Actors Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old actors quotes, actors sayings, and actors proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

Character actors are becoming a thing of the past. They're just going by the wayside. They're just cutting through that caliber of acting. Matthew Lillard
A film actor is just a victim of directors and editors. Helena Bonham Carter
An actor is supposed to be a sensitive instrument.  Marilyn Monroe
People think actors have such glamorous lives, but the truth is actors go where nobody wants to go. Juliette Binoche
Actors are one family over the entire world. Eleanor Roosevelt
But all actors go through the process, it's hit and miss, you have achievement and failure. Thomas Haden Church
An actor should always let humility outweigh ambition. Anna Kendrick
The great actors are the luminous ones. They are the great conductors of the stage. Ethel Barrymore
There are two types of actors: those who say they don't want to be famous, and those who are liars. Kevin Bacon
An actor's course is set even before he's out of the cradle. James Dean
The key to every actor is deep, deep insecurity. Meryl Streep
And once you cease to be a real person, you stop being a good actor. Scott Speedman
Most actors are either a shower of bloody scruffs or think they should dress like Hamlet off stage. Martin Freeman
Actors search for rejection. If they don't get it they reject themselves. Charlie Chaplin
The good thing about being an actor, and the gift of being an actor, is that you are beautifully forced to see the world with different eyes. Javier Bardem
Trying to be a good actor has to be involved with placing yourself imaginatively in different people's circumstances. Paul Bettany
Actors cannot choose the manner in which they are born. Consequently, it is the one gesture in their lives completely devoid of self-consciousness. Helen Hayes
The best actors do not let the wheels show. Henry Fonda
Some actors couldn't figure out how to withstand the constant rejection. They couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel. Harrison Ford
It's the actors who are prepared to make fools of themselves who are usually the ones who come to mean something to the audience. Christian Bale
Show me a great actor and I'll show you a lousy husband. Show me a great actress, and you've seen the devil. W. C. Fields
Only a great actor finds the difficulties of the actor's art infinite. Ellen Terry
The best actors instinctively feel out what the other actors need, and they just accommodate it. Christopher Nolan
To be an actor, a true actor, you have to be brokenhearted. Shia LaBeouf
A good actor is somebody who can be truthful and fascinating and interesting and enlightening. Bruce Davison
The actor cannot afford to look only to his own life for all his material nor pull strictly from his own experience to find his acting choices and feelings. Stella Adler
Every actor has a natural animosity toward every other actor, present or absent, living or dead. Louise Brooks
As an actor, you are aware of how a role can seep into your real life. Benedict Cumberbatch
He who is incapable of feeling strong passions, of being shaken by anger, of living in every sense of the word, will never be a good actor. Sarah Bernhardt
There are two main jobs in acting - the first one is to be a good actor, and the second one is to convince everyone that you're a good actor. Laurence Fox
One of the best things about being an actor is that it's a meritocracy. Benedict Cumberbatch
No good actor ever stops learning. He is constantly evolving. Mahesh Babu
There's nothing more boring than actors talking about acting. James Caan
Actors who say they can dive inside a character are either schizophrenic or lying. Bruce Campbell
The actor creates with his own flesh and blood all those things which all the arts try in some way to describe. Lee Strasberg
Any good actor has to have a good sense of humour, too; they have to be able to manipulate people. Chevy Chase
Working with a bunch of actors is like trying to tune each violin. Patrice Leconte
That's one of the fun parts of becoming an actor: you can become whoever you want to be. Michael B. Jordan
A good actor must never be in love with anyone but himself. Jean Anouilh
An actor really is a kind of intermediary between an audience and the piece, whether it's a play or movie. Christopher Walken
Actors worry about bad breath, weight, receding hairlines and why their leading lady looks like their daughter. Matthew Ashford
An actor must interpret life, and in order to do so must be willing to accept all the experiences life has to offer. In fact, he must seek out more of life than life puts at his feet. James Dean
Actors are able to trick themselves into treating anything as if it's fantastic. It's a kind of madness really. Tom Baker
The actor has to develop his body. The actor has to work on his voice. But the most important thing the actor has to work on is his mind. Stella Adler
To be an actor you have to be a child. Paul Newman
To be a good actor you have to feel life and observe life. Lane Garrison
Actors must practice restraint, else think what might happen in a love scene. Cedric Hardwicke
Actors take risks all the time. We put ourselves on the line. It is creative to be able to interpret someone's words and breathe life into them. Patty Duke
To be a good actor you have to be something like a criminal, to be willing to break the rules to strive for something new. Nicolas Cage
An actor is part illusionist, part artist, part ham.  Oscar Wilde