Performance Training Quotes

I'm not a classically trained actor. I'm not a product of Stavlovski method or anything like that.

My thing has always been preparation. When I was a performer on the roster as one of the guys on a weekly, full-time schedule, I was always prepared.

Yeah, well I've always played comedy. My background is musical comedy theatre and that's really where my training is. As an actor, that's my training.

When I was in NXT, I was still training every day. I was still in the ring every day and working every live event. And just because I wasn't on shows that were taped for NXT TV, I don't think people knew what skills I could do.

I've worked with some teachers and coaches over the years, but I didn't really study theater or technique or voice or any of that stuff extensively.

Everyone has a different path. I knew no one in the acting industry growing up. I never did a play until college. I was not outspoken when I was younger and I hated being the center of attention. But I had a dream of being an actor. I went to NYU and studied theatre. I learned a craft. And began my career straight out of college.

Film acting is really the trick of doing moments. You rarely do a take that lasts more than 20 seconds. You really earn your spurs acting onstage. I needed to do that for myself. I would hate to say at the end of everything that I never did a stage play.

I always wanted to go to a drama school.

If you're in the WWE, it's like show business boot camp. You learn a little bit about everything as far as show business is involved.

The young people look great on television. They're youthful and have a lot of zip and energy, but when you see them live, they can only do about 20 minutes because they haven't got the training to hold an audience for an hour and a half or so.

There's the acting side of it so you work with a coach. Dissect a script. If it's a character, then obviously a character study. Just depends on if there is training needed.

If I'm going to be honest with you, when I trained at school, I feel like I was training to be a chameleon. I want to be that versatile actor who can do anything - that's why you learn fifty different dialects, you do Shakespeare, you do commedia, you do it all so that if any job comes your way, you should be able to do it.

I didn't know what acting school was, so I went onto the computer and typed 'acting school.' I found one in Berlin, and I found ones in Vienna, Zurich, and London. I went to all of those places to audition. You were supposed to have two monologues, and I only had one.

Drama school is fundamentally practical. I didn't write any essays, so I came out with a BA honors degree in acting.

I started doing karate at four, my parents were karatekas. I stopped when I was 17 and went to Julliard and had a lot of stage combat there.

I've never worked as hard as when I was at drama school. It's the most professional environment I've ever been in.

I grew up in church. That's how most young African American musicians learn how to perform. You could be six years old and playing organ or drums in front of thousands or hundreds of people.

Maybe I'll go to acting school. Acting is like boxing, you know.

The first year at Juilliard is, I think, the best. And partly why I left - I only went one year. Partly why I felt okay leaving is that the most important elements, I believe, happen in the first year. What they do is they tear down all your conceptions of acting, and they take away all your tricks that you've learned.

It was actually drumming that gave me the stamina to get into sports later. I started playing drums at 13, and when I got to the international touring level... I got interested in cross-country skiing, long-distance swimming, bicycling... things that require stamina, not finesse.

All the guys that entered The Groundlings, like Will Ferrell, already had incredible confidence, but I watched shut down women that didn't even have a personality completely become different human beings because of the training.

I learned my profession onstage. I didn't have a musical background. I had no conservatory training. I don't play an instrument.

I actually do a lot of Pilates and try to hike every day that I'm home. Also, I dance SO much in my shows and at rehearsals!

I coach young people. I have a group called BTP - Broadway Theatre Project.

The style is getting faster and faster. The athletes are getting better and better. The future is pretty bright for WWE.