Character Acting Quotes

I think the first role I ever played was Mr. Bumble in a production of 'Oliver.'

On 'Nip/Tuck,' I was a Nazi, so basically for, like, six months. I went into this place where I was wearing a lot of black. Everyone has a dark side, and I can channel that.

Any good actor is a character actor.

It was fantastic playing Conan; it was such an experience to go out of the country and be this barbaric human savage child for a month or so. It was a blast and definitely a great experience.

I'd love to do something on 'Mad Men.' Or play Peter Dinklage's cousin on 'Game of Thrones.' That would be fun.

I always considered myself as a character actor. I always try to be versatile to show different sides of human experience.

When Tim and I first discussed the part in 2003, he told me, 'I'd love for you to play five Oompas.' But five Oompas quickly turned into 165 - and they're not computerized; I did each one individually myself.

Whether I was a character in WCW, WWE or The Longest Yard, you want to be able to - the best part about myself is that I have a very wide range of emotions in that one second I can be speaking on Capital Hill about dog fighting and giving them a voice, which they can't obviously speak for themselves.

I always wanted to play characters, and that was definitely one - a Russian spy.

I realise that certain actors project their own image onto the screen - those who are the same on as they are off. But I've never had the necessary statistics to be able to do that sort of thing, and so, anyway, I always wanted to be a character actor.

I act according to the requirements of the character, and if I try to play the role, then I play it truthfully. In my daily life, I'm a laid-back, peaceful guy. I'm just doing my job to act.

I just loved playing the mean girl. When you're not like a character, it's kind of fun to play.

It's sort of cliche, but when you're playing drunk, your character is trying to appear sober.

I was honestly a cartoon kid. I loved cartoons. That was more my dream than anything else. But now, it's the films of people like John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands. Those are the kinds of characters I want to play, and that's the kind of filmmaking I'm fascinated by.

My whole background is character acting: weird costumes, fat suits, playing men, playing animals - I've never played anyone with whom there's any overlapping Venn diagram.

I like the character roles. Somewhere back there I really came to the conclusion in my mind that the difference between acting and stardom was major. And that if you become a star, people are going to go to see you. If you remain an actor, they're going to go and see the story you're in.

My approach to the work is the same, whether I had the lead or a supporting role. I consider myself a character actor in the true sense of the word. Unless I'm doing my autobiography, I'm playing a character.

I do play villains.

It's a great challenge to get to play a real-life character. Every actor would love to get a chance, at least once in his life, to play a real-life character.

For me, because of WWE programming, it's easier for me to slip into someone that I'm not or someone that I always wanted to be and just haven't had the guts to. So this super, horrible mean person, I personally don't think it's who I am outside of the ring, but maybe it's someone I have always wanted to be and I just snapped.

The first impression that I liked doing was an impression of Cheri Oteri's Barbara Walters impression on 'SNL.' I found that I could mimic that pretty well, and people got a kick out of that.

Most of the characters I'd played were so different from me, so far from me that I had to transform.

You know, the best-laid plans of mice and men... I like playing bad guys, and I don't have a problem doing that. They're interesting characters, and there's as many different kinds of bad guys as there are good guys - they're rich, they're strong, they're powerful, and so that's fine with me.

Some of the biggest movie stars in the world are essentially characters.

I step into a character in my public life. People who don't make that distinction are dooooomed.