Actor Quotes by Ian Mckellen

Actors are merely the medium through which a story happens.

— Ian Mckellen

My ambition is to get better as an actor.

— Ian Mckellen

No actor wants to play to an empty house.

— Ian Mckellen

There's something wholesome about the theatre.

— Ian Mckellen

Tony Blair is not a villain, but he's played the part very well.

— Ian Mckellen

There are some fantastic parts for older actors.

— Ian Mckellen

Actors don't, in fact, retire, do they? It took me a while to remember that.

— Ian Mckellen

I'm an eccentric English actor, and there's a lot of us around.

— Ian Mckellen

Acting is no longer about lying. It's now about revealing the truth. People are at ease with me now. Honesty is the…

— Ian Mckellen

[There's] nothing special about an actor's imagination, except that he uses it a lot.

— Ian Mckellen

There are a lot of actors - I'm probably one - who are most at home when they're on stage.

— Ian Mckellen

The press like to talk to actors. They mustn't be surprised when actors talk back to them.

— Ian Mckellen

I love musicals; I love the ballet, opera, the circus. It's all performance to me.

— Ian Mckellen

I know actors who have had to turn down good roles because they just don't pay enough. It's hard.

— Ian Mckellen

When I left Cambridge, I applied to regional repertory theaters in the U.K. and got accepted by one of them... And here…

— Ian Mckellen

The performance is created by the director. The actor is the material. And I think that has to be true.

— Ian Mckellen

There are not many things in my life I can be absolutely proud of or certain I got right, but one of…

— Ian Mckellen

Imagine trying to be a gay actor, a gay anything in modern Russia? Where to be positively oneself, to be affectionate in…

— Ian Mckellen

What I particularly like about Broadway is the camaraderie and the friendship of other people in other shows. Everybody knows you're opening…

— Ian Mckellen

I don't any longer make any quality judgement between theater and cinema. They are different experiences for the audience, and they also…

— Ian Mckellen

Before I ever acted as an amateur - which I did a great deal at school and at university - I used…

— Ian Mckellen

Before acting, I wanted to become a journalist. I also toyed with the idea of being a chef - but that's only…

— Ian Mckellen

There are some tremendous actors in the U.K. who have been knighted, and I've spent much of my life admiring many of…

— Ian Mckellen

You won't hear me talk about my politics, you won't hear me talk about my vegetarianism, you won't hear me comment on…

— Ian Mckellen

I'm cheaper than Anthony Hopkins. The other actors they asked to play Gandalf wouldn't go to New Zealand on that money for…

— Ian Mckellen

I'm only an actor. I'm not a writer. I'm not going to leave any legacy. All I've ever done is learn the…

— Ian Mckellen

Most actors are not rich - they are very poor indeed. What keeps them going is that they just love the job.

— Ian Mckellen

I got better as an actor, and still I'm getting better. That's only been possible because there's always been work.

— Ian Mckellen

For old actors, just remember that inside you're only 14. Acting is for kids. You poor old grown-ups, you've forgotten how to…

— Ian Mckellen

Gandalf's a good guy, and it's a good part. He says the right things, he believes the right things. An actor can…

— Ian Mckellen

Even now, there are young actors who want careers as romantic leading men, and the best thing is not to reveal you're…

— Ian Mckellen

On the whole, actors shout when they don't know what they're doing, trying to make an impact.

— Ian Mckellen

Every time you work is a challenge. There's a constant worry about it, and it's a side of acting I don't like.

— Ian Mckellen

I used to comfort myself when I became an actor that it was a useful job, entertaining people. And it was important…

— Ian Mckellen

It is very, very, very difficult for an American actor who wants a film career to be open about his sexuality. And…

— Ian Mckellen

Acting is a very personal process. It has to do with expressing your own personality, and discovering the character you're playing through…

— Ian Mckellen

Macbeth is a very popular play with audiences. If you want to sell out a theater, just mount a production of Macbeth.…

— Ian Mckellen

'King Lear,' I've been seeing all my life. I mean, the great actors of my lifetime... to join their company, as it…

— Ian Mckellen

So it's joyful to me, in my 71st year, to be able to be in a play that is absolutely right for…

— Ian Mckellen

The strength of British theatre should be that these actors in their middle years know what they're doing and are good at…

— Ian Mckellen