Character Quotes

In some ways, what I learned is that you can take a character and breathe with them, and its up to the audience to interpret rather than you putting moral stamp on the character.

I want to tell authentic, real stories with real characters.

As an actor, you really want to resonate with your audience. I played a character on Oz and people still approach me in the streets today.

Also, I'd like to play an athlete again, while I'm still physically fit, or a musician, like Nat King Cole, because I play the trumpet and sing. I'd like to incorporate that into a character.

I'm known for playing bad guys, so this was an interesting departure from what I'm known to play, which is a softer, more likable, affable character.

The only way I know how to deliver is to focus; some people can turn it on or off - I'd rather stay in character.

Certainly, I look for different characters 'cause I always like to keep people guessing, and I also don't like to get typecast.

I create a playlist for each and every character that I play.

I think a lot of the criticism had to do with disliking the characters - which, again, I take as something of a compliment.

I wanted to try to create characters that happen to be Asian but who are pretty different from those we generally see in our culture, in our commercial culture.

Everything has to be clean and orderly when I sit down to write. I have candles going, and small objects that remind me of what I am working on, or bring me into the world of the character.

The supreme blossoming of character lies (or reside) in renounciation (or renuncement) and abnegation of self ("abnégation de soi", Fr.)

Twitter is most suitable for me. In the Chinese language, 140 characters is a novella.

Language is the ticket to plot and character, after all, because both are built out of language.

Not getting bored of my own story and/or character is one of the main struggles I have had with novel writing, and I have put to bed big chunks of work that just didn't sustain my interest.

In every character I play, I try to imbibe something. Every film is a learning process for me.

I can't have composite characters. I can't attribute dialogue to someone based simply on my memory and not based on notes taken at the time that the words were spoken.

Agent Mom is a perfect opportunity for me to do what I love... develop characters, act and take incredible stories to my fans. So yes, I can absolutely see myself cast as Agent Mom.

Ultimately, physical resemblance isn't as important as whether this person can bring this character to life in a way that's compelling and makes me care about what happens to them.

I think the world is a place for oddballs and freaks. I'm only interested in oddballs and freaks as characters.

If you over-plot your book you strangle your characters. Your characters have to have enough freedom and life to be able to surprise you.

That's the fine balance of a fiction writer...to be able to give your characters enough freedom to surprise you and yet still maintain some kind of artistic control.

In fiction writing ideas have to be handled extremely carefully. You can't let your characters just be mouthpieces for your ideas. They have to live and breathe on their own.

I've always wanted to explore characters of all races, all genders, all ages. It just seems to me to be a natural way to approach any kind of storytelling.

No man can use his Bible with power unless he has the character of Jesus in his heart.

Anytime you have an opportunity as an actor to really grow along with your character, I think thats a real gift.

I would draw my own comic book characters listening to metal. The drawing and music kind of went hand in hand.

When I watch medical shows or other shows where characters die, it kind of bums me out.

When I get a role, I try to delve as deeply as possible into the character.

One of the things I like about a character: I always think it's fascinating when a character can turn on a dime and go from one emotion to another. I like watching that.

Few characters in history are indispensable.

This absurd, godless world is, then, peopled with men who think clearly and have ceased to hope. And I have not yet spoken of the most absurd character, who is the creator.

Only strong characters can resist the temptation of superficial analysis.

The idea of it [Star Wars] is really exciting, but the most fun part is the actual job you get to do: the character that you get to play, the people that you work with, the day-to-day experience.

Warren [Beatty] did a very cool thing, where he directs in character.

Each film and each character is a completely new set of challenges. It doesn't feel like you can rest on something you may have done well in the past.

When you work for the Coens, they are so fun and so organized. They treat everyone with such respect. And the character I got to play was so fun.

I remember pretending to be the characters in the movies when I was a little kid.

Hearing the faraway sounds of children at recess makes me understand that I am no longer life's main character.

Adversity is the touchstone of character: it is not in success but in misfortune that hidden powers bear fruit.

One of the benefits to television is that you're with these characters for years, you know them so well.

There's something in psychology called the narrative paradigm, which essentially means that we think of our lives as stories in which we are the main characters.

I started off as an actor thinking that I would be this Romeo, this dashing leading man. It turns out that I'm a character actor.

The funny thing about being Catholic, and I was raised Catholic, is that you identify with the Church, just as part of your character. Nevermind what you believe, it's just who you are.

What I like in comedies are really two things: stories that are character-driven and stories that are rooted in authenticity.

I don't think my looks are modern. I always imagined I'd end up doing Chekhov, Ibsen and Shakespeare all my life and never play a contemporary character.

I love the opportunity to tell the story about the characters through the music.

When you get into a film, it is one story and one set development of a character, and you are able to delve into one character for a short period of time and discover everything about them.

I'm hesitant to do leading man character roles because I think they can be a little boring in terms of needing to be the everyman who navigates the amazing stuff around them.

Any author of fiction will tell you that characters don't need to be told what to do.