Quotes By Ben Kingsley

Somewhere in your career, your work changes. It becomes less anal, less careful and more spontaneous, more to do with the information that your soul carries.

There was one titanic guiding light on the film set, and I was in the presence of a true Mahatma, in the deepest and most profound sense of the word.

With narration, you have to be very accurate with your voice. It's a good exercise to do.

There have not been any troughs as regards my work. There's never been a trough of my assurance.

I have never felt bereft of anything.

As an actor there's no autonomy, unless you're prepared to risk the possibility of starving.

That hunger of the flesh, that longing for ease, that terror of incarceration, that insistence on tribal honour being obeyed: all of that exists, and it exists everywhere.

Filming is so much to do with rhythm, as is music, and if it isn't there then you know in the end nobody can save it really, they can't.

Fifteen years before I became a screen actor, I was in the theatre. A lot of my work was comedy, which I loved doing. It's harder.

There's so much crap talked about acting.

As a singer, I might have fallen among thieves. I wonder if I'd still be alive by now.

In cinema, the leading player is the director.

I think that all of us either lose touch with the child inside us or try and hold onto it because it so precious to us and it's such an extraordinary part of our lives.

If I were to play somebody who ran a fish and chip shop, I would not work in a fish and chip shop for three months. Staring at chips is not going to help me in my performance.

If your best friend has stolen your girlfriend, it does become life and death.

I think if I were to go back on stage I might be in great danger of acting.

The trick is to try and justify every word on the page and make sure my character is the man who would say that.

I do remember, as a child, that I always imagined, when I was maybe 6 or 7, my fantasy was that everywhere I went I was being followed by an invisible film crew.

I'm very in love with the fact that the camera is revolted by acting and loves behaviour.

I don't honestly think people know what acting is.

I think that various styles and methods and approaches are an invention of people who don't understand the process of acting and who try very hard to label things.

I think that you can fall into bad habits with comedy... It's a tightrope to stay true to the character, true to the irony, and allow the irony to happen.

The hierarchy of class in London was rigid. It was like a religion. It still is to a certain extent.

I was fortunate as a young actor, to go straight to the RSC, where I learned that being an actor can bring with it wonderful responsibilities.

I think I'm more bonded, emotionally and in a craft sense, to films that tell extraordinary stories about extraordinary destinies.

Well, it's wonderful to be identified strongly with my work.

But comedy I'd love to do as much as humanly possible.

I've never had to turn my hand to anything for monetary gain, other than pretending to be somebody else. I'm deeply fortunate.

The many many imponderables come together when a film opens and for all sorts of reasons it may or may not succeed.

One of the greatest things drama can do, at it's best, is to redefine the words we use every day such as love, home, family, loyalty and envy. Tragedy need not be a downer.