Tatiana Maslany Quotes & Sayings

I'm attracted to stories that excite my imagination, stories that, as I'm reading the script, I feel it, I can see it, I can hear the characters. I'm attracted to characters that are real, that tap into something inside me that I haven't explored yet. — Tatiana Maslany

I was on the improv team in high school, and after I graduated, I joined an improv company that had been established 10 years prior to me getting there. They did longform improv, and I fell in love with it. It's acting, character creation, collaborative, artistic expression and comedy - and it's scary. It was a big rush. — Tatiana Maslany

Auditions are not a natural environment, and you feel judged, even though everyone is just excited to find the right person. — Tatiana Maslany

I think there's something really freeing about improv, that it's a collective, creative, in-the-moment piece. That's really exciting and really frustrating, because it's there and gone. There's an amazing interaction with the audience that happens because they are very much another scene partner. — Tatiana Maslany

I'm excited to work on something where I have a bit more time with it, to explore one personality. That's definitely exciting to me. — Tatiana Maslany

It's wild to be seen differently and have more visibility, but it's rewarding. — Tatiana Maslany

Something like 'Rust and Bone' would be a dream. Very pared down. 'Orphan Black' is such a challenge. I just need something that isn't as full-on intense as that. — Tatiana Maslany

I transitioned into theater and acting when I was about 9, community theater and musicals, being, like, chorus-kid-number-78 or whatever. But I just loved it. As a kid you just crave attention, and early on I just felt it was so cool and fun to play around and have people clap for me. But eventually I grew up and fell deeper into it. — Tatiana Maslany

That's my favorite kind of television, where it's not wrapped up in a pretty little bow. It's like life. You deal with one thing in your life, 500 others rear their head. — Tatiana Maslany

I haven't really done a lot of comedy. It's something that terrifies me. — Tatiana Maslany

I am drawn to those parts; I like the tough girls because they are not tough. It's a veil; it's a disguise. It's defenses. At the core, everybody is human, everybody is fragile, everybody is terrified, and the fear is what propels you to be tough. — Tatiana Maslany

Sometimes I'll go into a shop and speak in a different accent to see if I can pull it off. But then somebody will be like, 'Where did you say you were from again ... ?' And then I panic, and my accent dissolves, and I pretend like I wasn't doing it in the first place. — Tatiana Maslany

Some of my favorite shows are ones where the characters are vile and human and flawed. That's what makes me want to keep watching a show, not writers telling me how to feel about characters. — Tatiana Maslany

I'm fascinated with psychology, and with why a person walks the way they walk or why they walk into a room the way they do or why we are the way we are, and it's not exclusive to the psychology of a character. — Tatiana Maslany

I'm running on adrenalin when we're shooting. It's non-stop. As soon as I have time to sit down, then I fall asleep. — Tatiana Maslany

Trust your gut. You know yourself, so don't let somebody else tell you who you are. — Tatiana Maslany

We're living in a world where the response is really instantaneous, even though it's delayed by a few months. It comes at you pretty fast. — Tatiana Maslany

Go with your gut every single time. It's never, ever wrong. Even if feels like everybody else is telling you that you need to do this or do that. Your gut is your artist and who you are as a person and what makes you special, and what makes you an interesting performer. Never try to be something you're not. — Tatiana Maslany

I did improv for about 10 years professionally, and before that, I had done it in high school as part of an improv team. It was definitely a big part of my upbringing. — Tatiana Maslany

I like 'Futurama.' That's kind of the only thing that's my sci-fi thing, although I was big into zombies for a time. — Tatiana Maslany

I have trouble sleeping, at the end of the night. There's a lot of stimulus and my brain is processing a lot of different arcs and personalities. I'm always processing things, so I don't sleep. — Tatiana Maslany

I was in a Nativity play as a kid. Back then, I played the donkey. — Tatiana Maslany

I started out as a dancer as a kid; I've been dancing since I was 4. So performing was always part of what I was. — Tatiana Maslany

I grew up in Canada, man - we all had rinks in our backyards because we'd ice down the grass with a hose and build a skating rink. — Tatiana Maslany

My brothers and I always did improv stuff in our basement with our friends; we're super nerds, and that was our way of spending a Friday night. — Tatiana Maslany

Going to set, every day, and working with the incredible actors I get to work with is fulfilling. I've been doing this since I was nine years old, so it's always been something that I've been passionate about. It's always fed me. — Tatiana Maslany

Going back is a nice way to give definition to each of the characters because they are so vastly different. I would never want them to get blended together. — Tatiana Maslany

I try to get roles that challenge me in what I can do and who I think I can portray. For me, it's about creating characters with really fascinating stories, because that's what I like to watch on TV. — Tatiana Maslany

There's so many different people that I'm fascinated by. Different kinds of characters that I meet in, like, everyday life, that I'm like, 'I don't know how you exist. Like, you're so fascinating.' — Tatiana Maslany

I love hip-hop; I love Sleigh Bells. I also love classical music and musical theater. — Tatiana Maslany

I loved filming in Morocco; it was amazing. I'd never been anywhere like that. The culture was phenomenal. I was so blown away by the spirit of that country. — Tatiana Maslany

'Orphan Black' allows for people to have debates and theories and allegiances to different characters - to trust characters and hate other characters - but it doesn't tell you who is good or bad or right or wrong. That's the most exciting storytelling, in my book. — Tatiana Maslany

I like challenging parts, something I haven't done yet, something that scares me. There's just a feeling I get when I read a script that I love, I feel an attachment to it, a yearning to play that character. — Tatiana Maslany

You're hot for two seconds, and you're struggling to get work again. If it were easy, I don't think that's a good place for an artist to work from. — Tatiana Maslany

Have fun, be yourself, enjoy life and stay positive. — Tatiana Maslany

Hype is wonderful when it happens, and you should capitalize on it. But you shouldn't bank on it being the thing that will take you to the next step. Because it's fleeting. The blah-blah-blah goes away, but you're still there. — Tatiana Maslany

I was a dancer from about the age of four, so I was always performing and forcing my parents to watch my brother and I do 'Jesus Christ Super Star' in the living room. My first step was community theater, and then I started to do films. — Tatiana Maslany

Sex isn't hard, but intimacy is terrifying. — Tatiana Maslany

I wanted to get everything right. I was super nerdy and academic. I got so much satisfaction out of getting good grades. — Tatiana Maslany

Comedy scares me a lot. I feel like it's way harder than drama. I think my safety net is definitely drama, and I would love to kind of be able to be able to push into the comedy world and do something kind of like a Christopher Guest kind of style show. That, to me, is my kind of comedy. Like, Ricky Gervais comedy. That's my kind of thing. — Tatiana Maslany

Clothing and makeup and hair and all of that so much indicates the kind of person you are inside and the person you are presenting on the outside. Sometimes they are in conflict, and sometimes they are the same. That psychology of the exterior informing the interior is just so interesting. — Tatiana Maslany

It's always been my dream to just continually do really cool indie movies - character-driven stuff. — Tatiana Maslany

I'd say I am more of a comfort person. I have Adidas sneakers that are my favorite thing on the planet. Adidas high tops with black jeans and a fur hat that I love wearing. I love vintage shopping. — Tatiana Maslany

I'm at the transition place myself, still playing high school girls but moving to a stage when I'm playing older roles and going to the places of stillness and wisdom and knowledge and weight. It's exciting and scary. — Tatiana Maslany

Robert de Niro has always been fascinating to me. And if John Cazale were still alive, that would be a man I'd love to work with. I'm a big fan of Paul Thomas Anderson's films - I would be honored to work with him. I think he's a brilliant director, and he gets such compelling stories out of his actors and out of his crew. — Tatiana Maslany

Film has always been where my heart is. — Tatiana Maslany

You learn from the actors that you're working with. — Tatiana Maslany

Dance has always been a really important thing for me, so being able to physically express the characters through music and dance is like another layer to things. — Tatiana Maslany

My mom's a translator, my dad's a woodworker; that's the world I grew up in, that's the world I'm most comfortable in. The whole idea of Hollywood or any of that other stuff that unfortunately goes along with film, that wasn't part of my upbringing, thankfully. — Tatiana Maslany

Just to be on set with Amy Poehler, who's one of my heroes, was a total dream come true. — Tatiana Maslany

It's the reason we go to films and watch television: to escape the mundane nature of life and see another world and see ourselves in that other world. I think that's what sci-fi does so well. — Tatiana Maslany

I'm so inspired and stimulated by the work that it doesn't ever feel like work. — Tatiana Maslany

I've worked on shows where the lead actor doesn't know their lines, doesn't care, and it affects everybody - the crew, the director, the other actors. It's definitely a responsibility. — Tatiana Maslany

Those darker sides, the things that we don't want to admit about ourselves - that's what excites me. — Tatiana Maslany

Young women are now looking at me for cues. That's definitely been a responsibility. But I feel like I was ready to take on something like this because I wanted to be challenged and I wanted to be afraid, and that's definitely what it's done for me. — Tatiana Maslany

As artists, you always want to push yourself. There's always new territory. — Tatiana Maslany

So much of how you look at yourself in the mirror reflects how you feel about yourself, and how you comport yourself. — Tatiana Maslany

I would love to work with Gena Rowlands. I just don't know in what capacity. I'd play her daughter or granddaughter, or whatever. I would just love to work with her, in whatever capacity. — Tatiana Maslany

As a kid, I wanted to be a boy because I equated that with strength. There's a problem with that. It's only growing into my own womanhood that I realize how warped that is that I was attributing strength to male qualities. — Tatiana Maslany

We do long-form-style improv. Our focus was characters and telling a long arc story over about an hour and a half. It was closer to a one-act play than one-off sketches. — Tatiana Maslany

I fell in love with 'Star Trek' after J. J. Abrams's movie. I'm so into that. — Tatiana Maslany

I'm incredibly close to my family. I have two younger brothers; they're both artists and actors, and their work and the way they see the world inspires me. — Tatiana Maslany

I love people, watching people interact. It's a lot of psychology. We learn about ourselves by watching other people's lives on the screen. — Tatiana Maslany

You're working with adults and you're being paid to do a job. And you're a kid. Then you go back to high school, and everybody's partying, and they're doing math. I always felt a little bit outside of it. Outside of both experiences, really. — Tatiana Maslany

I'm a huge 'Futurama' fan, so that's my closest sci-fi tendency. — Tatiana Maslany

As an actor, you're listening to the other person and always trying to be present and take everything they're giving you, but when they're not there, you have to produce that yourself. — Tatiana Maslany

For me, comedy literally is way more terrifying than doing drama, so it's always about stretching what I think I can do and putting myself out there in different context. — Tatiana Maslany

Music is like a lifeblood - it changes the way I move; it changes the way I feel about myself. The way I walk into the room is different depending on the song I was just listening to. — Tatiana Maslany

There's something about music that makes me feel like a different person, that feels like an escape. — Tatiana Maslany

I was honestly a cartoon kid. I loved cartoons. That was more my dream than anything else. But now, it's the films of people like John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands. Those are the kinds of characters I want to play, and that's the kind of filmmaking I'm fascinated by. — Tatiana Maslany

I think being idle is quite hard for me to do. — Tatiana Maslany

I love nerdy work. I love writing notes. I try to go back, as much as I can, to feed what happens and why they do what they do. — Tatiana Maslany

I find comedy to be really scary, because it can go so wrong so easily, and the margin for error is so huge - and I guess that's what makes it funny, that tension. — Tatiana Maslany

I think Amy Poehler and Tina Fey have done so much for women in comedy in the sense that they've normalized it. You don't think, 'I'm going to watch that comedy starring a woman,' you think, 'I'm going to watch that funny show.' They refuse to play the foils for men, or be reduced to the butt of every joke, and I love that about both of them. — Tatiana Maslany

I went to a French immersion school, and French-Canadian improv is a big thing, and we had an improv team at school, and 12 of us would get up and make things up against other elementary schools. I'd always wanted to perform, and that was just another extension of it. — Tatiana Maslany

How you go about moving within the world you live in says so much about who you are. — Tatiana Maslany

The way people love sci-fi is how I love cartoons. — Tatiana Maslany

I'm an actor, and I like having attention, I guess. There's a reason I like being on stage. There's a reason I like being in front of a camera. It's that interaction. — Tatiana Maslany

You're revealing something about yourself in a more exaggerated, more fleshed-out way, and it awakens something in you that maybe you didn't know you had. — Tatiana Maslany

I've learned a lot about the limits of what I can do, as an artist, or what I'm willing to do. It's a lot of responsibility to carry a show and to speak to people on different levels. — Tatiana Maslany

My mom taught me German before I knew English. And I went to French immersion school. — Tatiana Maslany

The most bizarre demographics come up to me. Men in their 50s come up to me and are like, "Alison is my favorite. I hated her at first, and now I love her." I don't know what that says about people's psychology. — Tatiana Maslany

For me, comedians are like the epitome for everything great, and they terrify me. I just want to be them. I want to be like them. — Tatiana Maslany

I have a collection of vintage sundresses, and I've never worn them because for some reason I always opt for shorts and a t-shirt. I wish I could commit to them. I will. I have a few really great pieces I've been holding onto for years. — Tatiana Maslany

There's something really unique about 'Orphan Black' is that it has a lot of female leads, so it's about a lot of women's stories, but it's not women's stories in terms of trying to find a guy or keep a guy; it's about entirely other things. — Tatiana Maslany