Character Quotes

I'd say, go ahead, shoot your shot. More power to ya if you can come up with a different angle on the character.

[ J. Edgar]Hoover, I'm sure, felt that he was right in everything he did and even the things that we don't like about his character.

I like to play characters that are convincing, that aren't just straightforward and nice.

I treat any scene the same - dialogue, action - you're still creating something in character. It's all acting, fighting.

I do a lot better if I sit around and think about a character for a couple of months.

One of the things I love, more than anything, is jumping around and playing lots of different parts. I love the variety of playing different characters.

I mean, I do believe that when you walk on the stage, or onto the screen, that's your character - not you. So it's an interesting challenge, an interesting line to walk.

I absolutely believe that what you sing and how you act when you're in this position, should be the definition of who you are and where your heart and character stands.

The fun thing with the newer characters in the movie was that anything goes. The life they brought to it just exceeded my expectations. It was just above and beyond.

I'm blessed and proud and privileged to have played two wonderful characters on television.

I'm not going to experience the reality of hardship that sometimes my characters live in. I'm very cautious about that.

It doesn't matter if it's a drama or a comedy, the need to get the emotion and the character arc across is way harder in something like this so was more of a preparation.

I do think I'm a character actor.

There is a part of me that is desperately wanting to not necessarily be this cute, endearing, heart-on-his-sleeve type of character that just wants to be liked.

I usually read a script from an audience perspective first, and then look more closely at the character only.

Normally when I'm sent a script I'll read it through to see how it hangs as a story and then I'll go back and read it through again and look at the character.

As an actor, I like to get a bit of momentum going with a character and kind of work a bit quicker. I mean, not crazy-fast, but, you know, five or six pages a day is a nice pace.

There are fewer and fewer Jews in Ireland, but we still have one of the most famous Jewish characters in literary history, of course, in Leopold Bloom.

I don't want to do action that doesn't mean anything. Everything I do I want to have character development and three-dimensional characters, fallible humans, and this is definitely one of them.

Multiethnic character of America is very attractive to people. They also see a place where you get ahead, not because of where you came from, but because of where you want to go.

TV is a different animal these days. You can bring together really smart writing and directing, in-depth character development and really meaty political and emotional stories.

I guess Im attracted and repelled by isolation. It scares me. And its why I tend to write about older characters, too, because for them the stakes are somewhat higher.

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

I don't know how to play myself. I'm not interested enough in myself. That's just not how I was educated. That's not how I learned to become an actor. Acting is creating a character.

Having an opportunity to play different characters, and work in different mediums, that's what's fun. The worst question you could be asked is, "What do you like better, film, television or theater?"

Even though I was theatrically trained, learning to develop a character was an awesome experience.

In friendship similarity of character has more weight than kinship.

I do tend to have characters that I guess are in some way loners or dealing with obstacles that they have to confront that ultimately make them a better person in a way.

I think television is really incredible because of the fact that you get to sit with a character for so, and the character does something different, every week. I think that's really interesting.

There's something about the way of playing a repellent character, that if you can play him with a certain amount of charm, you can get away with a lot.

I had a lot of fun [on The Voice] and I learned a whole lot about reality TV, for one, and how they kind of use the artists as characters to make a hit TV show.

Here [in Wonder Boys] I had this group of characters where you didn't know which were the important ones or what direction they were heading.

I think it's impossible to actually be a role model. I think on some level, you'll have your flaws or defects of character, regardless.

I just like to inhabit a character really deeply.

I think I write what's interesting to me, and so if I'm reading I like to have a very thorough idea of a character in a book that's by someone else.

All I wanted to do was read, to be told stories. Stories were full of excitement and emotions and characters that entertained and often inspired.

In every great novel, who is the hero all the time? Not any of the characters, but some unnamed and nameless flame behind them all.

I think as an actor, it's very exciting when you have a really fully realized, complex, multifaceted character already established.

Every character actor, in their own little sphere, is the lead.

No not pigeon holed me as an actor, or as a character, or as to what I could do - but what I would do... and the fact is the things you don't do are almost as important as as the things that you do.

I don't always understand my characters. I write to understand them better.

I always talk about my characters like they're real people.

Sometimes I am kind of the opposite of my character. But that's the thing about acting, you get to play people who are not like you at all.

The nature of our motivation determines the character of our work.

The fun thing about doing origin stories is you are introducing the audience to characters.

Atheists are suffering from bad PR. What if Sesame Street had an atheist character?

The Simpsons can go anywhere in the world and not worry about any budgetary issues. However, even when the show has had its run, I think the characters can go on in perpetuity.

It's the weirdest thing. When you go into acting, you expect to be a huge star and to be recognized. It did happen, but not in the way you expect it to. In L.A., I'm just another character actor.

I have long admired Caroline Leavitt's probing insight into people, her wit and compassion, her ability to find humor in dark situations, and conversely, her tenderness towards characters.

I don't think anybody deals well with tragedy or grief, but maybe my characters are particularly bad at it. Which is why I love them.