“Go for new tricks. Don’t be a one-trick pony” (Christian Bale) (Arranged by Carmichael Phillips) In an interview with the Oral History of Hollywood, actor Christian Bale had an interesting take on the subject of acting techniques. Many actors swear by the acting technique(s) they were first taught as actors or the acting technique(s) they […]
Category Archives: Acting Quotes
“Listen and React” (Michael Caine)
Michael Caine’s Greatest Advice to Film Actors: Listen and React “Listening is really what acting is all about, for movies. It’s not like the theatre. It’s an entirely different situation.” “When I was in the theatre, I was inadvertently given some advice by a theatre producer. And he said to me, ‘What are you doing, […]
“Education is so essential” (Jake Gyllenhaal)
Education is Essential “Education is so essential, because there’s no way of knowing what good material is, or knowing if a story is original, or knowing what makes a story original, or know how to interpret a story, or even to help…if you don’t have a solid education.” “That doesn’t mean you have to go […]
“Do you want to be an actor or do you want to be a star or a celebrity?” (Don Cheadle)
Do you want to be an actor or do you want to be a star or a celebrity? “I think a lot of times people think that you have to have a job to work on acting. Which you don’t. You can work on plays. You can work on monologues. You can always work on […]
“To be an interesting actor, you must be authentic” (Sanford Meisner)
“To be an interesting actor – hell, to be an interesting human being – you must be authentic and for you to be authentic you must embrace who you really are, warts and all. Do you have any idea how liberating it is to not care what people think about you? Well, that’s what we’re […]
“You can’t rely on anyone to hand you anything in this business. Ever! So, just be creative.” (Joe Manganiello)
“You can’t rely on anyone to hand you anything in this business. Ever! So, just be creative.” “So many times I meet people who [ask me], you know, ‘do you have any advice for me as an actor?’ And I’m like, ‘when’s the last time you acted? Not sending in your headshot or went to […]
“No amount of failure…can dissuade a determined actor.” (Susan Saint James)
“Through my own experiences and achievements, I have found that no amount of encouragement, help, or advice can make an unmotivated person a star, while at the same time, no amount of failure, discouragement, or adversity can dissuade a determined actor.” (Susan Saint James, as quoted in the book Winning Auditions, by Mark Brandon) ________________________________________________________________________________________________ […]
“The actor must constantly respond to stimuli that are imaginary.” (Lee Strasberg)
“The human being who acts is the human being who lives. That is a terrifying circumstance. Essentially, the actor acts a fiction, a dream; in life, the stimuli to which we respond are always real. The actor must constantly respond to stimuli that are imaginary. And yet this must happen not only just as it […]
“If you want to be an actor…that has nothing to do with Hollywood.” (William H. Macy)
“It’s one thing to become a better actor, it’s another thing to want to be somebody, or to want to be a star, or to get recognition. If you want to be an actor and to learn about acting, that has nothing to do with Hollywood. That has nothing to do with the business. That […]
“This is a business of rejection.” (Bill Duke)
“There’s a difference between waiting to be discovered by someone and discovering yourself. Waiting to be discovered and discovering yourself is a different consciousness.” (Bill Duke) Duke went on to explain: “This is a business of rejection. And I’m not so sure this generation understands the layers of the rejection. The levels of the rejection. […]