When I was a kid, if a guy got killed in a western movie I always wondered who got his horse.

Emotional power is maybe the most valuable thing that an actor can have.

That’s probably the most boring conversation you could hear – an actor talk about politics. I won’t go there.

It occurs to me that with all the television people watch, most of their acquaintances are actors.

No actor forgets the times he couldn’t get a job. I think everyone doing this operates from that fear. You don’t want that momentum to stop when you get it

You shouldn’t speak until you know what you’re talking about. That’s why I get uncomfortable with interviews. Reporters ask me what I feel China should do about Tibet. Who cares what I think China should do? I’m a f***ing actor! They hand me a script. I act. I’m here for entertainment, basically, when you whittle everything away. I’m a grown man who puts on makeup.

I accept the Old Testament as more of an action movie: blood, car chases, evacuations, a lot of special effects, seas dividing, mass murder, adultery. The children of God are running amok, wayward. Maybe that’s why they’re so relatable.

Actors are agents of change. A film, a piece of theater, a piece of music, or a book can make a difference. It can change the world.

The armoury of having any academic education does not necessarily set you up for being a good or better actor.

I would almost say that the best screen actor is the man who can do nothing extremely well.

Elizabeth Taylor is pre-feminist woman. This is the source of her continuing greatness and relevance. She wields the sexual power that feminism cannot explain and has tried to destroy. Through stars like Taylor, we sense the world-disordering impact of legendary women like Delilah, Salome, and Helen of Troy. Feminism has tried to dismiss the femme fatale as a misogynist libel, a hoary clich?. But the femme fatale expresses women’s ancient and eternal control of the sexual realm. The specter of the femme fatale stalks all men’s relations with women.

The only thing that we as actors really can control is to be able to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the material.

I started out as a writer and a director. I started acting because I wanted to know how to relate to the actors. When people ask me what I do, I don’t really say that I’m an actor, because actors often wait for someone to give them roles.

You just hope that you will get the opportunity to do what you love and pay your bills, and that is being a success as an actor.

There probably aren’t a lot of actors my age who tap dance.

You need to be as clean of a slate as you can be, as an actor. You have to try to be open to every experience.

I don’t care if people perceive me as always selling out because I’m doing a studio picture. For me, the whole thing is you should be diverse in your choices; that’s the beauty of being an actor, you should be able to do that.

I became an actor by accident.

Obviously an actor draws on his own experience.

Movies are a fad. Audiences really want to see live actors on a stage.

I’m Irish and very proud of being Irish, but as an actor, your extraction should be secondary, really. You should be able to embody whatever character it is, wherever the character comes from. That’s always been important, for me. I’m an actor who’s Irish, not an Irish actor.

God writes a lot of comedy… the trouble is, he’s stuck with so many bad actors who don’t know how to play funny.

People don’t know and they shouldn’t know that you work incredibly hard as an actor.

Acting is really not what I’m interested in. I’m not an aspiring actor and you should be able to tell.

When I told my parents I wanted to be an actor, my mom was, like, I think I heard you say lawyer.

Acting has helped me understand people, not only because you are acting as a character, but also because you are watching other actors work. That really helps you identify in life when someone is acting, not being true.

A lot of actors talk about doing their homework, but very few of them do it.

Its very hard trying to talk to an actor about how they should deliver lines, or cut their hair, unless it comes from a place of a strong point of view.

I’ve never thought of myself as an actor, so somebody recognizing me for that would be a real shock.

Whenever I think of the high salaries we are paid as film actors, I think it is for the travel, the time away, and any trouble you get into through being well known. It’s not for the acting, that’s for sure.

I think the challenge for an actor is always to see which parts of you you can explore and go have fun with.

Jeff Bridges is one of my favorite actors in the history of ever.

I’ll do more than the average actor, but I’m smart enough to know why stunt guys exist.

My sons have to learn that you take the rough with the smooth and they’ve seen a lot of smooth in the years that they’ve been around. They didn’t see the early years. But both my mum and myself are actors and we constantly tell them it’s not easy. But they understand that.

Hamid Gul is an actor who is definitely not in our good books. Hamid Gul is somebody who was never appreciated by our government.