Actor Quotes

When I was a young actor... the more different you were from the part you played, the more talent it reflected.

Fortunately and unfortunately, people don't see me as a character actor. They see me as a leading man or nothing, which makes it really hard to get work.

I'd wanted to be an actor from the age of five.

A good actor is somebody who can be truthful and fascinating and interesting and enlightening.

I had never done Shakespeare before, but I don't think you can be an actor and not do it. There were moments when I thought, I'm just not going to be able to pull this off.

I think I do have a good eye. It's quite liberating, being in a position to read a script and say, 'No.' It's really the only power you have, as an actor.

My work is to reach people with ideas, hopes, dreams, encouragement, insight, and revelation. That's what an actor wants to do.

If I didn't get a job, between 16 and 18, that wasn't significant, I was just going to go to college. I didn't want to be a struggling actor at 36 with five kids, doing something I hated. You see the story so much. It's such a vicious business to be in when you're not meant to be in it.

You know I am an actor, and I have medals for diction.

I always wanted to be a great actor.

I want to be the greatest actor that ever lived, frankly. I'd love that. But I don't need to be. I just want to be here. That's it.

I'm an actor who believes we all have triggers to any stage of emotion. It's not always easy to find but it's still there.

Some of these things I saw in foreign films - African films, Cuban films - long before I decided to really go on this course as an actor. I started to think about what values I saw in those films that I wanted to bring to my projects.

My nomadic childhood dramatically fed my eventual decision to be an actor, but not in the way you might think.

I know what my limitations are as an actor, but my strength is putting myself into a well-written part. When I get in trouble is when I have to fix it, or when I have to carry it on personality.

I've always lived out of a suitcase. I was in a new city every three months. When I was a model, I traveled the world, and as an actor you're traveling from movie set to movie set. So I've never been in one place long enough for anything super-bad to happen.

I'm a character actor at heart.

To my way of thinking, an actor's course is set even before he's out of the cradle.

When you talk about a great actor, you're not talking about Tom Cruise. His whole behavior is so shocking. It's inappropriate and vulgar and absolutely unacceptable to use your private life to sell anything commercially, but I think it's kind of a sickness.

I'm really a director's actor. I rely heavily on a director.

An actor remembers his first piece of published praise. It is written on his heart.

I was never a part of the Actor's Studio, because two friends of mine started it in 1947 and by that time I'd gone to California.

It was one of the great chances in my life to become a Dumont actor.

I would love to have a part opposite a great actor - like, say, Pacino or De Niro or Hoffman. And to work with a top director. That's my dream.

As an actor to watch an audience of people howl together in a single mind as a result of work you've done together with friends is a privilege.

To grasp the full significance of life is the actor's duty; to interpret it his problem; and to express it his dedication.

Actors are programmed to see the worst. If you're talking about an actor's TV series, you say, 'I loved you last night.' And they go, 'What about the week before?' They immediately worry.

Essentially, I'm a small-part actor who's been lucky enough to play leading roles for most of his life.

I think every young actor in Los Angeles went up for that role. It was between Frankie Muniz and me, and he pulled out, so I got the role.

I think I can work with any type of actor.