Character Actors Quotes

When you come onto the set, everything should be focused around your character and you should stay in the pocket, as much as possible. Every actor has their own process. For me, I really need to stay in the pocket. ~ Vin Diesel

I'm a character actor but unlike a lot of character actors, I don't look radically different from film to film and there was a bunch of them at once. ~ Curtis Armstrong

Tim [Omundson] is just so wonderfully delicious. He has the sexiest beard on television. He's such a fabulous actor, and a great character. ~ J. Robbins

My influences were Peter Sellers and the great British character actors. ~ Tracey Ullman

And as much as I love the gritty characters, I like to play all sorts of characters. I'm an actor. I love to create. ~ Brittany Murphy

I love ensemble pieces, I love being a part of the entire tapestry of a piece, but I think character actors do have a lot more fun, and there's a versatility involved that's challenging and fun, to come up to speed and do what's required of you. ~ Mark Hamill

Well, I've always been a character actor, you know, and you always get your share of character actors who are bad guys. So it never surprises me. And if it's good writing, you can find your way into the part well enough. ~ Colm Meaney

I'm a character actor at heart. ~ Shuler Hensley

Actors pull from their own experiences to bring reality to the characters. I wouldn't want to play someone who's a lot like me. There would be no turning it on or off. ~ Emily Osment

I'm a character actor; that's my skill set. ~ Kristin Lehman

I don't get offered leading parts. I suppose I've become a kind of character actor or sideman. I think it had to do with probably in the '90s, I refused so many leading roles that they gave up on me, or I just became unpopular, or I became old. All those reasons. ~ Sam Shepard

I keep saying that, if Samuel L. Jackson and Bette Davis could have a baby, it would be Taraji P. Henson. To me, she's one of the greatest character actors of our generation, let alone leading ladies. She's just phenomenal in everything she does. ~ Jussie Smollett

I always considered myself as a character actor. I always try to be versatile to show different sides of human experience. ~ Robert Duvall

I consider myself as a character actor. I like the sports analogy, which I do all the time; I'm an avid sports guy. I'm a golfer, but I grew up as sort of an avid fan and participant in baseball, and I'm like a relief pitcher. My job is to come in and throw strikes. ~ Clint Howard

I became an actor so I can show you characters and never have to show you me. ~ Margot Robbie

I was never really a character actor - I was a leading man who was always cast as a character. I wanted to be Jack Nicholson or Jean Gabin. ~ Robert Shaw

I haven't said it yet, but it seemed implied, that cinema for me was the American one, current Hollywood productions. "My" period goes roughly from The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (Henry Hathaway, 1935) with Gary Cooper and Mutiny on the Bounty (Frank Lloyd, 1935) with Charles Laughton and Clark Gable, to the death of Jean Harlow (which I relived many years later like the death of Marilyn Monroe, in an era more aware of the neurotic power of every symbol), with lots of comedies in between, the mystery-romances with Myrna Loy and William Powell and the dog Asta, the musicals of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, the crime pictures of Chinese detective Charlie Chan and the horror films of Boris Karloff. I didn't remember the names of the directors as well as the names of the actors, except for a few like Frank Capra, Gregory La Cava, and Frank Borzage, who represented the poor rather than the millionaires, usually with Spencer Tracy: they were the good-natured directors from the Roosevelt era; I learned this later; back then I consumed everything without distinguishing between them too much. American cinema in that moment consisted of a collection of actors' faces without equal before or after (at least it seemed that way to me) and the adventures were simple mechanisms to get these faces together (sweethearts, character actors, extras) in different combinations. ~ Italo Calvino

I was never a leading man. I've always been in the outer concentric circles in the company, being a character actor, which is a good place to be. It gives you that diversity. ~ Geoffrey Rush

I'll be working the rest of my life because I'm a character actor and don't have to worry about box office. ~ Vincent D'Onofrio

The second season is genrtrally easier do because you know the actors better and they know the characters better and if everybody likes each other you can really go all types of places. ~ Denis Leary

I think part of my reputation has to do with the difficult roles I've played. Actors do tend to get identified with their characters. ~ Val Kilmer

Part of being an actor is being able to contribute to a character's rhythms. If there's room to explore, you find a happy medium. We almost always get it as written, and then, we throw some improvs in or some alternatives. ~ Elizabeth Meriwether

There is a shortage of hard R. It was the story and the character. He's never played a character like this and so that was the thing that really won him over. The story itself, on the surface - Patrick and I love actors almost in a geeky kind of way. ~ Todd Farmer

In comedy, you have to do all of the same stuff you do in drama and then put the comedy on top of it. You, the actor, are aware of the comedy but the character is oblivious. And you have to have a sense of humor. ~ Jon Lovitz

The first role I ever played I had the lead and it's pretty much stayed that way, though people take great relish in calling me a character actor, which I am. There are a lot of short parts I could play, but I only do them when they are central to the idea of the movie. ~ Jack Nicholson

There is less pressure as a character actor. It generally means that you will be acting for all of your life, which is my intention. It is not my intention to just be a rich and famous person, that would be pretty boring. ~ Tim Roth

My job as an actor is to serve the script. If I'm looking at it as to see what the best character is, then it's not really looking at the big picture. ~ Frank Grillo

The people I've respected most in the industry over the years - Paul Newman, for instance. I just loved the way he handled growing old on-screen. It's understanding that you're now basically a character actor. Which is fine, but you have to pay attention to it. ~ George Clooney

Each time, I try to find a family of interesting faces. I follow the tradition of films from the 40s - at this time, there were so many interesting faces in France. I often work with the same because there are not thousands and thousands in France. I'm looking for interesting faces and characters actors, and it's not for everybody. ~ Jean-Pierre Jeunet

I love what I do. And in the true sense, from my training, I try to create a character each time. It is something I do. But I don't want that term to limit what I can do. I prefer people to say to me, 'You're one of my favorite actors,' rather than 'You're one of my favorite character actors.' It sounds like a slam. ~ William Forsythe

There's always down time when you're an actor, especially a character actor. ~ John Cariani

I think I enjoy working obviously as a lead, but also you know I feel I'm also a character actor as well, so I enjoy approaching various projects in all sort of capacities. Any film I have been able to do I feel very fortunate to have been a part of. ~ Chiwetel Ejiofor

[To actor Strother Martin] You know, as character actors we play all kinds of sex psychos, nuts, creeps, perverts, and weirdos. And we laugh it off, saying what the hell it's just a character. But deep down inside, it's you, baby. ~ Lee Marvin

I think it kind of took being a character actor to kind of now enter into leading ladies. ~ Patricia Clarkson

Character actors have a long shelf life. ~ Dennis Christopher

The roles I was lucky enough to get were real stretches for me: usually a character who was older, or a little weird, or whatever. And it was hard, not just for the lack of work but because you have to face up to how people are looking at you. ~ Kathy Bates

The excitement for me lies not so much in interviewing the hard-to-get famous person, but the person whom you are about to discover. You know, like maybe the character actors who are just coming into their own and you're realizing how great they are. ~ Terry Gross

I was born a character actor. ~ Charles Durning

Your face needs to have character if you're an actor - otherwise you're just a face. ~ Anne Hathaway

There's a difference in our ages [with Leonardo DiCaprio], but we were both in the same sort of position [on The Quick and the Death movie].Everyone below us in a casting position were all these really famous character actors like Keith David. And they were looking at the two of us going, 'Who are these guys?' So that naturally kind of put us together in a way where we'd just hang out together because we didn't care about status. We just wanted to enjoy the experience. The two things that have changed about Leo [ DiCaprio] since that time: he can drink legally and he's no longer a virgin. ~ Leonardo DiCaprio

My goal was just to work regularly. I didn't ever expect to be rich or famous. I wanted to be a working character actor. ~ Harrison Ford

I like to imagine a person's psyche to be like a boardinghouse full of characters. The ones who show up regularly and who habitually follow the house rules may not have met other long-term residents who stay behind closed doors, or who only appear at night. An adequate theory of character must make room for character actors, for the stuntmen and animal handlers, for all the figures who play bit parts and produce unexpected acts. They often make the show fateful, or tragic, or farcically absurd. ~ James Hillman

A lot of actors are frustrated because they want to do things that are different and test themselves. Character actors are always looking for something the opposite of what they did. ~ Jason Statham

When I started doing television, I thought that I would change the way that I shot, the way that I blocked, and the technical side of it. You're not going to change your relationship with the actors or how you approach the characters. That wasn't any different. ~ Len Wiseman

I'm a big fan of character actors like Johnny Depp and Gary Oldman. My goal is to continue playing character roles in indie films and move into playing character leads. ~ Thomas Ian Nicholas

Character actors just pile up the credits because you work on a movie for, like, a few days. It's not like I'm the lead in everything I do - far from it. I'm not spending three or four months on a picture; I'm spending three or four weeks. Sometimes three or four days. ~ Steve Buscemi

If you're a good actor, then you channel enough of yourself into the character so that you do get that other thing. ~ Henry Cavill

Like De Niro. He's one of the best character actors we have ever had. ~ Vincent D'Onofrio

The thing is, I want to play real characters and not all girls can be pretty. The thing is, you get these girls who say 'I'm a character actor' then you see them in a role and nothing has really changed but the outfit. ~ Juliette Lewis

I like Edward G. Robinson - he started as a character actor and became a lead, which is probably why I like him. ~ William Sanderson

As an actor, I've been drawn to those characters that are further away from who I may be. ~ Kurt Sutter

Every character actor, in their own little sphere, is the lead. ~ Dabbs Greer

New York is the greatest character actor ever. Any film that is shot in New York is elevated by the city. ~ Jeffrey Wright

I'm a character actor - always have been, always will be - and historically, character actors don't come into their own until later in their professional and chronological lives. ~ Annie Potts

As you get older, you suffer fools less easily. That's why there's all those cranky character actors. I'm an exception. I'm a sweetheart. ~ Willem Dafoe

The actors I admire are character actors. ~ Chaske Spencer

I look at leading men because that's ultimately what I'm aspiring to do. But I also look at character actors and people that I'm just in awe by, just because I can relate to it. ~ Shemar Moore

Racing's very much like the world of acting. You have your front runners and you have guys that are there for the long race, and you have other guys that block for other people, that are called supporting and character actors. It's all the same kind of situation. ~ Sylvester Stallone

As an actor, you can have your own backstory and prepare all the details that you need to know for your character. ~ Dwayne Johnson

When you throw punches at actors, you stop, you pull it, and it looks like you pulled it. When you throw punches at cartoon characters, they are not there, so you can swing through. It looks like you really decked them. ~ Brendan Fraser

As an actor, particularly because I'm - I would call myself a character actor. I change my look, my physical appearance and my body, my hair color, my whatever all the time for a role. ~ Lynn Redgrave

I think every leading man wants to be a character actor, and every character actor wants to be a leading man. ~ Bruce Boxleitner

I was born a character actor. I was never really a leading man type. ~ Burgess Meredith

I love character actors. If I'm switching channels, and something with Slim Pickens is on, or Walter Brennan, I'm stuck. I have to watch it. ~ Les Claypool

The actors I respect are the real character actors, who are the real chameleon actors that completely change from role to role. I love Peter Sellers, Alec Guinness and Gary Oldman. They tend to be British, I guess. People who really disappear and transform, I really like that. ~ Fran Kranz

I was always a character actress and never a sex symbol. Even when I was the leading lady, I was a character actor. ~ Shirley Maclaine

I admire many actors, though I don't think there's anyone whose career I would want to mirror sort of by the beats. What I'm really looking to do is constantly defy expectations. I'm very curious to see if you can actually have a character actor and a movie star's career combined. ~ David Oyelowo

I did what a lot of character actors do: I did it to get girls. ~ Kurt Fuller

I'm not actually a psychopath. I don't look evil. People don't normally want to put me in the same kind of things afterward, so I'm looking forward to people taking a few risks and hopefully seeing me as the character actor that I think I am. ~ David Oakes

Like an actor who transforms into the character that they're playing, you can transform into yourself. ~ Leeza Gibbons

The nice thing is that, at least in Los Angeles, I'm known as a character actor and I do auditions for other things besides just cartoon shows. ~ Dan Castellaneta

I prefer people to say to me, 'You're one of my favorite actors,' rather than 'You're one of my favorite character actors.' It sounds like a slam. At least it sounds that way to me. ~ William Forsythe

I've just never been the kind of actor that things have stayed with. I've never needed to carry a character off stage. ~ Morgan Freeman

I was kind of scared at first to do that [vice-over] because when you're on set, a lot of the things going on around you - the environment and playing off other actors - and that's what makes it easier and helps you to be in your character. So, realizing you're not going to have that and you're going to be secluded in this booth, it's like, "How am I going to be a character when I'm just in these walls?" ~ Elle Fanning

I always change my words in everything I do. I make the language fit, because I know the character from the inside out. Often character actors are not in a position to do that, but I do it. I don't change any cue and I never change anybody else's lines, but I make my own words fit my mouth. ~ James Cromwell

If I'd made it right away as an actor, I would've stopped at a certain level and stayed there, probably as a character actor. ~ Sylvester Stallone

William Hartnell was one of the finest character actors of our time, and as a fan, I want to make sure that I do him justice. ~ David Bradley

Trust your actors. That's why I work with the same actors time and time again. I encourage them to change the dialogue to achieve one thing: keep the characters honest. ~ Edward Burns

I want to play everything. I want to be like Christian Bale: I want to be able to be Batman and then, like, his character in 'The Fighter.' That is what is so impressive about really good actors, that they can be character actors and leading men at the same time. ~ Ansel Elgort

I would rather be called a character actor than a star. ~ Louis Jourdan

I think there are probably a handful of real character actors in this business. The rest of us are recycling. So now I'm Sam Malone the editor. I'm Sam Malone the billionaire. ~ Ted Danson

I have about as much control over how I look as the guy who's short and looks more like a character actor - we both have the same drive to be actors and we both have the same drive to assume these different characters, it's just harder for me to get the chance because they look at me and say, 'Oh, he's this type,' and they stamp me. ~ Armie Hammer

In real life, every person is the leading man or woman. We don't think of ourselves as supporting or character actors. ~ Wallace Shawn

Yeah, I am a character actor. ~ Jim Gaffigan

Our Founding Fathers understood that our country would survive and flourish if our Nation was committed to good character and an unyielding dedication to liberty and justice for all. ~ George W. Bush

I had an obsession that I was male characters from movies. ~ Illeana Douglas

Every character is a part of you and a part of the character that you are going to evolve into that you are not yet. ~ Angelina Jolie

The ideology of liberal humanism found expression in the earliest reviews of Hardy's writing and remained a dominant force until the explosion of literary theory in the 1980s. It is a broad and still influential category. It endorses the moral value of the individual, and the strength of the human spirit. It prefers the integrity of an organic rural society to the anonymity and materialism of an urbanised and technological world. Applied to fiction, this ideology involves the naturalisation of the novel's world and its values, and the recognition of fictional character as presenting a unified subject. ~ Geoffrey Harvey

On past records I usually did start with a story or an idea for a song and then write around it, but on Achilles' Heel I would just start writing and try to let the song and my sub-conscience determine the direction. which is a goofy way of saying I tried not to decide before hand what the song and or the characters would do and be like. ~ David Bazan

People respond to political characters in archetypal ways. A fun game is to think of a politician and ask, "Which god is that? Are they like Aries? Are they like Athena?" ~ Zephyr Teachout

Even trying it as an actor, I never thought I'd actually make it. ~ Hank Azaria

The decisions we make and the way we behave are what ultimately shape our character. Charles A. Hall aptly described that process in these lines: "We sow our thoughts, and we reap our actions; we sow our actions, and we reap our habits; we sow our habits, and we reap our characters; we sow our characters, and we reap our destiny ~ Wayne S. Peterson

Self- examination is essential if you want to heal and become whole. Through self-examination the Holy Spirit will show you what you need to change or deal with. Taking responsibility for your hurt and pain will lead to internal changes, character growth and needed personality changes. ~ Michael Barbarulo

Why would a lazy guy become a parent of five? Then again, why would creative people who inherently don't like change and criticism become writers, actors, or comedians? There's something about this process. I joke about it: My kids have made me a better person, and I only need, like, 34 more of them to be a really good guy. ~ Jim Gaffigan

I finished my first novel - it was around 300 pages long - when I was 16. Wrote one more before I got out of high school, then wrote the first Lincoln Perry novel when I was 19. It didn't sell, but I liked the character and I knew the world so I tried what was, in my mind, a sequel. Wrote that when I was 20, and that one made it. ~ Michael Koryta

Unless the theatre can ennoble you, make you a better person, you should flee from it. ~ Constantin Stanislavski

Drugs age you after mental excitement. Lethargy then. Why? Reaction. A lifetime in a night. Gradually changes your character. ~ James Joyce

There are a lot of comedic actors who are just out to be the funny one and get all the laughs and they'll sacrifice your joke, the scene, the story just to be the star. All they want is attention and to be number one. You can spot those guys from a mile away and they're the worst. ~ Jake M. Johnson

When a human being becomes a set of data on a website like Facebook, he or she is reduced. Everything shrinks. Individual character. Friendships. Language. Sensibility. In a way it's a transcendent experience: we lose our bodies, our messy feelings, our desires, our fears. ~ Zadie Smith

It is only the untalented director who imagines him or herself in every part, wants his or her own thoughts and emotions portrayed; it is only the untalented who make their own limitations those of the actors as well. ~ Liv Ullmann