"We all perform our lives in a way. And the actor is a perfect metaphor to get at that theme of 'how do we find our authentic selves?' And that we all - whether we're actors or not - perform ourselves. As a way of searching. As a way of fumbling around and trying to say, is this my voice? Is this who I am?"

Actor, Actors, Metaphor, Trying

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"We all perform our lives in a way. And the actor is a perfect metaphor to get at that theme of 'how do we find our authentic selves?' And that we all - whether we're actors or not - perform ourselves. As a way of searching. As a way of fumbling around and trying to say, is this my voice? Is this who I am?"

Exlpore more Actor quotes

"For a child actor, it's a matter of listening, reacting, and being able to put yourself in a new place without being scared."

Jena Malone, American Actress

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"The best research for playing a drunk is being a British actor for 20 years."

Michael Caine, English Actor

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"Directors, like actors, get typecast."

John Landis, American Actor

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"To my way of thinking, an actor's course is set even before he's out of the cradle."

James Dean, American Actor

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"Being a good actor isn't easy. Being a man is even harder. I want to be both before I'm done."

James Dean, American Actor

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"We've had no problems with the actors, but we keep a really loose set."

Peter Farrelly, American Director

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"Being a working actor, you're going to do a Spelling show. It's hard not to."

Casper Van Dien, American Actor

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"Actors are able to trick themselves into treating anything as if it's fantastic. It's a kind of madness really."

Tom Baker, British Actor

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"I had read the novel and I had heard David Lean was going to direct it - and it came as a surprise to me because American actors, if given the chance, can do style as well as anybody and speak as well as anybody."

Rod Steiger, American Actor

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"I had to choose between American and British actors, and it didn't take me more than a second to decide: Russians are Europeans and should be played by other Europeans."

Jean-Jacques Annaud, French Director

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Explore more quotes by Annette Bening

"The tension I feel is the moment they say, 'Action!' Movies are like lightning in a bottle, and you always want to find when you possibly can catch a surprising moment."

Movies

"I didn't picture myself as a movie actress. I began to think about it around college. I remember thinking, "Well somebody has to be in them," so maybe I could do that eventually. It's all been a surprise."

College

"I knew I wanted children in my life. The acting was always in relation to it. Life at home is chaos. They're wonderful. They're such interesting human beings. I just love it. I'm lucky."

Home

"Right now, I love the fact that I have so many opportunities, but I know this privileged position cannot last. That doesn't mean that I'll stop working. I picture myself as an old actress doing cameos in films with people saying: "Isn't that that Bening woman?""

Love

"I don't see myself as competing with other actresses. I mean, I went through a time when I was in New York, and I was going to lots of auditions and trying to get parts, but even then, you're not really competing with the other actresses. There is a competition going on, but it's not like something you can win in that way."

Time

"I am really looking forward as I get older and older, to being less and less nice."

Being

"Yes, I know I've played these women, but I'm not really conniving at all."

Woman

"I have perfected the art of putting my feet on my husband's lap during awards ceremonies so he can rub them."

Art

"And if there's anything movies can do in a way that I just love, and I love as an audience is, "Show me something I don't know about. Show me something I haven't seen.""

Love

"I didn't do a movie until I was almost 30. I'm grateful for that because it gave me a chance to be an adult in the world and do work in the regional theater that very few people cared about. I loved it and I wanted to do that stuff."

Work