Explore Quotes on Character

Listen, I'm always going to defend my character, even when she's doing something that I don't approve of, because that's what you have to do to love them and play them.

I had a very hard time accepting myself as a character actress because I wanted to be glamorous and a leading lady like everybody else. I looked in the mirror and thought I looked pretty good, but casting didn't ever see me that way.

Every character I've played is like family to me.

I think most character people that you talk to, it's like, whatever they offer us, we are thrilled to do. I won't do anything that's immoral or illicit. I did turn down eating a dead body once. I turned down a few really creepy horror movies. For the most part, I can usually find a way into whatever character.

Frequently over the years, people have thought that they know me. Every character actor has this story, I'm sure. It goes like this: 'Um, do you play soccer?' 'Did you go to such and such church?' 'I knew you when you were with so and so... ' Then I go, 'Well, sorry...' and then they say, 'Wait a minute. Are you an actor?'

People's character is their behaviour - we're all capable of good and evil.

But if you can empathise with a character and if you can emotionally resonate with that character and understand their emotional journey, I think you are home.

Most good actors you work with, they actually bring something to the creative process and to the script. They help shape the character with you. Whereas, some actors are so worried about their image and not about the character, it doesn't help the story.

Only twice have I really had a hard time leaving a character. The first was my character in 'Rome' and then in 'Homeland.'

My approach is literally what is being told in the scene. I try to be as real as possible, and I try to find my own truth in it and figure out how to best serve each character.

I loved 'Dirty Sexy Money.' That didn't have a long enough shelf life. I would've liked to explore that character and play with that cast longer. That was a lot of fun to shoot.

One of the most precious parts of acting is the work before you show up on the set, the time you spend being with your character before you bring that character to life. To me, that's the most rewarding part of it all. It feels very good to show up on a set just knowing that's with you.

I think action should be revealed through character, so if you have a plot problem, it's probably a character problem.

I think as an author every character ends up low-key being some kind of self-insert.

I read all the time that people think I'm arrogant. They say I am cocky, a bad character. I had that from a young age. But when they meet me, they say, 'That image doesn't fit you.'

Sometimes it's less about the character and more about the story for me. I'll play a rock in the background if I think the story is fantastic and I can be a part of it somehow. That's what I look for.

Movies made back in the day would have a single scene that defined what the character was all about.

China - if you think about what is the character of China, it's enormous scale. It's bigness.

There was one very special scene at the end of the film. My character, Zhao Di, has been sick. She wakes up and her mother tells her that the man she loves has come back from the city and had spent the day by her bedside.

And increasingly, as people live online, we are used to making really snap judgments about somebody's character based on their Facebook page or the way their blog feels or look.

I think the way we react to things is a big indicator of our character and what type of person we are.