What's great about being a character actor is you know that you can survive forever. It's not about the gloss of your eyebrows.
Martin ShortRead
I've always thought one of the tricks of being an actor for a long time is keeping yourself interested once you've figured out how to pay the rent.
Interpretation
Maintaining passion in your craft is essential for long-term success.
In this quote, Martin Short emphasizes the importance of staying engaged and intrigued by one's work as an actor, particularly after achieving financial stability. He suggests that true artistry requires continual curiosity and motivation beyond mere financial incentives, encouraging performers to find joy and meaning in their craft over time.
In practice
A motivational speech at an acting workshop to inspire aspiring actors.
What's great about being a character actor is you know that you can survive forever. It's not about the gloss of your eyebrows.
All you're trying to do in an improvisation is get as much material as possible for the editing room.
I've chosen to treat my life more like a party than something to stress about.
I hate to lull the audience into letting them think that something is something. It's always fun to defy expectations.
My mother was the concert master of the symphony. Absurdity and eccentricity were not criticized.
Poetry is a street fighter. It has sharp elbows. It can look after itself. Poetry can't be used for manipulation; it's why you never see good poetry in advertising.
I'd say, if you want to be an artist, start with your art; start with making great music and it will, hopefully, eventually cut through all of the nonsense that is out there.
When any civilization is dust and ashes," he said, "art is all that's left over. Images, words, music. Imaginative structures. Meaning—human meaning, that is—is defined by them. You have to admit that.
Music is the best means we have of digesting time.
Writing nonfiction is more like sculpture, a matter of shaping the research into the finished thing. Novels are like paintings, specifically watercolors. Every stroke you put down you have to go with. Of course you can rewrite, but the original strokes are still there in the texture of the thing.
Acting is a nice childish profession - pretending you're someone else and, at the same time, selling yourself.
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