If you're not still learning and growing as an actor, then you have no backbone and no career
Interpretation
Continual learning and growth are essential for success in any artistic career.
This quote emphasizes the importance of being open to learning and evolving in one's craft, particularly in acting. Kate Winslet suggests that a lack of commitment to personal and professional development can lead to stagnation, weakening one's career and resolve in the competitive world of performance.
In practice
During a workshop for aspiring actors, I shared this quote to motivate them to embrace continuous learning.
As a child, I never heard one woman say to me, "I love my body". Not my mother, my elder sister, my best friend. No one woman has ever said, "I am so proud of my body." So I make sure to say it to Mia , because a positive physical outlook has to start at an early age.
What I am very, very moved and struck by is that so many people in the world are often living a life that they hadn't planned for themselves. And they wake up one day and say, 'Hang on. Who am I? Is this really me? Is this what I really wanted?' And also, 'Can I change it? Have I got the courage to change it?'
Real luxury is having the time to read endless stories in bed with my children. And I get that all the time. I'm so blessed.
I think there's a lot of pressure on young people to really be the thing that everyone is telling them that they are, opposed to discovering it for themselves.
I've decided I am going to start loving my backside because I don't know anyone who does that. And for my daughter, I want to be able to say to her, 'I love this.'
It doesn't matter how old you are or what you do with your life, you will never stop needing your mum. And I will never stop needing mine, so thanks, Mum.
The pleasures of writing correspond exactly to the pleasures of reading
Greek architecture taught me that the column is where the light is not, and the space between is where the light is. It is a matter of no-light, light, no-light, light. A column and a column brings light between them. To make a column which grows out of the wall and which makes its own rhythm of no-light, light, no-light, light: that is the marvel of the artist.
I always felt that acting was an escape, like having the secret key to every door and permission to go into any realm and soak it up. I enjoy that free pass.
Do I watch dancers as people? Yes, absolutely. Do I watch really good dancers for specifically who they are? Absolutely, because how they move best and how they look best is going to be most familiar to them, and not necessarily to me.
What is portraiture? It's choice. It's the ability to position your body in the world for the world to celebrate you on your own terms.
I can never get over when you're on the beach how beautiful the sand looks and the water washes it away and straightens it up and the trees and the grass all look great. I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want to own.
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