Good Acting Quotes

• I am acquainted with no immaterial sensuality so delightful as good acting.

  Lord Byron

  Sensual, Acting, Actors

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• There is more good writing and good acting in any ten minutes of Twister than in, say, all of Citizen Kane.

  Orson Scott Card

  Writing, House, Acting

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• I like to rehearse with the actors scenes that are not in the script and will not be in the film because what we're really doing is trying to establish their character, and good acting to me is about reacting.

  Jim Jarmusch

  Character, Trying, Acting

  8 Copy quote

• The theater has never been any good since the actors became gentlemen.

  W. H. Auden

  Gentleman, Acting, Actors

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• Being a good actor isn't easy. Being a man is even harder. I want to be both before I'm done.

  James Dean

  Men, Actors, Done

  "Biography / Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• A man who strains himself on the stage is bound, if he is any good, to strain all the people sitting in the stalls.

  Bertolt Brecht

  Men, People, Acting

  Bertolt Brecht, John Willett (1964). “Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic”

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• What is acting but lying and what is good lying but convincing lying?

  Laurence Olivier

  Lying, Acting, Convincing

  "Personal Quotes/ Biography". www.imdb.com.

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• Study, find all the good teachers and study with them, get involved in acting to act, not to be famous or for the money. Do plays. It's not worth it if you are just in it for the money. You have to love it.

  Philip Seymour Hoffman

  Teacher, Play, Acting

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• Acting is not about being famous, it's about exploring the human soul.

  Annette Bening

  Soul, Acting, Fame

  "Biography / Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• Acting provides the fulfillment of never being fulfilled. You're never as good as you'd like to be. So there's always something to hope for.

  Washington Irving

  Acting, Fulfillment, Fulfilled

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• The actors today really need the whip hand. They're so lazy. They haven't got the sense of pride in their profession that the less socially elevated musical comedy and music hall people or acrobats have. The theater has never been any good since the actors became gentlemen.

  W. H. Auden

  Pride, Hands, People

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• When actors are being defensive and defending their position, that is when you get less than good acting.

  John Boorman

  Acting, Actors, Position

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• Bad acting, like bad writing, has a remarkable uniformity, whether seen on the French, German, or English stages; it all seems modeled after two or three types, and those the least like types of good acting. The fault generally lies less in the bad imitation of a good model, than in the successful imitation of a bad model.

  George Henry Lewes

  Lying, Writing, Successful

  George Henry Lewes (1875). “On Actors and the Art of Acting”, p.185, London Smith, Elder 1875.

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• I think it's definitely beneficial for these characters to have good acting voices behind them and it affects the characters in a way that people can feel like they're part of the game and that they know these characters.

  Tara Strong

  Character, Thinking, Games

  "Biography/Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• Personally I like the slow burn; I don't think there is anything wrong with it. When I think about the movies that were most effective on me as a viewer I think of the original Haunting and the Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby, the Sixth Sense, the Others. These movies are not over the top at all, they are movies that rely on good story telling, good acting, good premise, good exposition and I want to stay true to that in future projects.

  Oren Peli

  Baby, Thinking, Acting

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• The biggest mistake in student films is that they are usually cast so badly, with friends and people the directors know. Actually you can cover a lot of bad direction with good acting

  Brian De Palma

  Inspirational, Motivational, Mistake

  Brian De Palma, Laurence F. Knapp (2003). “Interviews”, p.60, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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• Good acting is consistency of performance.

  Jim Dale

  Consistency, Acting, Performances

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• I remember hearing someone say that good acting is more about taking off a mask than putting one on, and in movie acting, certainly that's true. With the camera so close, you can see right down into your soul, hopefully. So being able to do that in a way is terrifying, and in another way, truly liberating. And I like that about it.

  Annette Bening

  Soul, Acting, Hearing

  Interview with Todd Gilchrist, www.ign.com. October 18, 2004.

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• There was more good acting at Hollywood parties than ever appeared on the screen.

  Bette Davis

  Party, Acting, Hollywood

  Bette Davis (1962). “The lonely life: an autobiography”, Putnam's

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• But I think the other is a little more like bullfighting, a little more daring and although I appreciate good acting and I liked being versatile my whole career, it kept me working.

  Robert Klein

  Fighting, Thinking, Careers

  "Larry King Live", edition.cnn.com. June 19, 2005.

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• I am far from sure when I am acting and when I am not or, should I more frankly put it, when I am lying and when I am not. For what is acting but lying and what is good acting but convincing lying?

  Laurence Olivier

  Funny, Lying, Humorous

  4 Copy quote

• I always say if you've seen good acting on television, those actors are really good. Because there's just not enough time. You don't have any preparation.

  Sasha Alexander

  Inspirational, Motivational, Preparation

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• Consistency is the death of good acting.

  Michael Shurtleff

  Consistency, Acting

  Michael Shurtleff (2009). “Audition: Everything an Actor Needs to Know to Get the Part”, p.103, Bloomsbury Publishing USA

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• For me really good acting is about subtext.

  Clive Owen

  Acting, Subtext

  "Larry King Live", edition.cnn.com. November 8, 2005.

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• All you've got to do is turn up and have a few facial tics and be a lunatic and throw someone around the room or blow their brains out and people think it's good acting.

  Paddy Considine

  Blow, Thinking, People

  "Dark star". Interview with Patrick Barkham, www.theguardian.com. March 2, 2009.

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