Craft Of Acting Quotes & Sayings

I always used to pretend to be different characters - cowboys, that sort of thing. I used to think that the Indians lived over the mountains that I could see out of my bedroom. As I grew up, I started to understand that acting was actually a craft, and there was no question about it, that was exactly what I was going to do. — Aneurin Barnard

I never really thought about acting as a child. It wasn't like, "This is the career that I want to pursue." So when I first started acting, I was more concerned with just being on a set and all of the woes of that, and I didn't really know it or understand it as a craft yet. — Blake Lively

When I was 12 or 13, I started to watch films and understand more about the craft and that helped me to develop. But it also felt like a game, because it was fun. I mean, all of us do it when we're kids to a degree - play acting. But then I came to realise that it's a lovely way to express yourself. So, my passion for it developed as I got older. — Yasmin Paige

My advice has always been to study the craft of acting if you want to be an actor. There are many great schools that teach acting. NYU being one of them. — Peter Facinelli

That first year at Universal was a big blur and, naturally, I thought they were wasting me. I didn't realize at the time that I was learning my craft and acting more easily in front of the camera. — Kent McCord

It was never my dream to be famous. I didn't start acting to be a movie star. I started in the theater and my desire was to get better at my craft. It's still my desire. I don't consider myself a movie star, nor do I really have the desire to be one. I'm just an entertainer ... An actor who works hard at his craft. Whatever labels people give me, that's not really me or part of my process. — Denzel Washington

I'm a geeky actor, in the way that I like the craft of acting. — Alan Tudyk

At some point in time, you definitely have to go drama. Not to say that you're going drama just because everybody else does it. You do it to challenge yourself. You do it because, naturally, in the profession of acting, you want to show growth. You want to say that you take the craft seriously. — Kevin Hart

I started working on stage as a dancer when I was four; by 14 or 15, I knew I wanted to study the craft of acting. — Cush Jumbo

Why would anyone want to be famous, certainly not me. My only goal in an acting career is to be able to work full time as an actor, filmmaker. When I get to that level, which I will, in this business where I can spend one hundred percent of my time honing my craft, then I will be complete. — Tim Holmes

I was trained by Method acting teachers and we were taught that aside from whatever gift you may or may not have or the level of that gift, that you were obliged to know how to build a table. It's a craft. It's like being a ballerina or a violinist. — Ellen Barkin

I don't see any difference in the craft of acting, in film or television. It's absolutely the same. It's different storytelling, playing a character over multiple hours, as opposed to two. — David Duchovny

Remember, acting is not a business of glamour. It is science, craft and an art. Read about acting; don't do it for the sake of fun. Actors such as Paresh Rawal and Naseeruddin Shah are great examples; they are surviving only because they have read well. — Boman Irani

I think acting for sure takes a lot of dedication, especially when you're starting out, because it's so much rejection and it's so important to really study and know your craft. — Bitsie Tulloch

I'm doing a little bit of acting, but I can't really say it's going to be a career or even that I'm really suited to it. It's a whole other craft you have to study and be passionate about. — Sascha Radetsky

Pretty much at the age of 16, I realized acting wasn't going to be the vocation for me ... too political not enough creative control. But I loved the craft and my father wanted me to get a college degree. Seemed natural to study what I loved and Marymount Manhattan has a wonderful theatre program, I highly recommend it! A lot of what I learned there I apply to my comicbook writing and pacing. — Holly Golightly

The "magic if" is a tool invented by Stanislavski, the father of acting craft, is to help an actor make appropriate choices. Essentially, the "magic if" refers to the answer to the question, "What would I do if I were this character in this situation?" Note that the question is not "What would I do if I were in this situation?" What you would do may be very different from what the character would do. Your job, based on your analysis of the script, the scene, and the given circumstances regarding the who of your character, is to decide what he or she would do. — Bruce Miller

There's the craft of acting, and then there's a quality. There's a quality that someone has. — Noah Hawley

In the beginning my energy and passion for acting came from an almost punk rock need to express a lot of anger wherever that may have come from. As I got older, it became or is coming more from a place of wanting to use the craft to help others in some way, to hold a mirror up to the situations that we're going through, to actually be more cautious about the way that I use the power of film and to see if there's anything that I can do in the performances that will resonate in the public a similar string that's on people's minds and is on my mind. That way we have that relationship. — Nicolas Cage

I just love the history of acting. It's such a beautiful craft and you absolutely get out of it what you put into it. — Miles Teller

You're not going to be able to look like anyone else, no matter how hard you try, unless you're a mimic, then you're not acting, you're just mimicking. You can't go on being John Wayne, that's John Wayne. So you're not going to steal from John Wayne. I'm not going to steal from John Wayne and you're not going to come back and say 'Didn't you get that from the circus?' You know. But he is one of those people who instructs me, whom I look up to - whom I think is one of the masters of his craft that I am so enamoured of. — Morgan Freeman

I like the idea of getting to dress up, like to do a Barry Lyndon or something about the Napoleonic period, the grand army retreating from Moscow. I understand that there's a craft to acting and a lot of people work hard at it. I just know that music is my first love. I love music, I love film, and I love clothes. — Ian Astbury

A lot of people will say, "Oh, I got into acting because I wanted to explore my craft." They're a bunch of liars, unless they're Sean Penn, DeNiro or my dad. For the rest of us it was all about chicks and money. — Charlie Sheen

Hosting is an art form. Like acting, singing, or comedy hosting is a craft. It's a delicate dance of timing, the ability to read the room, and the art of conversation. — Todd Newton

Acting is something I love to do. I love to perform and I love the art, the craft of it. — Jill Bennett

I love the craft of acting, I love learning, I love everything that comes with the new project; the whole process is totally intoxicating to me. — Annette Bening

People who are artists, they want their music, their art, their acting craft to get out. And once it's appreciated, that seems to be, unfortunately, enough. But you got to take care of your business, surround yourself with good counsel, and that didn't happen. — Michael Wright

Good preparation is key for me. Nowadays everyone is an actor slash writer, slash this, slash that, its cool; and you can only go so far on pure talent so you also need to know your craft well. I directed tons of shorts in college and acted in a slew of non paying acting work. You just have to be prepared. Period. — Jaime Zevallos

I feel like God has moved me into a different way of doing things. I teach basic on-camera acting class called Acting 101 ... In my classroom, the students get every ounce of encouragement and craft and anything I'm able to give them.We have some rules. We don't take the name of The Lord in vain. We don't use foul language when we mess up on camera ... There's a climate of safety ... They feel very protected. — Patricia Mauceri

In England, when we're at drama school, we spend a lot of time learning the craft from playwrights and stage actors, who are very well trained in the basics of acting because they need to get it right the first time - you can't have second or third takes when you're in front of a live audience, unlike in film. — Sam Claflin

Most of the great practitioners of the art of acting know exactly what they're doing; even in the best, most successful moments, when they let go of the awareness of what they are doing, they still, somewhere deep inside their body, know what they're doing. There is a craft. — Meryl Streep

I just know that sameness, repetition, and conceptualizing are the acting craft's adversaries, and it seems more intelligent to start off within a framework where those things are, to some degree, taken out of your hands. — Jack Nicholson

Be sure that the reason you are in the business is not to be a star, but because you love the craft of acting. If you have a real passion for it and acting is what you want to do every day, you are much more likely to be successful. If being a star is your primary goal, you may end up being very disappointed. — Donna Mills

I've always been a bit of an outsider ... I just pop up, kind of. I have a life. I have children - I have three children - and I love the craft of acting; I'm dedicated to that ... that's always meant more to me than just hanging out ... I've always been kind of a weirdo in that respect, but if the role is good, I'm going to do it. — Ally Walker

The beautiful thing about acting is that you can just dive into the character, strip yourself of everything, and just get in there and perfect your craft. — Nick Cannon

I've always remembered something Sanford Meisner, my acting teacher, told us. When you create a character, it's like making a chair, except instead of making someting out of wood, you make it out of yourself. That's the actor's craft - using yourself to create a character. — Robert Duvall

Everyone has a different path. I knew no one in the acting industry growing up. I never did a play until college. I was not outspoken when I was younger and I hated being the center of attention. But I had a dream of being an actor. I went to NYU and studied theatre. I learned a craft. And began my career straight out of college. — Peter Facinelli

Acting on desire is more like a craft, a science, an art. It takes careful mindful practice. Be patient and quiet. Listen, observe, take notes. Figure out what you want, privately, and then choose to want it, publicly. Put your desire out in the open. I want to go swimming. I want to bake bread. I want to paint a picture. I want to build a chair. I want to write a book. You act and then you fail. Over and over. And it's better to start failing when you're young, when all you lose is an ice-cream cone or a basketball game or an afternoon of fun. When you're older, the stakes are higher. If adults don't know how to want, then they lose a love, a career, a life. — David Barringer

They [traditional studios] probably don't understand is that it's a genuine advancement in the actor's tradition. And you know, the tradition and craft of acting. And it's the latest step. You know, we, we tend to find forms of delivering stories that fit our times. — Andy Serkis

Acting is something I love. It's a great craft that I have a lot of respect for. But I don't think it's any greater challenge than teaching 8-year-olds or any other career. In my life, I try not to make it more important than it is and I just hope that rubs off on the people around me. — Hugh Jackman

One of the things I learnt over the years is that there is a craft to writing, like there is a craft to acting. I hadn't done my apprenticeship as a writer. I did try to be a writer for hire but I'm not any good at it. — Lennie James