George Clooney is a super-human, he's just such an amazing human being, he taught me how to be a better person and a better actor!
The first thing you must know as an actor or director is the space you will inhabit. See the architecture; imagine where things can happen in space.
One wants to think that - and this is really a stupid thought - that through your art or whatever you do as an actor you can actually affect someone else's lives and thoughts or whatever.
To be honest, I sort of feel like 'movie actor' isn't of this time. I love it. But it's a 20th-century art form.
I want to try and be as involved in the art of filmmaking as possible. I feel that the only way to really do that is to take on as many roles as possible, whether it be as an actor, an editor, a director, a cinematographer.
It is my first preference to do films with social significance. Art cinema has given me credibility and status as an actor, but commercial cinema has given me a comfortable living.
The imagination is closer to the actor than real life-more agreeable, more comfortable.
Sometimes the ones you trust aren't the most trustworthy. Just better actors.
I don't really know who I am as an actor: the best thing would be to experiment with it for the next 30 years and never really find out.
I really feel that the best actors out there are very centric. They're really connected. They're not in a, 'What about me' state, and I think that's a good lesson in life.
Focus on making you the best you you can be as an actor and follow your own path. You can't compare an apple to an orange. It will cause a lot of self-esteem issues.
One of the things I have an allergic reaction to playing, especially as a black actor, is the mandatory kind of best friend/cop/detective type. You will never see me in that movie.
We're lucky enough, especially in these 'Madagascar' films, to be working with some of the best people in the industry, who are not only great actors, but great comedians and improvisers and filmmakers. And they then become a part of creating their c...
When I decided to be an actor, years ago, I just said, 'Look, I'm not going to do this unless I can be the best,' but I don't know what 'the best' is.
Bart The Bear was fantastic to work with. Absolutely brilliant and so, so good. The things that that bear could do to order! He was one of the best actors I've ever worked with.
On set I keep myself to myself; I'd rather the director speak up. I'm not gonna direct a younger actor. I think the power of example works best, actually.
No one ever sees the sleepless nights, the years of studying and 14-hour days earning your dues. I spent three years isolated in an academic environment to be the best actor I could.
It's a writer's or director's role to be cerebral, whereas for an actor it should be a visceral, gut thing. When the action starts, it's best to turn the brain off and let it become an instinctual thing.
I like most of the Humphrey Bogart movies because they had to act then, and they acted very well. Edward G. Robinson is probably the best actor I've ever seen on the movies.
I think it's a bigger risk following a part that plays up your looks than it is to try and carve out a career as an actor.
James Ivory comes close to the actors for the first rehearsal. He more or less lets you direct yourself and then will only correct you if he finds it incorrect.
