor. I'm a pleaser: I don't want to take up too much of people's time.

I actually gained 30 pounds [for the episode], and I haven't lost all of it yet so I haven't been like "I gained 30 pounds!" Because I don't know if people can tell the difference.

I do not know if it is true that all actors want to direct and all directors want to act, but in 1972 I tried directing and decided I had better stick to acting.

The reason I am unemployed for six months out of every year is because I have to turn down most of the films I'm offered. If I didn't, I'd only ever play a dark, satanic count on a horse.

The one benefit of having done all kinds of movies as an actor is, you learn the pros and cons of being tempted to do a really big movie because it costs a lot of money.

We live everything as it comes, without warning, like an actor going on cold.

When I got 'Youth,' I also got a small role in 'Star Wars.' I didn't know what to do. I decided to choose based on the character.

I'm sure a bunch of 15-year-old kids would way rather I do 'Superbad 2' than 'Moneyball.' But I would love to do movies like 'Superbad' and movies like 'Moneyball.'

Here I am, a struggling actor, and movie executives are saying to me, 'My son's not playing much. What can we do about that?' How do I tell someone I'm dying to work with, 'Your kid is kind of lazy?'

I really love being in 'Game of Thrones,' but I don't know if it's my big break.

There may be 10 odd things which I want to do as an actor, and we get an opportunity also, but I need to be sure whether the person I am trusting or the role that I am relying on - is it the correct one?

I've had enough of being a gay icon! I've had enough of all this hard work, because, since I came out, I keep getting all these parts, and my career's taken off. I want a quiet life. I'm going back into the closet. But I can't get back into the closet, because it's absolutely jam-packed full of other actors.

How do you play 'righteous'? Do you just kind of stand up straighter? What does that mean as an actor? You don't really play a quality.

Who wants to see me as Hamlet? Very few. But millions want to see me as Frankenstein so that's the one I do.

There was a gap of seven years between the first and second Dracula movies. In the second one as everybody knows, I didn't speak, because I said I couldn't say the lines.

I bring so much of myself to each character that there's always a worrying point when I think: 'Oh no, I'm really that person.'

I've said maybe too many times that I'd rather be typecast than not cast at all.

Having a persona people recognize, it's the thing that probably gets you paid the most - but it's also the thing that virtually every actor in the world doesn't want. 'Cause, like, no one would believe me if I wanted to play something ultra-realistic, like a gangster or something.

I sort of went 'Oh, great. I'm getting these great roles and I love doing them, but I'm going to be Anthony Perkins for the rest of my life.'

I'm not allowed to see R-rated movies, but I did see 'Kick-Ass' because I'm in it. I'm not going to skip out on my own premiere!

People say to me, well "What's the character you really want to play?" And I go, I don't know.

When you're playing a fictional character reacting to the real world, it's incredibly difficult and confusing and kind of messes with your values a bit.