Actor Quotes

5575 Actor quotes by 2698 unique authors

Every scene you will ever act begins in the middle, and it is up to you, the actor, to provide what comes before. — Michael Shurtleff
All an actor has is their blind faith that they are who they say they are today, in any scene. — Meryl Streep
There's nothing more boring than unintelligent actors, because all they have to talk about is themselves and acting. There have to be other things. — Tim Robbins
The inner life of the [imagination], and not the personal and tiny experiential resources of the actor, should be elaborated on the stage and shown… — Michael Chekhov
Actor training should be broadly humanistic, involving the study not just of dramatic literature and theatre history, but of languages, literature, and history generally, and… — Richard Hornby
If you really do want to be an actor who can satisfy himself and his audience, you need to be vulnerable. [You must] reach the… — Jack Lemmon
An actor is looking for conflict. Conflict is what creates drama. We are taught to avoid trouble [so] actors don't realize they must go looking… — Michael Shurtleff
An actor is totally vulnerable. His total personality is exposed to critical judgment - his intellect, his bearing, his diction, his whole appearance. In short,… — Alec Guinness
Only a great actor finds the difficulties of the actor's art infinite. — Ellen Terry
Work for the actor lies essentially in two areas: the ability to consistently create reality and the ability to express that reality. — Lee Strasberg
The actor should not play a part. Like the Aeolian harps that used to be hung in the trees to be played only by the… — Alla Nazimova
It's difficult, if not impossible, to get away with anything false before the camera. That instrument penetrates the husk of the actor; it reveals what's… — Elia Kazan
The basic essential of a great actor is that he loves himself in acting. — Charlie Chaplin
To be an actor you have to be a child. — Paul Newman
An actor must make his needs (goals, wants, objectives) so strong that he is willing to interfere with the other actor in order to get… — Michael Shurtleff
An expression of feeling isn't worth anything unless it interferes with what the other actor in the scene wants. — Michael Shurtleff
An actor must interpret life, and in order to do so he must be willing to accept all experiences that life can offer. — Marlon Brando
The [Great] Actor is able to approach in himself a cosmic dread as large as life. He is able to go from his dread to… — Unknown Author
If you're an actor, always be true to your character. If you are not an actor, have character and always be true to yourself. — Robert De Niro
There is a need for aloneness... for an actor. — Marilyn Monroe
It's the actors who are prepared to make fools of themselves who are usually the ones who come to mean something to the audience. — Christian Bale
At the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre, Sanford Meisner said, 'When you go into the professional world, at a stock theatre somewhere, backstage, you will… — David Mamet
The only way to deal with yourself as an actor is to follow the emotional truth of what you have to do under the imaginary… — Sanford Meisner
I want to be a great actor someday, and I've decided there's no use philosophizing; the only way is to work at my craft. — Al Pacino
The actor's physical type isn't and shouldn't be the main consideration. Does the actor look the part? It is the simplest question to deal with.… — Harold Clurman

Who Wrote These Actor Quotes

2,698 authors contributed a total of 5,575 Actor Quotes, led by these top contributors: