Influential Actors Quotes

I have to say as an actor I have been inspired by so many British actors throughout the years.

When I was a teenager, the actors I was really into were Mickey Rourke and Sean Penn. I saw 'Rumble Fish' on my 16th birthday, and around the same time, it was 'Falcon and the Snowman' and 'Bad Boys' from Sean Penn.

My biggest influences as an actor were Marlon Brando, and I really dug James Dean.

My influences were Peter Sellers and the great British character actors.

There are maybe 100 actors I look up to, but my first two favourite actors were Dustin Hoffman and Jack Nicholson.

In terms of pure acting, my role model has always been Philip Seymour Hoffman; I really always loved what he did. I love what Mark Ruffalo does. When I was younger, I liked Cate Blanchett a lot. These are all actors who are given stories and allowed to carry the whole story.

There are so many incredible women on TV right now. Viola Davis, Kerry Washington, Ellen Pompeo. These are really incredible female leads that are on network TV. Hopefully, with what I do, and the generation of actors I'm working with, that'll make the lives of other girls coming in after me even better. I hope to aim for that.

George Clooney and Brad Pitt, with those 'Oceans' films they do, they get to work together, make a whole lot of money, and make a major film statement. Imagine if once a year, myself, Denzel Washington, Laurence Fishburne, James Earl Jones, we did some relevant film together to make a statement.

There are so many young talented actors today whose work I respect and admire - Ryan Gosling is probably primary among them. I take inspiration from so many amazing actors.

My mother didn't let me see color films. I saw a lot of black-and-white films. The first time I saw Basil Rathbone, I was completely taken. To me, that was the epitome of great acting, was Basil Rathbone - not only in Sherlock Holmes, but the Sheriff of Nottingham, and all the terrible characters he had to play alongside Errol Flynn.

If I could, I want to take a page from the George Clooney-like actors of the world. They do things that are relevant, things that don't necessarily have huge box office appeal, but they matter.