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Portrait of Adrian Lester

Adrian Lester

(1968) Stage Actor

99 quotes in 341 categories

A TV screen showing Doctor Who reflects his longtime admiration for the series. He notes that many scripts ignore ethnic minorities, even though they are part of British history. He also says he avoids being typecast, preferring roles that keep him surprised.

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Adrian Lester is a stage actor.

Quick Facts About Adrian Lester

Born: August 14, 1968
Profession: Stage Actor

About Adrian Lester

British actor, director, and writer... | Adrian Anthony Lester is a British actor. He is the recipient of a Laurence Olivier Award, an Evening Standard Theatre Award and a Critics' Circle Theatre Award for his work on the London stage, and has also been nominated for a Tony Award.

Quotes by Adrian Lester

The arts safeguard our culture.

Art

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Never lie to yourself.

Lie

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There is always more work to do.

Always

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I've studied martial arts.

Arts

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I wasn't very good at school.

Education

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I don't want to be pinned down.

Down

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When I left Rada I didn't think about tweeting as a career move.

About

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I'll always be awake at three in the morning, going over my lines.

Always

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The great stories are always the old ones - they never change.

Always

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I want to play different people all the time.

Character

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I was a fan of sci-fi shows, such as 'Space: 1999,' 'Blake's 7' and 'UFO.'

Blake

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What marks me getting home is when I've completely unpacked.

Completely

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I have a lot of respect and love for NHS workers.

Lot

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I don't believe in gods or doctrines. I have a more humanistic approach.

Approach

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At heart, I'm analogue. I'm one of those people who has to buy something if they walk past a stationery shop.

Analogue

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Playwrights are discovering you can bypass the shorthand of cinema and really explore a situation, ramp up the pressure, over several hours…

Cinema

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The plays that survive the most easily are the ones in which Shakespeare has dug deep into the psychology of people in…

Deep

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I've always admired people who can shift and change, and pop up in areas you didn't think they could, and that's what…

Admired

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People are having to come to terms with the question: how important is it, really, that Obama is black? Yes, skin colour…

Black

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Some directors will tell you what to do: stand here, walk over there, sit down. That is the most basic kind of…

Directing

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I like cycling. I'm fairly fit but if I had to sprint for a long time, I don't think I could sustain…

Could

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When you take on a character you try and lose yourself into it because you want to be less self-conscious.

Character

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You have to promote yourself. And the only way you do that is by saying no to the things you would have…

Actor

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We had one TV in the house which sometimes people fought for control over. In those days, you watched one channel at…

Control

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An audience can feel when a comedian is confident - and then they will laugh. But if they feel at any point…

Audience

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By the time I was 14, I started getting paid for my work as an actor. For walk on work as well,…

Actor

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As an actor, having to portray a real-life person of extreme talent is fine as long as you're not playing the part…

Actor

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Sunday lunch was a big thing for me as a child with all the family coming together. The kids would all eat…

Children

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In 2007 I took a two-year break from shooting the BBC series 'Hustle,' in which I played a big-time con artist. I'd…

Art

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I love doing theatre and musicals, but when we start shooting 'Hustle' we film two episodes concurrently, with the scenes out of…

I love

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In the Heat of the Night' is an excellent piece of work.

Excellent

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Producers are too ready to second-guess an audience, and they always play it very safe.

Always

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I am brilliant at not doing paperwork. I could teach a degree in procrastination.

Brilliant

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Try to sleep as much as you can to look fresh after a flight.

Flight

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Being a dad made me really see what love was.

Being

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I've always been a city boy and it's why I love the Big Apple so much.

Apple

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I like to do a bit of snorkelling, diving and swimming or just hanging out on a beach.

Beach

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What's been crucial to 'Hustle's' success is the sense that the gang could survive in prison or on the streets.

Gang

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If talent exists, and it's very young, it needs to be nurtured and given a pathway to walk along before you ask…

Great

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The appeal of 'Hustle' has always been that the con artists are actually very moral - we've simply made the villains the…

Always

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Adrian Lester by topic

Theatre (14) Time (11) People (11)